*Spoilers Ahead* Spider-Man No Way Home Review
Written By Nicholas Gofas
Let me start by saying this, going into Spider-Man: No Way Home, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Tom Holland’s iteration of Spider-Man. I enjoyed Homecoming for what it set out to do and bring him into this already massive universe, but when it came to the follow up, 2019’s “Far From Home”, I was very disappointed. It felt too safe and they took Spider-Man out of New York which is essential for his character to thrive. It was lazily written, many of the jokes fell flat, and Spider-Man seemed to rely too much on already pre-established characters. So, it’s safe to say I did not have the highest of expectations for the third movie in his trilogy. That is, until the first trailer was released. Seeing Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus made the 10-year-old inside me scream with joy. Even the small glimpse of Green Goblin’s iconic pumpkin bomb from the first Spider-Man movie made me excited. My expectations grew. Then the second trailer showing Jamie Foxx returning as Electro, Rhys Ifans as The Lizard, and Thomas Haden Church as Sandman drove me to buy opening night tickets the day they went on sale. A few weeks later and I was in my seat watching the Marvel logo grace the screen. Two and a half hours later and I walked out of the theater happy, excited for the future of this take on the wall crawler. Without giving out major spoilers to those reading who have not seen the movie yet (go watch it you will not be disappointed), it’s amazing. It’s obvious from the first scene that Jon Watts and everyone involved listened to the fans after the mixed reception of Far From Home and took the criticisms into account and crafted the perfect love letter to the character and its fans. I can proudly say that after No Way Home, Tom Holland IS Spider-Man. The fight scenes are brutal and you feel every punch. Peter has a much-needed improvement and feels more like his comic book counterpart. The internal struggle he deals with over the course of the movie feels like it has actual weight and consequences. Something that the previous two movies lacked in my opinion. No Way Home is the perfect bookend to this trilogy and I look forward to what is in store for Holland and co. moving forward.
If you have yet to see the movie, now is the time to turn away as I will be diving into spoilers. The idea of bringing older villains back for this new movie made me a little nervous. After how the Star Wars sequels turned out I was wary of directors using older, iconic characters for nostalgic purposes. But Watts used the older villains in a way that services them and the newer characters. Willem Dafoe turns in an amazing performance going into the internal struggle Norman Osborn deals with. Molina is great as well and it was cool to see him lean into a more comedic side role than the scary villain role Dafoe takes as the Goblin. Church and Ifans aren’t really that memorable as they are relegated to voice roles with Sandman being in his sand form and Lizard stuck as, well, a lizard. Foxx redeemed himself after The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and is a good third side villain. But what everyone wants to know is how I feel about the most anticipated aspect of the film, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield both returning as Spider-Man. When the portal opened and Andrew’s big, white eyes on his suit appeared, my theater went up in cheers. You bet it was even louder when Tobey made his entrance. As someone that grew up with these actors as Spider-Man, it was surreal seeing all three on screen together fighting villains from across the multiverse. It's tough putting into words how excited I was when they all swung out into battle together. I felt like a kid again.
Aunt May plays a much bigger role in this as she is the one that moves the story forward convincing Peter to try and cure the villains instead of just sending them back to their universe to die. Her being the one to say “With great power, comes great responsibility” felt earned with the absence of Uncle Ben in these movies. Her death is emotional and is executed perfectly to push Peter into a darker place, something I thought his character desperately needed.
In the end, No Way Home is a movie made for the fans. Call it cheap nostalgia, call it lazy, you can’t deny the amount of care that went into this movie and its handling of Spider-Man for the future of the franchise. Whether or not Watts will return for the later installments is yet to be seen, but he has definitely left the character in a great spot for whoever takes the reins next. Peter is now independent, free from Tony Stark and the Avengers, now with the added responsibility of keeping his identity a secret from everyone after the repercussions of that seen in this movie. Whatever is next in store for Spidey, there is more potential now then there ever has been and I’m excited for the future.