Spider-Man: No Way Home

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

Director: Jon Watts

Writer: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Stan Lee (original creator), Steve Ditko (original creator)

Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, JK Simmons, Rhys Ifans, Thomas Haden Church, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield

Reason for watching: NEW SPIDER-MAN MOVIE WITH MORE THAN ONE SPIDER-MAN!!!

Number of times I’ve watched it: twice already

***

There is no other way to actually critically talk about this movie except to discuss at least a few spoilers. So here we go. You have been warned. Also I basically already spoiled this if you read the “Starring” section. So deal with it. Now, let’s talk this movie…

WOW! It is a miracle that a third Spider-Man movie is actually good! When you look at the track record of Spider-Man sequels, the history is not very good. The movies tend to become over-bloated and the plot gets bogged down by having too many subplots to juggle at once. Plus sometimes the actors who get cast as surprise villains tend to do a poor job. The potential of the first movie or first two movies in the Spider-Man franchise are burnt out, and the hero gets rebooted. But not here. Let us talk about why.

Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up right where Spider-Man: Far From Home left off. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has just been outed as Spider-Man to the entire world. In addition to becoming the most infamous person on earth, the lives of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), and girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) are drastically affected. With limited options, Peter asks Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help, and Strange agrees to cast a spell to erase the entire world’s memory of Peter Parker being Spider-Man. However, Peter meddles with the spell by requesting his loved ones still remember his secret identity. The botched spell gets aborted, and it ends up pulling in a rogue’s gallery of old Spider-Man villains from other universes who all want a piece of the webhead. This litany of old super-powered maniacs includes Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Electro (Jamie Foxx), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), and the Lizard (Rhys Ifans). Spidey has a lot on his plate as he tries to take down all these enemies without killing them, but he has a little bit of help in the form of some other Spider-Men (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) who have been brought into his universe as well.

Firstly, we can end the argument here and now: Tom Holland is the best Spider-Man. He has the charisma, the action capabilities, and the kindness to be a real hero. He is relatable and endearing in everything he does. I could watch him as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He balances both parts of his role perfectly. On top of that the returning supporting cast really delivers here. Zendaya gets more to do here than her previous roles, and gets to show off some of her more dramatic roles. Plus, she has a few more comedic opportunities as well. Batalon does not have a lot to do here, but he is reliably funny. In my opinion, Marisa Tomei has the biggest step up in terms of performance as screen time. Particularly in the second and third acts, she gets to act as Peter’s moral center on more than one occasion.

But this time there is an even bigger supporting cast that needs screen time. When you bring in older villains and heroes from previous franchises, you need to re-establish them and let them show off some chops on screen. And shockingly, most of the old-timey Spider-Man characters get enough screen time to actually become endearing. But two of them really steal the screen more than others: Willem Dafoe and Andrew Garfield. First, let us talk about Dafoe. He is really the most overlooked comic-book-movie supervillain of all time. He plays crazy so well and has one of the most flexible faces of any actor working today. The ways that he can contort his expressions is both terrifying and impressive. It was quite disappointing that he never got to come back to as the Green Goblin.

Garfield on the other hand does something entirely different this time around as Spider-Man: he endears himself as a hero. One of my biggest complaints with his time as the wall-crawler was how gruff and too cool for school he felt. Here, we are immediately won over by Garfield’s charm as he has much better writing and dialogue to work with. On top of that, when the second spidey discusses his past mistakes as our hero and how they led him down a darker path, we feel the pain he has been through and understand how lost he is.

Another huge compliment I want to give this movie is the chemistry between the three Spider-Men. When the three of them are on screen together it is awesome to watch! Honestly, if the interactions between these three actors were worse, it could have had a significant impact on the quality of the movie. They play off each other so well and almost immediately have a great dynamic that almost feels brotherly at times. The stories of their universes and discussing the various villains they have fought is hilarious when brought up in conversation between the three.

There are a few characters that suffer from a lack of screen time like Haden Church and Ifans. They were not as beloved as some of their counterparts, but one cannot but help to think perhaps the movie could have been more focused has these characters been removed. While I do not want to spoil the entire movie, the final battle has some long-lasting effects on the Marvel Cinematic Universe that may not have been fully explained or may not be as temporary as the stakes of this movie want you to feel.

All in all, I have to go back to my previous point: this movie’s most impressive feat is balancing a massive and talented cast without overwhelming us. It is a great final chapter for this trilogy of Spider-Man MCU movies, and I am excited to see where they will take Holland’s Spider-Man in the future.

8/10

Until I see another one