Review: Spider-Man: No Way Home
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!! I TRIED MY VERY BEST NOT TO SPOIL ANYTHING ABOUT THIS FILM, BUT THESE DAYS IT DOESN’T TAKE MUCH TO BE SPOILED ABOUT SOMETHING SIMPLY BY READING A FEW KEY WORDS ARRANGED IN A CERTAIN WAY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
Spider-Man: No Way Home, directed by Jon Watts, tells the tale of young Peter Parker (Tom Holland), a high school senior trying to get into MIT alongside his friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and girlfriend MJ (Zendaya). But things get complicated after Parker’s secret identity as Spider-Man gets leaked to the entire world after his fight with Mysterio. Desperate to fix his friends’ lives as well as his Aunt May’s (Marisa Tomei), Parker seeks the help of Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell that would make everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. But the spell goes wrong and causes a bunch of bad guys from different universes to start pouring through. It’s up to Peter to stop these colorful characters and set the multiverse straight again.
This is the latest chapter in the MCU and one that is evidently highly anticipated, seeing as now as of this review the film earned a billion dollars worldwide in box office revenue, the first time a film has done so since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yeah, despite a essentially world-ending pandemic people still packed theaters to see another freaking Marvel film. But this Marvel film is different. This Marvel film promised crossovers the likes of which we never seen. This Marvel film promised Endgame levels of fan service and excitement in the midst of a depressing COVID-filled season. This Marvel film promised to actually be fun.
Does it succeed? Yeah, for the most part. No Way Home is, for better or for worse, an Avengers level movie that delivers to the fans exactly what they want.
This is a noticeable improvement compared to the last two Spidey films in the MCU. The cinematography actually feels dynamic overall; there were a lot of well staged scenes giving the film some much needed personality, especially during the slower parts of the film. The dynamic visuals is even more complimented when the film shifts into high gear with its immensely fun action sequences. The action sequences are some of the most fun I’ve had in an MCU film; it’s fast paced, not overly edited, well choreographed, and super unique at times.
The performances were also pretty great this time around; none of the actors gave a noticeably bad performance. Tom Holland gives us a more mature Spidey this time around and finally nails the grown up Spider-Man performance we’ve all been waiting to see from him. Zendaya also gets a lot more time in this film to show off her talent as an actress and shines very well in this film. Couple other highlights in the film include Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Jamie Fox who reprises his role as Electro from Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Willem Dafoe, who reprises his role as the Green Goblin from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man but gives a much different performance compared to that film. Gone is the campiness from the Raimi film and Dafoe instead gives us a much more sinister portrayal of the Goblin.
There are a lot of colorful characters in this film, but not all of them needed to be there. My biggest issue with the film is the fact that it’s too dang long. The film dedicates a LOT of screen time to these individual characters when all it adds is unnecessary fan service. This is especially evident at the start of the final act of the film, and that’s all I’ll say about THAT.
The story is also a bit of a convoluted mess. The main conflict of the film doesn’t feel like a real conflict when you think about it; it feels like something that could’ve been resolved had certain characters behaved differently or simply just say something differently. There are plot holes galore throughout the film, with some details feeling straight up incomplete. Other issues I had include the score being too generic for my taste, the tone being super inconsistent as expected from an MCU film, and of course, the constant in-your-face pointless references to the MCU, there just to remind you that this film takes place in the MCU.
Overall despite the many, many, MANY flaws I still had a lot of fun with this movie. Time will tell if this film gets better or worse with every subsequent viewing (hopefully with less diehard fanboys and girls screaming at EVERY reference that pops up on screen), but for what it is I can see myself watching this film again, which is more than what I could say for the majority of MCU films lately. If you just happen to be the one or two individuals that still haven’t seen this film yet by all means go check it out. It’s a hype love letter to all things Spider-Man that deserves at least one watch for yourself.
Final Verdict: 7/10