Spider-Man: No Way Home Review!

 Alright! Today I'm reviewing the 27th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the 3rd movie in Tom Holland's Spider-Man trilogy, Spider-Man: No Way Home, which sees a Spider-Man with his identity ousted to the entire world ask for Doctor Strange's help in making people forget, leading to multiverse shenanigans. And I loved it!

 Now, I'm going to be doing a spoiler-free section and then a more technicaly spoiler section where I discuss specific plot details. 

So, in general, I loved it. Going into it I had a lot of worries - the MCU's track record for 2021 has been surprinsgly rocky, the CGI in the trailer looked kinda terrible, and I was worried the MCU would do what too many franchises do nowadays and subplant character growth for fan service. I'm pleased to say that No Way Home dodged all of those. 

Without going into great detail, the movie is extremely emotional. My eyes were wet for the entire last half of the movie. So many goosebump providing moments and actually good plot details come into full force to create one hell of a Spider-Man story. The motivation is epic but the fights are personal, which is something the previous MCU Spider-Man movies were lacking (Far From Home's CGI drone army isn't the best finale ever made). 

I applaud the movie for the comedy-serious mix. For the most part, the jokes land (A fact that really worried me after the "Scooby-Doo this crap!" line in the trailer), which is really good for the MCU. The biggest (And maybe only?) jarring tonal shift is right in the beginning, when, after a really cool voiceover recap of Far From Home, upbeat music starts playing. That was jarring. But it let the serious moments be serious.

You also don't walk away from this feeling like characters you've loved for decades have become jokes. They're treated like big threats. Spider-Man does well at handling them, but they still have serious impacts on the plot and his character moving forward. 

Doc Ock's first appearance man, chills.

There's also not too much fan serice (Aside from the knowledge that, out of infinite multiverse, somehow the only characters who show up are ones audiences have seen, and that the viewer has to have seen those movies to understand why they're big deals. It's definitely made for Spider-Man fans and no one else). Ghostbusters: Afterlife had too much fan service. Great movie, but there's too much. No Way Home does a much better job at this - while previous movies are referenced, they build conversations around them instead of quick cuts to twinkies.

My biggest issue with the movie is that a few of the characters are just "there." Going into this I knew a character like Sandman would need a really good explanation for why he's fighting Spider-Man given the ending of Spider-Man 3. And... he doesn't. He wants to go to his own universe to see his daughter, right? So he should be in favor of them sending them back, so him fighting in the final battle makes zero sense. His motivation literally boils down to someone telling him to calm down and him saying "I don't care." Which is sad, because Sandman is low-key the best part of Spider-Man 3. 

But the other characters are also kinda "there." I think back to Into the Spider-Verse, which not only did a) Not have two prior movies to set up the characters, b) Had to introduce a completely new main character to the audience and c) Had to introduce a strong ensemble of completely new Spider-Men to the audience. No Way Home barely does any of that. The movie, in all honesty, should have been at least 3 hours long to let some moments breath properly and to fully understand each character's motivation. With a main cast of, like, what, 12? The plot moves very quickly. 

Speaking of which, the movie is paced really well. Never in the entire movie did I think to myself "Man, how long have I been here?" My eyes were glued to the screen the entire time. I was hooked. The movie grabbed my attention and just never let go. I was so invested in the characters it was hard not to. And the movie's plot took a lot of turns and had actual consequences, which I wasn't expecting after two fairly inconsequential movies. 

Green Goblin was iconic here. He outshined everyone.

And I want to applaud the cast, specifically Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina. They are amazing in the movie, relishing the opportunity to play these icons again. Dafoe specially. My enjoyment of the movie, for a very large part, hinged on how amazing of an actor he is. His Green Goblin is terrifying. During the final fight I thought to myself "Finally, the debate over who Spidey's archnemesis is is over." There are some Ledger-level moments of villainy in here, I was literally terrified of him. 

Kinda tacked on, but I also really liked Strange's role in this movie. He's not so much a mentor to Peter as he is someone who has to deal with him and his recklessness. 

Unrelated, but Zendaya's MJ is perfect and Peter's "Life felt normal for a week before college and life happening" hit a bit too close to home. 

The movie had serious and tragic moments. And Spider-Man is defined by tragedy. The Parker Luck finally begins to set in here. The movie ends with Holland in place to become THE definitive version of Spider-Man. Bring on the next trilogy, I need this story to continue. As soon as the lights came on I wanted to see it again.

Overall, I give Spider-Man: No Way Home a 10/10. "Negative comparisons to Into the Spider-Verse aside, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a fully formed Spider-Man movie in its own right, epic and tragic in all the ways Spider-Man stories should be." 

Now for spoilers

It was fairly obvious that all the previous Spider-Men would appear. No one was shocked. But I had a few gripes about it - Namely, they never had the Raimi theme BLARING in the movie theater. A few strings were hidden here and there, but I wanted the full thing to BLAST. Just give it to me. The soundtrack was noticeably good though, which is an improvement from standard MCU fare. 

I also disliked how there was no closure for his multiverse friends. Did their fates change because they were saved or did they die their terrible deaths? Why was depowering Sandman a big deal, he was chill! Would he have been better replaced by the Vulture? Or Mysterio? Yo, Mysterio! I'm spitballing here, but Mysterio showing up after he ruins Peter's life would have been pretty epic. A very emotional fight right there. And it was still kinda sad that none of the villains new Holland's Peter personally. 

But they never answer the questions. The other franchise's characters just disappear off the face of that earth, never to be seen again (Hopefully not). They needed a big sweepy shot to end the movie with all three Spider-Men swinging through their respective cities with a combination of all three Spider-Man themes. And a clear look at his new suit! I need a still of that so badly, it looked amazing!

Also, the legal jargon was really brushed over. When everyone knows Falcon is Sam Wilson he can't get a loan and walks around unmobbed, but Peter Parker, a broke highschooler from Queens? Bricks through his windows and helicopter footage. They resolve the legal issues in, like, a sentence which unfortunatley appears after Matt Murdock shows up, so the cheering audience made me lose that plot detail. There should have at least been a courtroom, right? At least? 

Andrew Garfield was so good here. He's such an amazing actor.

Here are some assorted ideas I had that I was disappointed they didn't do in retrospect: They should have made Tobey's casual outfit worn over his Spidey outfit resemble that of Peter B. Parker and a fan idea that Tobey Maguire was Uncle Ben in this universe and seeing him makes Holland's Peter spiral hard. 

But there was one scene - there was one scene where one choice would have had the audience literally trembling from goosebumps. Following Aunt May's death, they try to figure out where Peter woud go to "get away from it all," and they say it would have to be really quiet. I thought they were going to cut to Peter kneeling at Uncle Ben's grave, man. I thought it would happen, my heart was pounding, I would have started crying. It would have been devastating, the frame of Peter with his hand on the grave. But I guess Uncle Ben doesn't exist in this universe (But he did in What If...?). Or maybe he'll be introduced in the new trilogy. 

A mix of this shot and the cover for All-Star Superman #6 was needed. 

Also, I really love that the movie made him make the hard choices. I wasn't expecting this to have consequences, but it did. And it had major ones. And I was kinda devastated by them. Holland is on the right path to become the ultimate Spider-Man.