Spider-Man: No Way Home Review - The MCU Astonishes Once Again

 

If someone would have recapped the ins and outs of No Way Home to me without watching the movie for myself, I would have been very skeptical. Well, maybe not considering Kevin Feige was involved in the highly-anticipated project. Add Jon Watts to the mix (director of the two previous films: Homecoming and Far From Home) and the output is the end to a trilogy that is able to hang with films from the Infiniti Saga. Put plain and simple, No Way Home accomplishes the impossible. Before you read on, I need to point out that this review does contain spoilers as I find it impossible to give the film its credit without speaking on key details from its biggest plot moments. You've been warned.

For those of you who have not watched the movie yet, what are you waiting for? Go IMAX that thing and come on back when you've caught your breath.

Enter the Mind-Blown emoji here (Spoilers Ahead!)

I just have a few words: Matt Murdock/Daredevil. Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man. Tobey McGuire's Spider-Man. The cracking multi-verse with potential villains threatening to come through and wreak havoc. The mid-credit scene with Eddie Brock/Venom within Tom Holland's Spider-Man's dimension. Madness. And I'm not even talking about the end-credit scene.

I had the privilege of enjoying No Way Home with my girlfriend over this past weekend but I'm not entirely sure she noticed the mental and emotional state I was in sitting in the seat next to her's. Sure I clapped and cheered with the rest of the theater when long-time theories came true in front of our eyes, but my socks were completely blown off on the inside. Perhaps she got the idea once the night was over and I had nearly talked her head off about the film and theories I had for the future. I'm sure you can relate. Alright, let's get into the nitty gritty.

No Way Home hits a home run for the fans

Realistically speaking, this film shouldn't have worked as seamlessly as it did. Marvel took entities from films spread out over the last two decades and were able to get them to co-exist on one screen as if there was nothing to it. Kevin Feige and the Marvel team have to be wizards themselves.

We pick up directly after the events of Far From Home with Peter Parker's identity being revealed to the world and mayhem following him right after. With Matt Murdock as his lawyer, Peter recognizes that while he can't be persecuted by the authorities for his involvement in the death of Mysterio, his life and the life of his loved ones would never be the same. Something interesting to note is the news given to Peter while he is in the hands of the police about Nick Fury's whereabouts. Apparently, he's been off-world for over a year and isn't around to back Peter's story up and clear his name. Geez.

The plot thickens when Peter and his aunt are forced to move out of their apartment in Queens and when no matter how hard they try, MJ, Ned and Peter are unable to get into MIT or any of their choice schools due to the recent events Peter has been involved in. This leads him to the sanctum in New York where he approaches Doctor Strange with the idea of turning back the time to stop his identity reveal from happening. Only he's reminded that Strange no longer has the time stone. Instead, Strange offers to cast a spell that could help Peter, knowing that interfering with time and reality could have adverse effects on their world. Doctor Strange simply has a soft spot for Peter since Infinity War.

And thus begins the trouble for our protagonists after the spell is botched (thanks to Peter's back and forth on who gets to retain memories of his identity) and Strange is forced to have to contain the spell before allowing it to break loose. Peter is kicked out of the sanctum for his selfishness and shortly thereafter, has a run in with Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus (who we know to be dead, by the way). The madness only increases from there as Strange concludes that the multi-verse has been impacted by the botched spell and in order to clean things up, tasks Peter with rounding up anyone who crossed over. This puts him up against the Green Goblin and Sand-Man from the original Spider-Man dimension and Electro and Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man dimension. Nuts. 

During the second half of the film, it becomes apparent that Peter is in over his head dealing with the five villains and in his lowest moment, is approached by none other than Andrew Garfield and Tobey McGuire (thanks to Ned's use of the sling ring stolen from Doctor Strange). It was at this moment that I was able to truly appreciate what Marvel had accomplished. Even more so once the action sequences began and the three web-slingers began working together to capture the villains and work on getting everyone back to the world they belonged to. Seeing the three Spider-Men on screen together proved to me that anything is possible in the future for the MCU. There is no hurdle too large for Kevin Feige and his team and the fans are so much better off for it. Believe me, it feels great to be a Marvel fan right now.

The weight of being Spider-Man (and not being able to control everything)

If there was a take-away from this film that I was able to resonate with deeply, is that while Peter did everything in his power to get everything to go his way, life has different plans sometimes. In an effort to re-align his life through magic (and cast the spell to his liking), Peter unintentionally put his loved ones and world in danger. Even when he was given the chance by Doctor Strange to round up the villains and send them back to their worlds, Peter felt obligated to help them instead and find a way to "fix" them. Unfortunately for him, not everyone wants to be fixed, and when the villains do what they do best, Peter ends up losing Aunt May in the process. I won't lie, I had to fight hard to hold back tears during that scene. Especially when the iconic "with great power comes great responsibility" line was said, bringing back memories of Uncle Ben right before he dies in the original Spider-Man.

But while Peter was ultimately able to heal the "Sinister Five" and help safely return everyone to where they came from, it was when the multi-verse was cracking open at the end that he finally understood the weight of being Spider-Man. Realizing that he can't have every detail go his way and that he must own up to his actions, Peter allows Doctor Strange to finish the spell that causes everyone to forget who he is. It is at that defining moment that we see Peter become an adult, understanding that he can no longer rely on others to help clean up the messes he creates and that the role of being Spider-Man is for him to assume responsibility of. As the last chapter of this brilliant trilogy closes, Peter finds himself truly on his own for the first time, which poses the question: what can we expect from his character going forward?

Final Rating - 9/10 

All in all, No Way Home was my favorite entry to the trilogy as it was able to capitalize on all fronts as a Marvel film. Not only was the film filled with excitement and emotional sequences from beginning to end, the characters all had depth to their complexities. Peter's character development in particular has been an impressive feat to see grow over the last couple of years. Do I even need to bring up the action in this film? Marvel delivers knock out punches from all angles and the CGI is brilliantly handled throughout, dishing out moments of raving movie theaters across the world. The inclusion of characters spanning from films over the last twenty years (including Matt Murdock/Daredevil) was a spectacle to see. Oh, and the easter eggs; you know who was coming through the cracked multi-verse at the end, didn't you?

Let's also not forget the hilarious moment that was re-created from that multi-Spider-Man meme all over social media. In case you never took the time to look into what clip that meme came from, check it out below. That's vintage stuff right there.