Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man: No Way Home swings into all three dimensions with a new Blu-ray 3D release from Australia’s Random Space Media. This film was a three-dimensional feast in theaters and that experience comes home with this visually fantastic disc although experiences a solid but nonetheless downgraded DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio mix. The Blu-ray 3D disc is Region B locked, but the standard 2D Blu-ray is essentially the same disc released everywhere including the same set of bonus features. For the Blu-ray 3D fanatic, you don’t have to cast a spell or breach the multiverse, you just need to pay for shipping and have a region-free player. Highly Recommended
Since my colleague Bryan Kluger already did such a fantastic job covering this film, I’m not going to add too much there. However, I will say that I loved this movie. Spider-Man was the first comic I ever got when I was about five or six years old and I cherished every issue. I collected through the goofy era of metallic armored costumes that lasted all of ten panels and I even made it through the altogether terrible Clone Saga storyline. Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man was a genuine gift. While not as conceptually strong, 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man was an interesting take that possibly could have gone somewhere interesting had so much studio intervention not hit the second film.
For his Marvel-focused run, Tom Holland has been a fantastic web-slinger through solo films and his MCU appearances. To that end Spider-Man: No Way Home is a cinematic treat bringing 20 years of franchise history together for one wild and exciting adventure. It wasn’t just a stunt to bring three iterations of Spider-Man together for one film but a fulfilling continuation and possible finale for all three franchises. If we never see Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield, or Tom Holland as Spider-Man again, it’s perfectly okay because we had this movie bring all of their stories to a close in an emotionally fulfilling way.
Here's Bryan's 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray Spider-Man: No Way Home finally swings into your collection on Blu-ray 3D thanks to Random Space Media imported from Australia. This two-disc set offers up a Region Free BD-50 disc of the film in 2D that is virtually identical to the 2D disc we got here in the states and other territories. Both discs are housed in a standard two-disc case with individual trays and are not stacked. The Blu-ray 3D version is pressed on a Region B locked BD-50 disc. I did double-check this on a couple of different setups and it is region locked. You get a goofy Hotel Transylvania menu card if your player isn’t set to the right region code - so you will need a region-free player if you want to look at it in the US or other territories. The disc loads to a pretty basic static image main menu. Your television and player should recognize this is a Blu-ray 3D disc and roll that automatically, but if 3D doesn’t come up right away there’s a sub-menu when you hit “play” that lets you select 3D or 2D.
I’ll just put it this way, this 1080p 2.39:1 (consistent 2.39:1, no shifting aspect ratio) 3D transfer for Spider-Man: No Way Home is proof that Blu-ray 3D shouldn’t be pushed aside and is still an exciting format for home viewing. This and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness show that even a post-conversion 3-D transfer when done right can still bring a visual punch to a film. While I would have loved a more open frame to enjoy Spider-Man, this transfer packs a wallop with deep three-dimensional imagery.
Like most of the Marvel post conversions, the sense of depth along the Z-Axis goes for the deep “window into another world” style. There are a few instances of a hand or an object slightly protruding out of the screen, but there isn’t a whole lot of that and it isn't forced. Even with that “window” effect, the big action set pieces or the trip into the Mirror Dimension were quite something. That final battle at the statue of liberty when all three web-slingers leap off the scaffolding and swing together was a real treat to see in 3-D again!
Image clarity throughout is terrific with clean lines and textures. Colors are bold with nice primary saturation. The image was appropriately brightened to compensate for the darkening effect of the glasses. Watching in full daylight I didn’t experience any issues with the dimming of the glasses interfering with the experience. Black levels are deep and inky much of the time, although there were a couple of instances where dark shadows were deeper gray instead of true black when compared to the standard Blu-ray or 4K disc. Doctor Strange’s holding cells and later when Peter encounters Electro in the forest were a couple of areas of note - but nothing egregious enough to knock the overall presentation for. I didn’t spot any parallax or “ghosting.”
I saw this movie in theaters as many times as I could and while I thought IMAX was fun, I had a much better time with 3-D so I’m very grateful someone out there in the world recognized that there was a demand for this film on Blu-ray 3D and delivered a quality transfer.
This Blu-ray 3D release of Spider-Man: No Way Home swings in with a pair of audio tracks: DTS-HD MA 5.1 and DTS-HD MA 2.0. While nowhere near as strong as the Atmos track it actually handles the workload nicely. There’s plenty of surround activity throughout to keep those front/side/rear channels rolling. For the big action sequences, the mix is dynamic and exciting enough to keep you fully engaged. I flipped on my setup's DTS Neural:X function and felt this really helped open things up even more and punch up the bass response. Playing against the standard 2-D disc, this is the same 5.1 track.
As for the DTS-HD MA 2.0 track, it works well enough but if you have anything even resembling a surround setup, it’s not the strongest track on the market. While some of the side channel sound effects are edged into the front/center a tad, big action sequences lost a bit of their luster and impact. It’ll get you through, but not the best way to roll for this particular film.
All of the bonus features are found on the Standard 2D Blu-ray disc and are the exact same set of extras we got here stateside and I would assume appeared in other markets. While we didn’t get all of those deleted scenes - apparently there might be an extended re-release in the future - we’ve got a pretty great collection of interesting extras to pick through
20 years of cinematic franchise history collide in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Not only is it a huge event for this particular franchise, but it triggered massive repercussions for the MCU as a whole. Will we see Tom Holland as Spider-Man again? Probably. But will we see any of the previous Spider-Men again? Time will tell… especially if Sony keeps cranking out sub-par villain SCU movies.
After the biggest Pandemic-Era box office, Spider-Man: No Way Home webbed up home video and sadly without a proper Blu-ray 3D release. Thankfully the good folks at Random Space Media heard the call of fans around the world and deliver a terrific Blu-ray 3D Release. This film offers rich visuals that lend themselves perfectly to 3D and this disc captures that visual magic and brings it to your home theater with an excellent transfer. Audio is the same solid but not as impressive DTS-HD MA 5.1 and all of the bonus features have been carried over. The only negative for some folks will be the need for a Region-Free player, but for everyone else, this is a terrific disc for your three-dimensional collection. Highly Recommended
Bringing you all the best reviews of high definition entertainment.
Founded in April 2006, High-Def Digest is the ultimate guide for High-Def enthusiasts who demand only the best that money can buy. Updated daily and in real-time, we track all high-def disc news and release dates, and review the latest disc titles.
Copyright © 2022 LLC, MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved.