The Netflix Thriller 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Fans Should Watch ASAP

01/10/2022 09:52 am EST

Marvel fans who loved Spider-Man: No Way Home have an easy way to get another fix from filmmaker Jon Watts. His acclaimed thriller Cop Car is on Netflix now, and it just be the perfect follow-up to his super-hero romp. Here's a bit about Watts' most beloved film outside of the comic book adaptation genre.

Watts is best known these days for directing all three of Marvel Studios' Spider-Man movies starring Tom Holland, but his other work is worth checking out. He co-wrote Cop Car with Christopher Ford and directed the movie himself. It stars Kevin Bacon, Shea Whigham, Camryn Manheim, James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford, and it's about two young boys who run away from home and immediately happen upon an abandoned police cruiser. When they take the car on a joyride, they find themselves in even more danger than they bargained for.

Cop Car premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival to general critical acclaim. It has 80% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 7.06 out of 10. However, the movie was not a commercial success, failing to even recoup its budget at the box office.

Cop Car was only Watts' second feature-length film as a director, and it was followed immediately by his work in superhero films. He directed Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019 and just wrapped up his trilogy with Spider-Man: No Way Home, which premiered in theaters everywhere this weekend. Watts is a die-hard fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in an interview with Den of Geek he said he got the job by "bothering" Marvel executives incessantly.

Although this trilogy of Spider-Man movies is at an end, Watts is not leaving the MCU behind. He will direct Marvel Studios' upcoming reboot of the Fantastic Four, which is currently in development with no release date or other creative talent attached. The movie will likely have to wait a while, as Marvel has six confirmed movies scheduled to come out at the time of this writing plus four streaming TV shows.

Watts is pursuing work outside of the MCU as well. Back in September, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Watts is writing and directing a thriller that will star George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The immense star power behind the project led to a bidding war among streaming services to see who could secure the rights.

For now, fans can only catch Watts' previous Spider-Man movies on digital stores like Amazon Prime or YouTube, and Spider-Man: No Way Home is only playing in theaters. However, Cop Car is streaming now on Netflix.

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