When I walked into this movie, my greatest worry was that it was going to just end up being Into the Spiderverse but in live-action. What I ended up seeing was the Avengers: Endgame of Spider-Man movies. So how is Spider-Man: No Way Home and is it worth the watch?
Movie Premises
Picking up immediately from the conclusion of Far from Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home returns us to Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) life which has been upended by his secret identity being revealed. While he’s able to prove that he is innocent of the crime he’s accused of, his closest friends and family are starting to suffer from being connected to him, leading him to try and help them by asking Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).
When their planned spell goes awry because of Peter trying to change it, villains from the multiverse are dragged to his world. And not just any villains: the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Sandman (Thomas Hayden Chuch), Lizard (Rhys Ifans), and Electro (Jamie Foxx). As Peter tries to fix his mistake and simultaneously help these villains, he’ll get pushed to his limits as he gets one final lesson in what it means to be Spider-Man, with help from both his friends and a few new allies.
Blending of Characters
This is pretty much the best of the MCU Spider-Man films. It does what all great Spidey stories do: have Peter’s actions affect his life and follow his struggle to make it right, often with personal sacrifice. Bringing back the villains from the past movies allows it to have the most iconic sinister foes of the webhead play a massive role in this. Seeing all these actors actually together, and interacting, making comments about each other, it’s every fan’s dream. And having so many different types of villains allows for some of the best action scenes in any superhero movie.
The cast is of course great. Holland is still a great Peter Parker, allowing his youth to let him not only be hilarious but also heartbreaking when he needs to be. Zendaya’s MJ still has amazing chemistry with him, making their romance adorable. Cumberbatch acting as this film’s MCU alumni ally has great moments with Holland. And of course, the bad guys are fun to watch. Dafoe’s mix of gleeful evil and tragic self-torture, Molina’s smug and wry delivery, Foxx’s anger and yearning for power, they just all are doing so good, and seeing how they play off each other and Peter and his friends are true highlights. And then there are the big ones that will be hidden behind a spoiler block, so read at your own risk.
Spider-Man: No Way Home spoilers ahead.
Spoiler
Yes, the worst kept secret about the movie is true. Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield have returned, and not just in a brief moment or “only showing up for the final fight” sense, they actually are a big part of the third act, and seeing all three work together is the absolute best part of the movie, whether it’s fighting in the climax or just supporting each other. The fact that we’re getting closure on their stories, as well as giving them redemption for what happened with their pasts and their foes… well, that’s just icing on the cake.
Visuals and Soundtrack
This movie fires on all cylinders, from the visuals to the music, as Michael Giacchino not only does great with his own music (giving great renditions of his theme tunes for both Spider-Man and Dr. Strange) but also mixing in character themes from past movies that were composed by Danny Elfman, James Horner, and Hans Zimmer. It’s an absolute love letter to the live-action cinematic history of Spider-Man.
The main flaws I’d say you could find are if you didn’t like the MCU take on Spider-Man, this may not change your mind much. The movie does require watching all the previous films to truly appreciate it. Also, something that was teased in another movie leading up to this one ends up having only a small payoff. But honestly, this is such a good movie and feels like the big finale to Spider-Man as we’ve known him in the films so far. While I’m sure we’ll still get more films with him in the MCU, as well as whatever Sony does in their own movies, this is a great conclusion to the arc that began when Tom Holland first appeared in Captain America: Civil War.
I previously ranked all the live-action Spider-Man movies in the buildup to Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s release. I think it’s fair to say where I think it lands on that ranking if I could do it again. And honestly, this fits snugly in the top three (I won’t say what position). If you love Spider-Man, especially the cinematic versions we’ve had for the last 19 years, you should go see Spider-Man: No Way Home.
