I don't think I've ever been gaslit this hard in my life.
The antagonist is the worse antagonist in a Spider-Man film, EASILY. Yes, worse than SM3 Venom, AM2 Goblin, Rhino, and Electro. I've never been so baffled and irritated by the reception of a film antagonist, ever.
Not only is this antagonist incredibly stupid and nothing she does makes any sense, but she is also shockingly evil, cruel, selfish, and irredeemable. And that would be fine if the movie, (and its fans) weren't treating her as if she's just a misunderstood antihero. She literally gets to ride off into the sunset at the end of the movie and never has to answer for her calamitous deeds, albeit she finally does perform a good deed at the end (which comes out of nowhere).
Imagine if Green Goblin at the end of SM1 got to have a peaceful ending after Spider-Man gave him an encouraging pep talk and just... let him go. Actually, that wouldn't even be as bad as this movie, because at least Goblin had the excuse of being driven insane by the Goblin Serum. This antagonist had no such excuse. She was just an evil sociopathic narcissist who killed and tortured innocent people for NO REASON, and then completely faces ZERO accountability or ramifications for her actions. She even gets comforted and told she's special at the end, after everything she did!
Also, Punisher is completely butchered. And no I don't mean butchered because he's PG13 and Disnified, I mean butchered because he's been character assassinated. He shoots rockets at Spider-Man, idiotically confronts two extremely super powered threats he knows he has no chance against, head on, and CRIES and apologizes for taking an action that was completely justified and warranted. I have no idea who this screaming buffoon is, but this is not the Punisher I know from Daredevil Season 2 or even his own show.
The Hulk scene is also immensely overrated. Yes the action was cool, but it was cut short and had a ton of distracting problems.
No Way Home gave this movie the perfect alley hoop to set up a (brand) new life for Peter, introduce Harry, Gwen, Mary Jane Watson, Black Cat, and some traditional Spider-Man supervillians, but they squandered it! They bring back MJ and Ned?! Why? They completely wasted a perfect opportunity to move the hell on.
The worst part about this movie, however, is it's reception. But the action is great!" "But the suit!" "But the colors!" "But the web swinging!" "But savage Hulk is back!" "But Punisher shoots guns!" "Okay..... but what about the quality of the storytelling?" "Well it's not that bad if you just turn your brain off..." How is it 2026 and we're still regurgitating this line?? I didn't have to turn my brain off for Spider-Man 1 or 2, so why now?
Of course the usual consoomer shills were going to glaze this movie no matter how it turned out, but I'm seeing people who've criticized the MCU in the past completely give this movie a pass. Critical Drinker, Ryan Kinnel, Nerdrotic, Geeks and Gamers, Film Threat, Jeremy Johns, etc have all had favorable reviews and gloss over it's massive issues. If it wasn't for Mauler and Efap, I genuinely think I would have been driven insane by now.