The More Fun Stuff Version of Spider-Man: No Way Home Is, In Fact, a Lot More Fun

Liz Shannon Miller
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The post The More Fun Stuff Version of Spider-Man: No Way Home Is, In Fact, a Lot More Fun appeared first on Consequence.

Look, when it’s hot outside and you don’t have central A/C, it’s easy for your principles regarding entertainment to change. For example, you might see that Sept. 2nd’s Spider-Man: No Way Home theatrical re-release, dubbed The More Fun Stuff Version, has a runtime of two hours and 41 minutes, and instead of groaning “that is so long for a superhero movie,” you’ll buy a ticket immediately.

But revisiting No Way Home has benefits even beyond its promise of at least three hours of air-conditioning, as The More Fun Stuff Version‘s extra 11 minutes of footage does deliver more of, well, the fun stuff.

While the opening sequence — in which Peter Parker (Tom Holland), MJ (Zendaya), Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), and Happy (Jon Favreau) deal with the immediate aftermath of Peter’s unmasking as Spider-Man — remains unchanged, the film then expands the subsequent interrogation sequence, with May in particular getting to talk a little bit more about her past run-ins with the law. (It’s also fun to revisit Arian Moayed’s introduction as Agent Cleary, given his later appearance in the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.)

In terms of overall screen time, perhaps the most significant additions to the film feature Betty Brant (Angourie Rice), who gets to prove her mettle as a high school broadcast journalist with an extended sequence featuring her talk show, in which she interviews fellow students Ned (Jacob Batalon) and Flash (Tony Revolori) as well as Midtown High’s teaching staff about the shocking Peter Parker revelations. If you’re a comedy fan and you don’t want to watch said teaching staff, played by Martin Starr, J.B. Smooth, and Hannibal Buress, do unhinged improv against a deliberately terrible green screen, then maybe you aren’t actually a comedy fan.

There’s also a previously-deleted scene that showcases Peter’s suit getting splattered with green paint (something covered by the original cut in a montage), and a new scene in which Peter gets pushed to show off his newly exposed abilities in gym class. It’s all good fun, but it’s clear that director Jon Watts was right to cut a lot of these scenes for the original version, as No Way Home was not a short movie to begin with, and these additional scenes do end up delaying the film’s plot from really kicking into gear.

Once Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has cast his very bad spell and Spider-Man’s enemies from different universes have begun to infiltrate his world, the bulk of the additions come in the form of extended scenes, with a significant amount of riffing restored to the action.

Okay, there is at least one more notable new scene, featuring yet more of Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock as he helps Happy out with his legal troubles, but while the changes made to the second half of the film aren’t as substantial as the first half, The More Fun Stuff Version does showcase a decent amount of extra banter between “our Peter” and the two alternate universe Peter Parkers who show up to help out, as reprised by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.

Many of the extra moments here are just trimmed lines and one-off exchanges, though perhaps the highlight of the whole experience was getting more time with the Peters bonding over their shared experiences as Spider-Man, including yet more discussion of how Maguire’s version of Spider-Man featured organic webbing. As teased above, at one point during this conversation Garfield says “I want to see the holes,” a moment which will linger in the memory for quite some time.

Oh, and also, the entire film is introduced by a clip featuring Holland, Maguire, and Garfield thanking fans — and each other — for showing up for the new version, including a sweet bit we shan’t spoil here (but maybe plays better if you’ve already seen the film at least once). Since the original theatrical release ended by debuting the trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there’s also a new post-credits scene, once again featuring Betty Brant in reporter mode, delivering her final message as a Midtown High reporter that includes footage from Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

This isn’t meant to be a complete document of all the changes made, but more a confirmation that if you liked No Way Home when you originally saw it, then The More Fun Stuff Version is worth your time. Again, the right choices were made in terms of cutting this stuff originally, but it’s a treat to get to see the additional material on the big screen. (Especially on a hot, hot Labor Day weekend.)

Spider-Man: No Way Home: The More Fun Stuff Version is in theaters now.

The More Fun Stuff Version of Spider-Man: No Way Home Is, In Fact, a Lot More Fun
Liz Shannon Miller

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