For months now, fans from all over the world have been speculating about the events of the massive cliffhanger from the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home would play out. Based on the trailer alone, the questions most fans had at the end of the movie were answered relatively quickly in the first act of No Way Home– Peter is wanted for the murder of Mysterio, his once private life has been blown wide open, and the ones closest to him (Ned, MJ and Aunt May) are also feeling the repercussions of his past actions. The Mysterio scandal has literally overtaken their entire lives. So, Peter does the only logical and sensible thing he can think of: He goes to Doctor Strange, a fellow Avenger, for help.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange agrees to help the young Peter Parker by casting a spell to make everyone forget that Peter is Spider-Man. It wasn’t until the spell had started, however, that Peter realizes that he doesn’t want everyone to forget who he is, which in turn creates a crack in the multiverse, setting the rest of the No Way Home’s events into a downward spiral.
Once the multiverse had been cracked, quite an assortment of supervillains from other universes begin to pop up in Tom Holland’s Peter Parker’s universe. We see Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, Jamie Fox’s Electro, Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman, Rhys Ifans’ Lizard, and, my personal favorite, William Dafoe’s Green Goblin. Much to Peter’s dismay, this rogue’s gallery almost instantly started making life more difficult for Peter and his friends.
The main conflict of No Way Home felt much more like a classic comic book adaptation than either of the previous Spider-Man installments. While hunting down his new enemies, Peter, at the behest of his Aunt May, decided to do the right thing and try to fix the enemies before sending them back to their respective universes. This, however, obviously had some serious ramifications, as the fallout of this decision put Peter through the ringer like have not seen before.
It’s easy to forget after watching Tom Holland’s Spider-Man performances over the years that the character of Peter Parker is still a kid. Despite everything that we have seen Peter do (like fighting Thanos for instance), he is still young and the decisions he makes can be immature, impulsive, and even sometimes flat out wrong. This was especially poignant when Doctor Strange echoed the same sentiment.
The first portion of No Way Home might be a little awkward and take a while to get going, but once the film gets to the heart of the story, the film moves into instant classic territory. Much like Avengers: Endgame, I could watch the last hour and fifteen minutes of this movie again, again and again.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Holland’s interactions was a neat change of pace from Tom and Robert Downey Jr. The dynamic between the two was one that isn’t student/mentor, but at the same time it wasn’t one of equals either. This is one that you kind of have to watch out for. It made the film more interesting for sure. At the heart of it all is Tom Holland’s master class performance; this is easily his best work as Spider-Man to date and showcased pure emotion that we haven’t seen from him yet. When Tom Holland cries, it’s like a gut reaction to make me cry! This movie was unexpectedly emotional and Tom Holland was excellent!
The action in No Way Home was just as excellent. It’s amazing how far technology has come since the first Spider-Man movie hit theaters in 2000. Doc Oct, Electro and Green Goblin all looked amazing and so did our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. I did feel the CGI for Lizard and Sandman was a little weak compared to the others.
No Way Home is pure fan service and Sony hit every note perfectly. I had seen the trailer for No Way Home hundreds of times, but nothing really prepared me for the overwhelming wave of nostalgia that came over me each time these villains started to appear. This movie is definitely villain heavy, but each one got their moments to shine. I felt like I was seven years old again watching William Dafoe on my screen as the Green Goblin again. The villains’ interactions between each other was awesome and definitely has given me an itch to see some sort of Sinister Six in the future!
Spoilers ahead!…
No Way Home was more than a movie, it was a moment. I’m talking about on par with the Endgame final fight scene moment. We had our first surprise ten minutes into the movie and the fun never stopped. The moment Andrew Garfield appeared on screen, the entire theater erupted and the ride never stopped till credits rolled. Seeing Toby McGuire from my childhood reprise his version of Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield (who I find to be severely underrated) and Tom Holland (my personal favorite Spider-Man) on screen together and seeing the chemistry between the three come through the silver screen put a smile on my face that would not go away.
I would be remiss if I failed to point out that Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man had one of the most impactful and emotional character redemption moments in any MCU movie that legit brought a tear to my eye. Pair that with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man finally going full circle with the death of his Aunt May is cinema and drama done right. The death of Aunt May is quite an interesting twist on Uncle Ben’s death as this is something movie and comic fans haven’t seen.
No Way Home almost feels like a dream that I don’t want to wake up from. It is by no means a perfect movie, but it is certainly a fun way to spend 2.5 hours. If you are a fan of the original Tobey Spider-Man, Andrew’s Amazing Spider-Man, or Tom Holland’s current Spider-Man, you will leave this film happy, looking forward to the time that you will get to watch the movie again.
Also, stay tuned for two after-credit scenes! The last one deserves a review all on its own…
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