Spider-Man: No Way Home

RATING: B+

If there's one hero that Marvel gets as much mileage out of on the big screen as much as DC does with Batman, it's Spider-Man. This is the third live-action iteration of the web-crawler on its third installment--and that's not including this version's appearance in other MCU movies, *or* the cartoon Spider-Verse movie. The latter introduced the multiverse--a concept that was slightly easier to handle from an animation perspective, and it helped that they were working with almost purely new characters with no previous appearances. No Way Home had a tougher task ahead. 

If Infinity War/Endgame was the most ambitious superhero crossover event to date by bringing characters from approximately a dozen (ballpark guess) stand-alones in the MCU, No Way Home makes a case in its own right by bringing characters from different properties/movies--*with no prior connection to the MCU.* 

When we last left Peter Parker/Spider-Man, the rest of the world had just found out about his secret identity--an interesting issue to deal with, given that virtually none of the other Avengers in the MCU have secret identities. A wrinkle: it was revealed by the last movie's big bad Mysterio, who framed Spidey for his own death. While the hatred of Spidey/believing of Mysterio's lies isn't quite as near-unanimous as the trailers implied, it's still more than enough to make Peter's life miserable--as well as those closely associated with him, including MJ and Ned. So Peter turns to Doctor Strange for help, who has a spell that will make everyone forget about Peter. In the moment, Peter realizes that would mean his friends also forgetting--one thing leads to another, the spell gets messed up, holes get ripped in the fabric of the universe--bringing over some visitors from other ones too. Peter quickly finds himself in over his head as he has to deal with various villains (among other visitors that I can't name due to not being in any of the marketing/trailers) that he doesn't know... but fans of previous Spider-Man incarnations will.

What Marvel tries to pull off here with this crossover event is frankly absurd; and yet, against the odds, it works. Interestingly enough, it's not just a movie for MCU fans--if anything, it's more for Spider-Man cinematic fans in general. The latter group should be overjoyed to see the return of Dr. Octopus and the Green Goblin--both from Raimi's trilogy, and those are just the biggest headliners. 

The result is an installment that is easily better than the previous Tom Holland movies, particularly Far From Home--due in part to its sheer ambition, as well as having much improved action scenes. That's part of the benefit of having better villains; the Vulture was only interesting due to his backstory and Michael Keaton's performance, and Mysterio has never been a favorite of mine. Peter's fight with Doc Ock on the freeway is a particular standout and a reminder of why Doc Ock is arguably the best villain in the Spider-Man mythos. 

On the villainous front, both Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe are welcome returners, even if they had to use CGI to de-age them a bit for this (though it's pretty well-done de-aging). A pleasant surprise, however, is Electro from Amazing Spider-Man 2 getting an upgrade; his appearance and powers are closer to the comic-book source material. And thanks to better writing, Jamie Foxx is able to be more charismatic as a villain as well, and thus be a standout. 

Another plus is on the characterization side; there has been some frankly odd character writing choices under Jon Watts' run, such as MJ being needlessly snarky to the point of unlikability early on. However, she showed signs of improvement in FFH (one of its few big pluses), and now she and Peter are a genuinely enjoyable couple to watch. The fact that Tom Holland and Zendaya have gotten closer in real life has probably not hurt their chemistry either. Aunt May also feels closer to the usual Aunt May, albeit a much younger version, as opposed to just being borderline comic relief/somebody for Tony and Happy to flirt with. In other words, there is more honoring of roots here, and the movie is better for it. 

Among the issues this film *does* have, a couple of the villains do not fare as well as the others--the Sandman and the Lizard. I'm not convinced their actors were ever actually on set in person, because we never see them in human form for more than 10 seconds each--and they appear to just have taken old footage from their prior appearances for those parts. Clearly the two actors (Thomas Haden Church and Rhys Ifans) lent their voices, but that may have been *all* they did--which makes it slightly odd that they even bothered bringing these two villains back, especially considering that they basically just boil down to being CGI monsters for Spider-Man to fight. (Not to mention that the CGI doesn't even look the same; you can re-use old footage, but you can't re-use old CGI footage that was perfectly fine?) 

This is probably the biggest critical flaw with the film. There are a few other minor gripes as well; one side character suddenly develops new abilities out of the blue with scarcely any explanation. Though the continuity is generally strong, there is one slip with a reference to a character from a previous iteration. I also personally have never been the biggest fan of the "hero has been framed for something he obviously didn't do" trope, so the film's opening can be a little tiring until we get to the good stuff. 

The ending is also a bit of a point of contention for me, given that it's one of those ones that *should* have lasting consequences--but unless this ends up being the last Tom Holland Spider-Man movie, it almost certainly won't last. The MCU has a habit of doing this occasionally (think Iron Man 3), but I'm not sure I'd entirely be happy even if it *did* stick. 

Ultimately though, a good number of viewers are likely here for the crossover event--and in that case, aside from wasting a couple of the minor villains, the film succeeds in impressive fashion. Spider-Man fans of *any* of the previous live-action film iterations will want to watch this, even if they aren't necessarily into the Tom Holland movies. Because, in an unusual case, this movie does less to serve the MCU at large and more to serve the Spider-Man fandom. And while I am often the first to gripe about MCU movies that do not appear to matter in the grand scheme of the franchise, an exception can certainly be made here.