Spider-Man: No Way Home (Review)
Spider-Man: No Way Home Proves the MCU Still Has Big Plans for the Webhead.
*People are being a lot more cautious about spoilers with Spider-Man: No Way Home than with previous MCU movies, and I’m going to try to honor the spirit of that with this review. So, I won’t reveal anything more than you might already suspect from the trailer.*
Spider-Man: No Way Home signals the end of Tom Holland’s (hopefully first) trilogy as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s resident web-slinger and establishes he is indisputably the best actor to ever suit up in those fancy red and blue underoos. Not only that, but I’m going to say that it puts Jon Watts among other top-dog comic book directors such as James Gunn, The Russo Brothers, and Christopher Nolan. Spider-Man: No Way Home might not be quite as good as Homecoming, but the film takes some big risks with its story, and they all pay off in what is easily the most heartfelt and emotional of Holland and Watt’s trilogy. It’s a celebration of the character and everything that makes Spider-man the most loved superhero on the plane. Spider-Man: No Way Home proves to be a must-see of 2021.
After the events of Far From Home, both Peter Parker and Spider-man (Tom Holland) found themselves facing the fallout of his identity being revealed to the world by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse as Mysterio pins the blame for his terrorist attack and death on Spider-man as well. Overnight, the young hero becomes the most controversial person on the planet, and his best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), and girlfriend, Michelle-Jones aka MJ (Zendaya) are caught in the fallout as accomplices. Hoping to save the day once more, he turns to fellow avenger and master of the mystic arts, Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to wizard up a spell to help the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-man. If things were that simple though, Spider-Man: No Way Home wouldn’t be much of a movie. So, it’s no surprise that the spell backfires and creates even more problems for him. Problems who know that Peter Parker is Spider-man and want both of them dead. With the fate of the multiverse on his shoulders, Spider-man answers the call to action once more and swings out into the night to face his greatest threat since Thanos.
Spider-man: No Way Home does something that’s never been attempted in a superhero movie, by pitting him against villains who appeared in previous Spider-man movies before Holland got the part. A lot of third installments try to up the stakes by pitting heroes against more than one villain, and that usually ends in disaster as the films try to cram in backstory and character development. Writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers bypass this problem by using bad guys who audiences already know. We’ve met Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Dr. Otto Octavious aka Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), and Max Dillon aka Electro (Jamie Foxx) when they battled against Spider-man’s previous incarnations. Thus Spider-man: No Way Home manages to free up plenty of screen time for the rapport and chemistry between the villains and heroes to build until the audience is fully invested in the outcome. Of course, the film reflects on their origins, but in a way that reminds audiences that each of these “baddies” is the victim of a tragic accident that messed with their minds to the point of almost breaking them. This depth gives the actors a chance to present their characters in a new light while still remaining true to what fans loved about them originally. All of the villains are incredible, but it’s Dafoe who will really make your skin crawl as he takes to the skies again with his iconic laugh.
Before you start worrying that Spider-Man: No Way Home doesn’t have anything to offer other than a bit of nostalgia for old Spider-man movies, don’t worry, because Watts crafts a visually spectacular film filled with edge-of-your-seat action. The wall-crawler pushes suspension of disbelief with his high octane acrobatics and awe-inspiring agility. After all, he’s got a lot of punches to dodge this time. However, Spider-Man: No Way Home is much more than a simple spectacle because it’s got so much heart and such a keen sense of humor. Spider-man has always been one of the funnier heroes in comics, and the movie captures that essence with its effortless banter and clever dialogue. The chemistry between the actors is palpable enough to shoulder the film even at its weakest moments, preventing too many low points from cropping up over the sizable two-and-a-half-hour runtime (knowing what I do about Holland and Zendaya off-screen relationship makes that chemistry a little heartbreaking at times thought). Despite being a beast of a movie though, Spider-Man: No Way Home keeps you rooting for the heroes right up until the final after-credits scene (stick around for both of them).
As wonderful as it is to see the return of fan favorites and some truly exceptional visual effects, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a meditation on the classic motto “With great power comes great responsibility.” It’s a piece of advice that has guided the hero ever since his inception, but no adaptation has taken the time to really ponder the saying. The villains this time are victims of accidents that granted them incredible powers, not simply psychopaths with access to Avengers level technology like in Homecoming and Far From Home. As a genius superhero, Peter feels the responsibility to help them, even though they’re definitely “not his problem.” He burdens himself with responsibility because he has the power to make a difference, which is why we love the character so much. But the saying isn’t just about doing the right thing. It’s about not giving in to the corruption that so often comes with power. Peter is a guy who has had a pretty rough life, but even at his lowest, he doesn’t abandon the values and integrity that guide him. Finally, there’s an aspect of Spider-Man: No Way Home that examines the sacrifices necessary to be a real hero. By becoming a hero, Peter takes responsibility for the sacrifices that come with the gig, especially when it comes to making the hard choices. This philosophical examination of the character and the creed he lives by serves to reinvigorate the emotional investment the audience makes in him because we want to see him rewarded for the good that he does. Alas, fans of Spider-man know that rewards are often few and far between for the hero, which is just another reason to admire his perseverance.
Spider-Man: No Way Home has a lot going on, but the movie never gives the sense that it’s struggling to make it all work. That’s probably because the MCU has plenty of experience placing ball bearings within ball bearings in plots as it focuses on building towards the future. The events of this film are going to have major implications not just for the character, but the MCU in general, making it one not to be missed by fans. However, it’s not just because big things happen in Spider-Man: No Way Home that I wholeheartedly recommend seeing it in theaters as soon as possible. It’s because Spider-Man: No Way Home embodies the very spirit of the character with its heart and humor, letting him fly higher than ever before. While it might not be the best of Holland’s trilogy, it is definitely the best movie in phase four (Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and The Eternals), and way better than that other Spider-Man 3.
