Reviewing Spider-Man: No Way Home is never going to be an easy task. In the course of its filming and production, and with the kind of rapturous reception it received when it opened in the USA last Dec. 17; there was always going to be so much emotional weight and baggage attached to this film, and it’s multiverse/alternate realities concept.
The promise of the film was how it would unite everyone who has followed the film franchise, dating back to 2002’s Spider-Man, and be a nostalgic, feel-good extravaganza. That was the expectation; and so with such high stakes riding on the film, the question that remained to be answered is whether it would deliver, and be the film everyone was hoping it would be. And whether the multiverse concept would be more than a ‘marketing gimmick’ or grand Spidey-reunion, and be substantively embedded in the film’s narrative.
Director Jon Watts goes full circle with this third of his Home trilogy - following Homecoming and Far From Home. And the action picks up exactly from how we were left at the end of Far From Home: with an unmasked Peter Parker, shamed and publicly reviled for killing Mysterio. To keep the issues ‘real’, we even watch the college applications of Parker (Tom Holland), MJ (Zendaya), and Ned (Jacob Batalon) to MIT get rejected. And in a somewhat ridiculous solution to this predicament, the teenaged Parker runs to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), to basically cast a spell so the world doesn’t know he’s Spider-Man.
All this we already saw in the trailers, so don’t worry, this review is relatively spoiler-free. The trailers showed us how this spell would go spectacularly wrong, with villains from the past showing up; and word of mouth made it common knowledge that the former versions of Spider-Man; Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, would be part of the fan event scenario.
Going back to Doctor Strange, if there’s one thing this film outing will prove, it’s that sarcasm is the true superpower of Strange. He may have magic up his sleeve, but his penchant for the sarcastic and flippant rejoinder is the trademark contribution to his participation in this film. Does it work? You’ll have to be the judge of that, as I found it had its up’s and down’s. But thankfully, that would register as a very minor complaint on my part.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the animated film, explored this multiverse concept to perfection; and so the challenge here, in my mind, was how to make a live action version work, without replicating the beats of the animated film. Watts and his screenplay writers do pull out rabbits from the hat with regularity, providing strong dollops of fan service, while offering a nimble narrative, with twists and turns.
The villains show up, but only some leave truly strong impressions. Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin is my winner in this category, and I rue how not more is made of Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, and Jamie Foxx’s Electro. Mind you, the audience cheering as they make their appearances would suggest that fan service in this department merely required they show up.
As for the Spider-Men, while Tobey Maguire will always register with fans as the first version of this century, it’s Andrew Garfield who crowd-pleases his way through this film, reminding us of just how consummate an actor Garfield is. There’s even a really touching moment for true long-time fans when he swoops in for a damsel in distress rescue, and we’re reminded how he precisely wasn’t able to do this with Gwen.
All in all, there is an aggressive attitude with this film, and how it wants to take no prisoners - while setting a new bar for the installments still to come. Wait for the end-credits and watch how extensive the cross-pollination with the MCU will turn out to be. Venomous!
There’s much to love with this film, and while it isn’t perfect, it leaves us wanting more. At the time I’m writing this, the film has grossed over $627.4 million in the US & Canada, and $759 million in other territories for a global total of $1.38 billion - the third fastest to gross over a billion, and the first to do so during the pandemic. With humor and heart, it proves pure movie fun can still be achieved - a film that deserves to be watched as a film-loving community. So it’s looks like only Omicron can spoil the success of this film on our shores.