I’ll always remember this childhood memory of me pretending I was web-swinging across the parking lot because I had just seen Spider-Man (2002). I think that was the best way for my body to express the absolute joy and excitement of watching my favorite superhero on the big screen and in live-action for the first time, it was just pure fun for me. That feeling has varied depending on the movies that have come out over the years since then, and I gotta tell you guys I thought I would never experience it again until today after watching Spider-Man: No Way Home. The excitement and joy for this movie and character are so strong that I couldn’t go to sleep without putting those feelings into the Spider-Man: No Way Home review.
The third Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland in the titular role picks up right where the last one left us, with the whole world now knowing his secret identity.
Obviously, that brings a whole storm of problems, one of them being getting accepted into college along with his friends. Wanting to fix things he asks Doctor Strange to cast a spell that will restore his secret but this doesn’t go as planned and he ends up breaking open the multiverse and which allows different threats from alternate realities to cross over and cause havoc, classic Peter Parker’s luck.
Obviously, this is going to be a SPOILER FREE Spider-Man: No Way Home review and I’ll just stick to what has been released from the trailers, I might do another one with the spoilers because I do think that they are worth talking about, but that will have to wait until enough time has passed for all audiences in the world to have seen the movie.
First up is the cast of the film, starting with the good guys. Being the third franchise of the same character, the people in charge were forced from the beginning to try different things because many of the classic characters and their more well-known versions had already been used before, and I have to say that I personally think that it’s one of the things that has made the “Home Trilogy” so good.
For me, Tom Holland has been both an excellent Peter Parker and Spider-Man in all his appearances, I think this is the performance that cements that idea on his interpretation of the character and I would dare to say that even better than that of his predecessors or for anyone that a future could come. All the good things from his performances in past installments are still present, but this time Tom Holland shows sensitivity and emotional aspect of the character that is so Spider-Man and perfectly demonstrates why in the comics and in real life he is such a beloved and relatable character.
I’ve always liked and enjoyed the supporting characters in this trilogy. The different chemistry and dynamics between these characters with Holland’s Peter or even the bad guys have been great, but this is where I think that those relationships and performances have peaked. Most likely that may be because we have come to the conclusion of the story that was being told with this trilogy.
The chemistry between Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon and the relationship between their characters is the soul of the movie and what moves it forward and also provides some of the funniest lines in the film. I’m always going to be a fan of Peter’s classic group of friends in the comics, but the decision to reinvent those characters has allowed both Zendaya and Batalon enough room for their characters to fulfill their roles in the story and also make them their own without repeating what other actors have done in the past.
There are other supporting performances that I quite liked as well, particularly Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan who is also a vital part of these films, but I have to give a special mention for the work of Marisa Tomei as Aunt May. What started out as a character who served as the source for other characters to highlight how beautiful and attractive Marisa Tomei is, has finally become the character that true comics connoisseurs adore and love, this is the wise voice of reason for Peter and his source of goodness. I am more than satisfied with the work she has done and I believe many will be as well.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange is fine in this film, it’s definitely thanks to his presence in the story that we can get the multiversal threat from previous villains. I will say that unlike the previous “mentors” in the Spider-Man films, his presence feels more like when Spider-Man interacts with his other hero friends located in New York. Speaking of multiversal threats…
A great Spider-Man movie requires a great villain and this time around we get five of them. While the previous movies gave us fresh takes on classic villains like the Vulture and Mysterio, No Way Home made the smart decision of bringing back the villains from the previous film franchises, and I say it was a smart move because of the following.
While I’m sure they could have found other talented actors to play Doctor Octopus, Electro, and Green Goblin, the reality is that those versions are already good enough that it would become unnecessary to have to go through the process of finding others. actors when you already have some who understand the characters and you have the elements within the universe of your story to bring them back. Bringing back Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Thomas Haden Church, Rhys Ifans, and Willem Dafoe, allows a large portion of the audience to be emotionally invested in the film and also an opportunity for them to have the experience of finally seeing Holland’s Spider-Man fight against his greatest archenemies.
Ifans and Church are fine they don’t change much, or do much, from their performances or appearances in The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3. The real big hitters are Molina, Foxx, and Dafoe. With Jamie Foxx what I liked more was that he was given a proper chance to do Electro justice, maybe not entirely regarding his motivation like in the comics but definitely with his appearance which is something the MCU has nailed with every Spidey villain in every movie. The version of Dock Ock that we get is exactly the same one that we got back in 2004 with Spider-Man 2, and I’m glad that this is the version that we ended up getting because it brings back a complex character who you can empathize with at a certain level, but this is also the only character that I wouldn’t mind seeing a fresh take on it in a possible future that is closer to his interpretation from the comics.
