SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME:
NOT ONLY A GREAT SPIDER-MAN MOVIE, BUT A LOVE LETTER TO THE WEB-SLINGER’S NEAR-20-YEAR HISTORY ON THE BIG SCREEN!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: **** out of 4
COLUMBIA PICTURES AND MARVEL STUDIOS
Tom Holland (In the Heart of the Sea, Onward, Uncharted) is back as Spider-Man for a third swing in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and follow-up to 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. The hype for this movie was insane dating all the way back to the mid-credits scene from the last film with several discussions and fan theories about what the next film was going to be like, a movie where everyone knows that Spider-Man is Peter Parker and one that embraces the idea of the multiverse (A concept that was already explored in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) with a group of iconic villains from Spidey’s rogues’ gallery going up against the MCU’s Spider-Man.
This was the first time I was extremely excited for a live-action Spider-Man movie since 2007, don’t get me wrong I enjoyed Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home a lot, but they weren’t exactly movies I was super hyped about. The previous two films were mostly just light-hearted coming-of-age stories that just happened to involve a superhero that were quite funny and charming, but they never felt that huge especially compared to other MCU films nor was there much at stake.
That pretty much leads us into this film with Holland, Zendaya (Shake It Up, The Greatest Showman, Dune), and Jacob Batalon (Every Day, Banana Split, Let It Snow) reprising their roles as Parker, MJ, and Ned, and Jon Watts (Clown, Cop Car, Marvel’s Fantastic Four) returning to direct. However, they aren’t the only ones returning to the Spider-Man franchise as actors who have portrayed villains before in the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire and Marc Webb/Andrew Garfield Spider-Man films also reprise their roles as part of the multiverse theme.
Okay enough build-up, what do I think of this movie? Honestly, while I may prefer Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse more, I think this is hands-down one of the best Spider-Man films we’ve ever gotten in any universe. The best of the MCU Spider-Man movies and on par with Spider-Man 2 and Into the Spider-Verse, it’s easily in my Top 3 Favorite Spider-Man Movies, because it gave me exactly what I wanted to see in the other MCU Spider-Man movies (Spider-Man doing big, epic things) with plenty of surprises along the way.
The film is set immediately after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home when Mysterio revealed Spider-Man’s identity to the world which puts Peter Parker’s responsibilities as a superhero into conflict with his normal life. He enlists the help of Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch-Sherlock, The Imitation Game, The Courier) to make it so Mysterio never revealed Peter’s identity through a spell that would make everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man…it doesn’t go well.
It turns out after Peter botched Doctor Strange’s spell, it actually opened up the multiverse and unleashing a selection of villains from across different Spider-Man universes and into theirs such as Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe-The Boondock Saints, The Lighthouse, Nightmare Alley, reprising his role from Spider-Man (2002)), Doc Ock (Alfred Molina-Raiders of the Lost Ark, Chocolat, The Da Vinci Code, reprising his role from Spider-Man 2), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church-George of the Jungle, Sideways, We Bought a Zoo, reprising his role from Spider-Man 3), Lizard (Rhys Ifans-Notting Hill, Enduring Love, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, reprising his role from The Amazing Spider-Man), and Electro (Jamie Foxx-Collateral, Django Unchained, Baby Driver, reprising his role from The Amazing Spider-Man 2). Now, Peter must overcome his greatest challenge yet as five of Spider-Man’s biggest foes are out causing chaos and destruction in his universe with only his wits and support from his friends, MJ and Ned as he goes up against these new baddies to hopefully send them back to their universes, but he’s going to need all the help he can get.
The film also stars Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny, The Wrestler, Crazy Stupid Love) reprising her role as Aunt May, Jon Favreau (Elf, Chef, The Jungle Book (2016)) reprising his role as Tony Stark’s former bodyguard and May’s boyfriend, Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong (Marco Polo, The Martian, Raya and the Last Dragon) reprising his role as Wong, Toni Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Dope, Run) reprising his role as Flash Thompson, J.K. Simmons (The Cider House Rules, Juno, Whiplash) reprising his role from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and Spider-Man: Far From Home as J. Jonah Jameson, ***** ******* (*** ***** ***** *****, **********, ********) as *****-***, and ****** ******** (***** *** *****, *** ****** *******, ******* *****) as *****-*****.
Overall, Spider-Man: No Way Home honors the legacy of the character in a huge way with a ton of fan service without ever upstaging the already-established MCU Spider-Man characters. You can tell that Holland, Zendaya, and Batalon have grown a lot since the last film not just physically, but their characters as well with the three of them talking about colleges, jobs, family dilemmas, etc. and similar to the characters in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, you’re invested in just about everything they’re going through even before all the Spider-Man and superhero stuff starts happening.
The film has a lot of fun bringing all these Spider-Man characters from different universes together and having them work off each other and make jokes and callbacks to earlier iterations of the character, but it doesn’t shy away from the more heartfelt and emotional moments. Much like what Far From Home did for Spider-Man after Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame, the movie continues to explore the reasoning behind why Peter Parker does what he does, learns the whole “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” saying, makes bold decisions to save his friends and loved ones even if they involve sacrificing something he cares deeply about, and by the end I felt like the MCU finally has a complete Spider-Man.
I had a blast with this movie, and I do consider it to be the best of the MCU Spider-Man films, but I won’t lie and say it isn’t 100% perfect. Some of the characters’ motivations change spontaneously as the movie progresses and there isn’t much time to go into why, and also the MCU-style humor and dialogue has gotten stale lately and the film goes for these really easy jokes “Dr. Otto Octavius? That’s a dumb name, Tee-hee, ha-ha!” and referencing other MCU characters and events without saying their names (Big purple guy who snapped his fingers!), but the good stuff in this film is just too damn good for me to care…aside from the possible retcon of the Venom: Let There Be Carnage mid-credits scene…yeah, that sucked!
Spider-Man: No Way Home is the movie fans of the character have been waiting for and easily ranks up with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man 2 as one of the web-slinger’s best film outings. I’ll gladly swing back into the theater to watch it again, and again.
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com
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