Despite the foundations frustrating me, I still really enjoyed Spider-Man: No Way Home.
My goal is always to provide as few spoilers as possible when reviewing a movie, so I’ll do my best to not give away any of the significant plot points from the film in the first part of this review. That’s a tough task with this movie, however, because some of the things I don’t want to spoil happen fairly early in the plot. What I am going to spoil is Spider-Man: Far From Home, because the way that movie ends leads Peter Parker and his friends down a path that I wish the Marvel Cinematic Universe hadn’t taken. And to explain how I feel about No Way Home, I think it’s essential that you understand how I feel about where things start for the characters and why I wish their situation was different.
If you haven’t seen Far From Home, stop reading now.
Major storylines the Peter Parker character has encountered over its history – in the comics, in movies, and in animated series – were made possible through Spider-Man’s true identity being a secret. His free-lance photographer job at the Daily Bugle, taking pictures for the news publication whose editor-in-chief hated Spider-Man despite loving the fact that covering the masked vigilante was excellent for business. The obsessed hunter, Kraven, trying to track down the ultimate prize. The mentoring by brilliant scientists who almost always turned into complex and wonderful villains. The MCU Spider-Man was positioned brilliantly for stories to start going the direction of the latter, with Peter losing not only his mentor in Tony Stark, but also something of a father figure to him (or, at the very least, a creepy-yet-mostly-supportive uncle). The emotional core of Far From Home showed Peter dealing with being a bit aimless, and after dealing with Mysterio in that film, it was the perfect time for him to start seeking out his next mentor. The MCU could use Doc Ock and/or Dr. Curt Conners in the dual role of mentor and villain, but Norman Osborn was the perfect character to fill that void for this incarnation of Peter Parker. He’s every bit the scientific genius that Tony Stark was, but instead of also being an ally in fighting evil, his split-personality that becomes The Green Goblin represents Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis. There’s also the added benefit of the rich storyline opportunities possible through the complex relationship Norman Osborn has with his son, Harry, who is seen as a disappointment in his father’s eyes – especially when compared with Harry’s best friend Peter Parker.
Even as I write this, I want to talk about all the storylines they could’ve done with even just the friendship between Peter and Harry Osborn, but I won’t, because as Far From Home left things with the end credits scene (which serves as the opening scene for No Way Home), they can’t go that direction with things, because Mysterio (through The Daily Bugle) announces Spider-Man’s secret identity to the world.
To say that I hated the fact that they went this route would be an under statement.
But this is Spider-Man, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so even though I’d love for this to NOT be the storyline, I decided to judge the film not by what could have been, but on what they produced.
Once the film gets rolling into new content, Peter Parker and his friend start having to deal with the new-found, unwanted fame of their respective relationships to Spider-Man, and the fact that many people side with The Daily Bugle’s view of Spider-Man as being a menace. Part of that fallout involves rejection letters from some college admissions offices who are reluctant to accept them in light of their ties to Spider-Man. As he sees the impact this is having on their futures, Peter decides to try to intervene on their behalf with the aid of Doctor Strange.
At this point, we get a not-so-subtle reminder from Doctor Strange that as a teenager, Peter still has lots of maturing to do and is prone to being impulsive and making some poor decisions. Through the course of the film, he gets the opportunity to make increasingly bigger decisions, and although he’s still not infallible, the strife does cause noticeable maturation before the end credits roll.
No Way Home has a really nice variety of emotional hooks that were pleasantly surprising, especially given that the first two MCU Spider-Man movies went a bit too light in that area aside from standard teenage drama akin to what’s in a typical John Hughes movie. I understand why the MCU decided not to dip back into the origin story we’ve seen twice on film in the past 20 years, but along with the lack of Uncle Ben’s presence is also the lack of Peter grieving his death. The MCU films thus far had only dealt with Peter trying to figure out how to live his dual life, longing to be a typical teenager while also dealing with being a de-facto member of The Avengers. In No Way Home, they delved deeper than just “can Peter Parker balance the responsibility of being a hero and exposing friends and loved ones to danger”, and it wasn’t just Tom Holland who got the opportunity to guide us through an emotional experience.
Though I can’t say much about the villains without giving spoilers (I don’t watch trailers, so even characters who might show up there are too much of a spoiler for me to be giving here), each of the antagonists of the film were used to good effect. Typical of Spider-Man movies, everyone seemed to be coming from a well-reasoned place where they weren’t simply acting “evil” for the sake of being “evil”, or even out of greed. Each of them, even Doctor Strange to a certain extent, added to Peter Parker’s plight in a way that was true to each of them.
The ending of No Way Home leaves the Spider-Man movie franchise in a place that I’m only slightly happier with than where this movie started, but given how different the next Spider-Man film will have to be, I’m interested in how things will move forward.
My Rating: 90 out of 100
WHY did I give Spider-Man: No Way Home a score so high, when I didn’t mention many things about it that I loved? Well to get into that, I’m going to have to provide some spoilers.
If you haven’t seen No Way Home yet, stop reading now!
Spoilers to follow on PAGE 2 of the review.
Guys Film Quest 