So I went to the movies yesterday. Friday night, alone, to watch the new Spider-Man film. And I was genuinely excited because I’ve been waiting four years for this one. Four years. That’s long enough to finish a degree, change careers, and become a completely different person. But apparently not long enough for me to stop caring about Peter Parker.

I could have asked someone to come along. But honestly, I think I just wanted to be alone this time. Sometimes you don’t want to share a movie with anyone. You don’t want to check if the other person is bored, you don’t want to discuss it during the credits before you’ve even processed it. You just want to sit there in the dark and let the thing happen to you. That was the plan anyway.

Well. About that plan.

The theater was full of couples. I was sitting at row E seat 12, and on my left was a couple, and on my right, also a couple. They were everywhere, like mosquitoes, and I don’t even know them. Every time something emotional happened on screen, I could feel them leaning into each other on both sides of me. Meanwhile I’m sitting there in the middle, gripping my own popcorn, emotionally supporting myself.

Yes, I was a little jealous. Okay, maybe more than a little. But anyway, this post is about the movie, so let’s move on before this turns into something else entirely.

Fun fact this was my first time back in a theater after a few years. There just hasn’t been anything worth watching for a while, at least for me. Movies came and went and none of them made me think, yes, this one deserves the whole ritual. The ticket, the trip, the overpriced snacks. This one did. So it felt like an event, and honestly, walking into a theater again after years had its own kind of nostalgia. The dim lights, the trailers, the moment the room goes dark. I missed that.

Now, about the film. Small spoiler warning from here on, so proceed at your own risk.

The story itself is honestly not that different from other superhero films. There’s a threat, there’s action, there’s a third act where everything explodes. You know the formula. If you’ve watched enough of these movies you can probably predict the beats with your eyes closed. But there’s one thing that hit differently, and it’s the reason I’m even writing this.

If you remember the previous movie, Peter asked Doctor Strange to cast the spell that made the entire world forget who Peter Parker was. Aunt May had just died in that moive cause of granade from green goblin. So for four years, he’s been living completely alone. No family, no friends, nobody who even knows he exists. He cooks alone, comes home alone, patches up his own wounds alone. There is no one to text when something good happens. There is no one who worries when he doesn’t come home.

And it turns out being that alone is exactly as heavy as it sounds.

I can’t imagine being Peter Parker. Someone who lives by himself, carries everything by himself, and nobody in the world remembers who he is. Think about that for a second. It’s not just being lonely. Lonely people at least exist in other people’s memories. Peter doesn’t even have that. He erased himself for everyone else’s safety, which is the most Peter Parker decision possible, and the bill for that decision is four years of complete silence.

That part of the movie got me. I’m not a lonely teenager or anything, but there’s a feeling in it that just lands. The problems he faces as someone fresh out of high school, figuring out life alone for four straight years. Paying rent. Surviving. Growing up with nobody watching. The loneliness of it really comes through the screen, and the movie doesn’t rush past it either. It lets you sit in it. And sitting in it, alone, between two couples, I felt personally attacked. Thanks, Marvel.

And then there’s the scene where he meets the people he loves most, the girl he loves and his best friend, and they have no idea who he is. He knows everything about them. Their memories together, the things they survived together. And to them, he’s a stranger. That one stings. Imagine standing in front of someone who used to be your whole world and having to introduce yourself.

But the part that hurt the most was when MJ, possessed by Jean Grey, pretended that she remembered him. For a second I got excited along with Peter. Like, finally, after everything, someone remembers. Someone knows him. And then it turned out to be fake. Damn. That one was genuinely painful to watch. It’s cruel in a very specific way, because it gives him the one thing he wants most and then takes it back. The whole theater went quiet at that scene. Even the couples stopped being couples for a moment.

So yes, I basically just spoiled it for you. Sorry about that. In my defense, the movie has been out for a bit and you had four years to prepare.

Overall verdict the story is kinda mid, but the feel and the vibe? Maybe a 9 out of 10. It’s the rare superhero movie where the quiet parts are better than the action parts. The punching is fine. The loneliness is the real villain, and it’s very well cast.

It’s really good, and you should watch it. Preferably with someone. Not alone like me, surrounded by couples on both sides, relating to a fictional character who got erased from existence. That’s a very specific Friday night experience and I don’t fully recommend it.

That’s all. Thank you for reading.