Because there are five villains it does make it harder to equally give out the screen time among them or to have just one be the main threat like the previous movies, but Willem Dafoe completely steals the show as the Green Goblin. As I said before the MCU has always found a way to properly adapt the villains and give them a look that is both realistic and stays close to the comics, and the Green Goblin is probably the hardest to nail, but I’m glad to finally say that we have a proper look for the character. I’m not a complete fan of the version that ended up being used in the Raimi movies, but it does work in this movie. But even more important is that because this is Spider-Man’s eternal archenemy something had to happen in this story so he could earn that title in Tom’s Spider-Man life, even if he’s not from his universe, and the way they executed it did end up satisfying a lot.
If I’m not wrong, I think Jon Watts is the first director to properly complete his MCU trilogy. As I said before one of the things that I liked from the “Home Trilogy” is that with each one of the movies they have set Spider-Man in a different setting from what we have seen before in the previous film series, and Jon Watts had that very clear from the moment he was put in charge of the movies. He started out his career with two good independent movies that if you see them you would never imagine that they were made by the same guy who has directed three Spider-Man movies. But Watts understands what he needs to do and the characters he’s going to use in order to make the movie work.
I do have to commend him for being a risk-taker with the direction that he has taken this character in all of his movies. Trying to do something that is different from what others have done while at the same time needing to do something that works well and can entertain a lot of people is no simple task, but every risk that he has taken has paid off favorably for him and everyone else that he has led along the way. From taking Spider-Man out of New York and instead of leaving him in Queens, revealing his identity to the world, or having five villains in the movie (this is lastly being the riskiest of all considering the history of past movies), it has all paid off in the end.
I would say that the scale and visuals of the action scenes are definitely bigger than the previous two Spider-Man movies but not necessarily bigger than other MCU movies.
The fight between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange is the most visually engaging, which is to be expected when you have a character like Strange in your story. But again the great thing about the fight scenes in this movie is we get a chance to see Tom’s Spider-Man fight classic bad guys from the comics without having to wait for five more movies to finally get that. This is also the closest we might get to see Spider-Man face the Sinister Six in a movie, but hopefully, I’m wrong about that.
We have been conditioned to expect that the conclusion of any trilogy has to raise the stakes for our characters, increase the scale of certain things, and end things with a satisfying conclusion. All of those things have become increasingly difficult to accomplish in recent years with each new movie franchise that the studios put out. And by all means, No Way Home had all the elements to go horribly wrong…and yet it didn’t.
I don’t want to go out and say that Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have done the impossible, but the more I think and analyze the film the truth of the matter is that if they succeeded and I dare to say that the end result could be more than they expected.
They (and all the people involved in the production) have managed to build a story that continues to raise the emotions and entertainment with every story beat, that has a fan service that’s satisfying for fans of several years and also fulfill a purpose in the story, that has the same emotional charge that can be found in the pages of the comics, and that concludes a journey of this amazing hero in the best possible way with the possibility of being able to return for more.
While some of the criticism of Holland’s portrayal and movies can be fair sometimes or understandable, like “Iron Man Jr”. By taking a step back and actually seeing the grand design of everything that has happened since his first appearance, it all makes sense in the end. Tom Holland is now in a position where his Spider-Man can actually become the version that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created 60 years ago, but as much as I would love to see him in another movie and even a new trilogy that continues where this one leaves off, it would be completely understandable if he decided to step down from the role because he has earned the right to do so.
The top spot in my list of best movies of the year is reserved for a movie that is either absolutely good, that delivers me an entertaining and cinematic experience, or has a profound effect on me. Spider-Man: No Way Home checks the boxes on the first two without a doubt, but it has also managed to check the third, and believe it or not this is not something many movies do quite often. Later during the day as I was crossing down the street and thinking about a million things in my head, I instinctively made the famous hand gesture so I could “spin my web” and “swing” across. I know it’s silly but right at that moment I was transported back to that parking lot and I was that little kid filled with joy and having fun.
Score: Oh yes, I could watch this movie a thousand times over for the rest of my life.
