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'Spider-Man: No Way Home Review' - A Triumphant, Heartbreaking Finale

Ewan Moore

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'Spider-Man: No Way Home Review' - A Triumphant, Heartbreaking Finale

Featured Image Credit: Sony

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the cinematic equivalent of a hyperactive kid tipping all their action figures onto the bed and smashing them together for a few hours. It’s an utterly ridiculous film in which so much happens. Fortunately, it’s also got more than enough heart, humour, and pathos to balance out the more bombastic punch-the-air comic book moments with genuine, grounded drama. 

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Picking up immediately after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, J. Jonah Jameson (J.K Simmons, once again proving he was born for the role) has revealed to the world that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Spider-Man are one and the same, inadvertently helping Mysterio to frame the webhead for the last film’s climatic London rampage in the process. 

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Peter’s life soon spirals out of control. But it’s not until our hero’s unmasking starts to have an effect on the people he cares about that he decides to visit Doctor Strange (a delightfully dry Benedict Cumberbatch) for a magical solution to his ailment. 

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You’ve probably seen the trailers by now. A spell to make the world forget Peter Parker is Spider-Man goes wrong, and a crack in the universe opens up. Isn’t that always the way? Through this rift spills a handful of villains from the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield movies. Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Electro (Jamie Foxx), Lizard (Rhys Ifans) and Sandman (Thomas Haden-Church). Not quite a Sinister Six, then, but far more villains than we’ve ever seen in a Spidey movie before. 

It’s genuinely impressive to me just how much No Way Home is able to juggle, especially given that Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 both fell apart under the weight of far less. Returning director Jon Watts, along with screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have crafted a story that dances from one big moment to the next, but somehow always finds the time for the quieter beats to remind us why, exactly, we should care about what’s happening. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home / Credit: Sony Pictures
Spider-Man: No Way Home / Credit: Sony Pictures
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Seeing these classic villains back is, of course, one of the movie’s biggest pulls for big ol’ Spider-Nerds like me. Watching Molina and Dafoe’s twisted scientists bicker and snipe at each other is delicious, and the kind of interaction fans of the Sam Raimi movies have waited their entire lives for. Foxx’s Electro is also genuinely brilliant, and gets some of the film’s best jokes and scariest moments. It’s truly wonderful to see an actor of Foxx’s calibur get to play the villain the right way after an undeniably shaky appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man 2

But the beating heart of No Way Home is Peter Parker, and Tom Holland delivers a masterful performance that’s as laugh-out-loud funny as it is tear-jerkingly heartbreaking. There have been plenty of valid arguments levelled against the MCU’s version of Spider-Man. Many criticize him for having been too reliant on and in awe of Tony Stark, while others believe we’ve yet to see him really stand on his own two feet and clean up his own messes without the help of his billionaire mates or wizard colleagues. Here, at last, is a Peter Parker who has learned to help himself - and learns the hard way that the right thing to do is very rarely the easiest option. 

In many ways, I actually see No Way Home as the culmination of a three-film origin story for the webhead. It’s not that the MCU Spidey wasn’t a great Spidey before now, but through the trials and tribulations of this (often shockingly brutal) multiverse adventure, we start to see a version of the iconic hero that’s less Spider-Boy and more Spider-Man. Holland displays an empathy, a willingness to forgive and see the best in others that’s just textbook Spider-Man. It’s a real joy to see it front and centre in this film.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home / Credit: Sony Pictures
Spider-Man: No Way Home / Credit: Sony Pictures

There’ll be plenty more to talk about in the coming months, believe me. But to go too deep into everything that happens right now would rob No Way Home of more than a little of its magic. Just know that if you’re a Spider-Man fan, you’ll walk out of the cinema this December with a heart full of love for a superhero who values kindness and decency above all else.

Topics: Spider Man, Sony, Marvel

Ewan Moore
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