“Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021) is the twenty-seventh Marvel Cinematic Universe film and the eighth live action Spider-Man, which includes Sam Raimi and Marc Webb’s film series. It starts where “Spider-Man: Far from Home” (2019), which I did not love, ended with everyone knowing that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is Spider-Man’s real identity. The unwanted attention disrupts Peter’s friends and family’s life so he asks Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help, but the spell goes wrong, which draws everyone who knows about Peter’s secret identity from every part of the multiverse into the prime universe. How can Peter stop the multiverses from rupturing?
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is a reward for sticking with the webbed hero through multiple franchises for almost two decades. If you asked any viewer if we expected every corner of the Spider-Verse to culminate in this moment, even after “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), anyone who replies in the affirmative is lying. The moral of the story is poignant: just because it is not your problem does not mean that it is not your responsibility to help people especially when they do not deserve it. This movie comes in second to the Season Five finale of “The Walking Dead” in terms of unimaginable sacrifice and goodness. Imbuing the traditional paper coffee cup with significance!
Is “Spider-Man: No Way Home” perfect? Absolutely not. The MCU needs to stop with the trope of the law chasing down the vigilante. It never goes anywhere; however I will sign a waiver and explain why in the spoiler section. It felt like the media fallout was meta commentary on the media’s fascination with Zendaya and Tom Holland’s relationship and is rebuking the world for being lookey-loos. While I will sign a waiver this time, I have never liked the “Inception” vision that depicts the Mirror Verse whenever Doctor Strange is trying to contain a perceived threat.
Why so many waivers? Because “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is just cool. If you are excited, who cares if you are the only person in theater screaming with joy. Joy is rare, and life is usually miserable. Let it out!
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“Spider-Man: No Way Home” brought back Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), aka Daredevil, for a few unnecessary seconds so I will accept the wanted vigilante trope. Are the rest of the Defenders too far behind? I hope not except Colleen Wing is Iron Fist, and we pretend Finn Jones is off screen forever. God bless the film for not making me endure watching Murdock in lawyer mode other than in the apartment.
Spider-Man trapping Doctor Strange in the Mirror Verse because of math is chef’s kiss! The dynamic between the two was like a friendlier, less sexual tension reference to “The Power of the Dog” (2021). If Doctor Strange complained, “You talk like a victrola,” I would have screamed. I am so happy that Wong got a promotion, and it was not a technicality because Wong has never broken the universe.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” gave us five villains, made them bad ass then fixed them. We got our cake and ate it too. Electro (Jamie Foxx) was hilarious without being reduced to comic relief. Doc Oc (Alfred Molina) stood out as the smartest in the group. (Side note: is Molina the only one who got the de-aging process?) Lizard (Rhys Iffans)was the least repentant. I would not be surprised that when he gets back, he is going to miss his old form. Sandman was forgettable, and it makes sense that he had a lot of reused footage. Green Goblin/Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) is the only one who did not care that Peter Parker was not his Peter Parker. As Osborn, he was happy to socialize with him, and as Green Goblin, he was more than willing to kill him and ruin his life for fun. Was the Green Goblin always that strong? Damn, he hurt him worse than Thanos pre-snap. Dafoe ran away with best actor in a cast of brilliant actors, many British. Screams at “I’m something of a scientist myself.” I get why Foxx kept bowing down to Dafoe. I never expected a comic book movie that did not involve Black Panther trying to save the bad guys. It was so touching, especially when each one made amends with their respective Spider-Man.
In the MCU, Uncle Ben is Aunt May (Marisa Tomei)! It is not that the MCU spared us another Uncle Ben death, it just had not gotten around to traumatizing Peter! (Side note: so had to Uncle Ben die or was auntie never married?)
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” gave us three Spider-Mans on the screen: Tom Holland as Spiper-Man 1, Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man 2 and Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man 3. I only thought, “THIS IS HAPPENING!!!! THE RUMORS ARE TRUE!!!!” I hate Maguire’s face so when the Green Goblin stabbed him, it felt right. Because I watched “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” (2021) repeatedly, I cannot unsee Garfield as Jim Bakker so that back cracking scene had a connotation that no one intended. The youth pastor dig was perfect. Also I loved how encouraging all the Spideys were with each other. I am tired of doppelganger tropes with people trying to kill each other because there can only be one. Let it begin here! Spider-Man 3 finally got a second chance to save MJ, and that moment moved me. Garfield stood out as the funniest one. “Are you in a band?” He would listen to the music too. I loved how this film was therapy for Garfield. We love you! Sorry that you got shafted! It is probably more my fault than the film’s, but once they were suited up, only Spider-Man 1 stood out, and in the denouement, I could not tell Spider-Man 2 or 3 apart.
I signed a waiver, but if they saved all the villains then returned them to their time without dying, but Spider-Man 2 and 3 have already aged and are older than the versions that we saw in their respective franchises, how does that affect the timeline? I did not really worry about this issue when Loki escaped in “Avengers: Infinity War,” and I have not seen the MCU television series yet so maybe the answers are obvious, but I would still like to know. Does it just create another universe?
As someone who did not enjoy “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (2021), but loves Tom Hardy, thank you “Spider-Man: No Way Home” for releasing me from feeling required to watch any more Venom sequels though I probably will still do it because I am a completist.
Please indulge my inner whiny baby. I love the dynamic between Peter, MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon). That group hug after Aunt May died was the sweetest moment, and how are Peter and MJ the cutest couple and still look like children when they are successful, mature, grown adults getting ready to make a family. Are they seriously never getting back together again?!? Why can’t we have Peter be happy? There had to be another way. Come on! Is this how we get Gwen? I don’t want Gwen. Please tell me that reunite. Ruin their normal lives, Peter! Ruin it!
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” may not be super deep, but it is super sweet, entertaining and everything that I did not know that I wanted. Thank you! What a way to end a year with Marvel!