“Spider-Man: No Way Home” Review

Tom Holland dons the Spider-Suit for the sixth time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Spider-Man in his third solo film “No Way Home.”

Before I even started reading comics, I already had a favorite superhero: Spider-Man. I grew up with the Sam Raimi trilogy and the “Amazing Spider-Man” films came out when I was in middle school. When Tom Holland started playing the web-slinger in “Captain America: Civil War” and became a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I saw the same qualities in him that I saw in the other actors who wore the spandex: an inexperienced kid trying to grow while balancing life as a superhero. 

While I love Holland as Spider-Man, I only liked his two solo films: “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” They were good, but not epic like the other Spider-Man films. However, I felt that these small-scale films which felt more like teen comedies were building up to something epic. I was completely right. 

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” was absolutely amazing in every way and has proven to not only be my favorite comic book film of the year, but also my favorite live-action Spider-Man film. While some filmgoers might be worried about all the hype surrounding this film, “No Way Home” exceeded all of my expectations.

Set immediately after “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has been revealed to the whole world to be Spider-Man which has made life hard for himself as well as his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), his best friend Ned (Jacob Batlon) and his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya). 

With so much public scrutiny against him, Parker visits Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to create a spell that will make everyone forget Peter Parker is Spider-Man which goes horribly wrong, bringing in supervillains from other universes (past Spider-Man series). With New York City in danger, Spider-Man and his allies must find a way to defeat these villains and Parker must learn what it means to be a hero.

The best analogy I can come up with to describe this film is to imagine that the first two MCU Spider-Man films are like the original “Star Wars.” They’re a lot of fun with a good sense of spectacle and character. But “No Way Home” is like “The Empire Strikes Back.” It is epic, more mature and isn’t afraid to get dark without abandoning the principles of the previous films.

Alfred Molina’s performance as Doctor Octopus is marvelous and cements his legacy as the best Spider-Man villain in film.

Tom Holland delivers his best performance yet as Spider-Man. He’s no longer the sophomore worried about asking out girls that he was in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” This Peter Parker has to deal with serious issues after his secret identity has been revealed. While other heroes in the MCU have made their identities public, Parker doesn’t have the riches of Iron Man or the secret farm house of Hawkeye. He lives in an apartment in Queens with his aunt. 

This is the first time that I’ve thought of this Spider-Man as a man which I think was the point. Instead of having Spider-Man graduate high school within one or two films, the MCU played the long game and let us get to know this guy before we see him really grow up, much like the comics. 

While Doctor Strange is in the film and does help Peter on his mission to stop these villains, this is very much Spider-Man’s journey.

What I love about “No Way Home” is how it’s not afraid to let its characters just sit around and talk because we know them so well. So, instead of the first 20-30 minutes feeling slow, they’re atmospheric and fun. It takes its time and lets you understand the character’s motivations, especially the villains. 

As a lifelong fan of Spider-Man who grew up with the other Spider-Man series, I was incredibly excited and nervous to see Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jaime Foxx, Rhys Ifans and Thomas Hayden Church reprise their roles as The Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Electro, The Lizard and The Sandman respectively. Especially since I felt that The Green Goblin and Doc Ock were handled so well that I didn’t think there was anything you could do to improve them. I was wrong.

All of these villains were done justice, especially ones, like Electro, which were handled poorly in their previous films. All of these villains have their backstories explored so that new fans who haven’t seen the past Spider-Man franchises are all caught up. However, they’re done in such an interesting way that it never felt boring for me. It was nice to get a refresher since the newest villain, Electro, was from a film that came out seven years ago. 

Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe were fantastic as Doc Ock and The Green Goblin and they each brought something different to this film. Molina is much more logical while Dafoe was straight-up scary. Also, while I always found The Green Goblin of 2002’s “Spider-Man” to be silly looking, he looks damn intimidating here. 

Willem Dafoe’s performance as the Green Goblin creates a far more intimidating figure than what was previously seen in 2002’s “Spider-Man.”

All of the references to past Spider-Man films are a lot of fun, especially since they don’t appear until halfway through the story with the MCU’s characters already set up. What I don’t understand is how so many people who have praised this film have said that “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” relied too much on fan-service when “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” did the same thing as “No Way Home.” Sometimes I just don’t understand people. 

As entertaining as all of these callbacks are, the role this film plays in the MCU is incredibly epic. I saw this film with a reasonably full theater and I don’t think I’ve heard an audience that wowed since “Avengers: Endgame.” While most of the Marvel films of this year have been more standard or dedicated to setting up new characters, this was an epic look at a familiar character.

In between all of the action and surprises is a maturity to the story that sees Peter Parker make great sacrifices. I thought throughout the film that Peter would reverse some of his choices but he doesn’t. He makes the hard decisions and this kind of writing surprised me because most blockbusters try to do what the mass audiences expect.

I tried really hard to make sure my expectations weren’t too high for this film because there were all sorts of wild rumors about who and what would be in this film. So, I was amazed at just how much love for Spider-Man there was in “No Way Home.” Second only to “Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse,” this is the best Spider-Man film ever made. 

There are some people who thought that the MCU should have stopped after “Avengers: Endgame.” While that would have been a solid conclusion, we would have been deprived of so much including “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” 

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is not a perfect film and, if you think too hard about its story it can stop to make sense (like “Avengers: Endgame”) but everything about this film was so good and had such passion that its problems don’t really matter. It’s Spectacular. It’s Amazing. It’s Ultimate. It’s Friendly Neighborhood. Oh wait. That adjective doesn’t really work. Oh well. This is easily the best Marvel film since “Endgame” and I can’t wait to see both the future of this franchise and Spider-Man.