Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) – 4/5

Story-wise decent, but the nostagia makes this movie a real treasure

„Spider Man: No Way Home“ (not the best title) is, as you knew already from the title, one of the most recent Marvel movies out there. With the Avengers films over after the Thanos battle, pretty much every character is about to find closure in a way. Oh well, what you saw at the end of the most recent Thor film does not indicate that, but the final sequence with Tom Hardy here is not as much of an introduction to a fourth Spider-Man film, so it will maybe stay at three. The music you heard with the closing credits was also fairly fitting from this perspective. Of course, it is also a great connection to the three Spideys from this film here, but I will get to that a little later. Let’s look at the basics first: The director is Jon Watts and he was also in charge of the previous two Spider-Man movies. Same is true for the two writers. It is not a surprise that they got chosen too for this one, but the real surprise was maybe that they got picked for the first film five years ago maybe as they were not really famous. Then again, these Marvel films rarely go for the truly defining filmmakers of our generation, but get in some new blood instead most of the time. Just like this trilogy here. The director worked on several Fatboy Slim music videos in the past and the two writers McKenna and Sommers collaborated on American Dad, which is both pretty cool. As for the cast, you will find a handful names from the previous films, obviously Tom Holland in the lead and also Zendaya who is really cruising right now with her roles here and in Dune. Jacob Batalon looks much more manly in real than in this film where he plays a nerdy character. Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange is really in every Marvel movie these days, which shows how popular he is. Benedict Wong I definitely appreciate here too as always. I like his character a lot, but sadly he does not have a lot of screen time here. Marisa Tomei is also back and she plays the youngest Aunt May you will probably ever come across. Still interesting that she is the only Oscar winner from the original cast here. They brought in another one with an Academy Award, but more about him in a second.

The certainly most memorable aspect about this film here is how they used the multiverse idea to include the Spider-Man characters of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire despite how long ago it was for them to portray the character. Well, mostly for Maguire, but it was so cool to see them reprise their roles and the entire idea that they are still Spider-Man and always will be. No matter how much time passes. Of course, I am a little biased here because I adored the Sam Raimi movies back then, at least the first two, and I also quite like Andrew Garfield as an actor. I guess I will always rate these two above Tom Holland who I have disliked for a while, but he has grown a bit on me here admittedly and I will wait with my final judgement until I have checked out his previous two Spider-Man outings. As for the other two, they did not come alone, which adds even more awesomeness. We also get the key antagonists from their movies again. This includes Jamie Foxx, the other Oscar winner I mentioned early on and Rhys Ifans and Thomas Haden Church, even if the latter two did not get featured too much. But Alfred Molina as Doc Ock and Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn were and this was utterly amazing because I love the two characters and also so enjoyed their performances back then and now again in this film. What a blast this was and this is a key reason why I give this film a really enthusiastic recommendation and not just a solid one. I think Doc Ock was the one who we saw first in here in terms of the antagonists they brought back. They all had really cool introductions. Also interesting references about how they do not know about their own deaths, but talk about others‘ before they realize the gruesome truth. When they were there locked in these chambers, they almost felt like dogs. Dogs that once bit somebody, did something awful, but the protagonist tries to bring them and their hurt souls back and have them live lives as normal human beings without evil taking over.

Dr. Strange is not happy about this idea at all and he even follows and fights Spidey over it. He sure could not be kept inside this chamber for long, but spider webs were more effective on one occasion. This role has turned Cumberbatch into an actor who is easier to like for me now after really struggling with him on Sherlock and also on The Power of the Dog very recently, a film that did not impress me one bit. But back to this one here: Strange is of course also the connection to the multiverse once again and with the latter I also keep struggling a bit at times, but here it was alright overall I guess. I remember his comment that they know almost nothing about the multiverse, haven’t explored the way it works at all. I second that. Comedy is of course also something you always find in Marvel films and this one here is no exception. Unfortunately, they cannot get in the Stan Lee cameos anymore, but those were never really funny anyway, more like cult. Funny moments here include Strange’s reaction when he finds out that Spidey has not even tried to talk to the people from MIT after he and his buddies got rejected. But yeah, I guess saving this woman’s life there helped with that then. For me personally, it was very funny when the three Spider-Mans compared their „web activities“ and certain techniques that the characters had in their films that differed from each other. Like how Maguire’s had basically an endless stack of webs and Garfield’s character had to literally create his in a lab or something which was exhausting. I guess this was where the superhero aspect already moved a bit aside for science as Garfield’s was then a bit more of a Batman approach.

What else felt funny? Oh yes, how they encourage each other, especially Garfield’s character when they call each other amazing. Like „The Amazing Spider-Man“. Another charming reference there back to the books and the original title. I could really go on and on here with the moments that will make you smile or maybe even laugh, but I will leave it at that. In any case, the film was also a triumph from this perspective. And I would not say this is a given because I have been critical at times with comedy in Marvel movies and I am referring there a bit to Tony Stark’s Iron Man and his sometimes try-hard punchlines and especially to Chris Pratt who has absolutely no comedic talent if his material is not outstandingly good. By the way, Tony Stark is also included briefly in this film here or rather his company I should say. He himself is not for obvious reasons. A few words on Zendaya: I was critical about her too in the past and I still think the way she is overexposed in Hollywood right now does not match her talent as a whole. If we are talking about Spider-Man’s romantic interest, I’d probably pick Emma Stone over her, Kirsten Dunst maybe not. Still Zendaya is growing a bit on me as well. I just wish she would go with her full name at some point. That would make it easier to respect her as an actress. Anyway, there was really only one moment here that she had that I did not like, namely when she stands up against Dr. Strange. That was not a strong female moment, but on the cringeworthy side, also how softly Strange reacted to her. He was right really when he said that Holland’s Peter Parker is just a boy and that’s it. J. Jonah Jameson would definitely agree and it is just a phenomenon how J. K. Simmons keeps portraying the character for decades. Awesome stuff as I adore the actor, but I must still say it is a such a limited character that there was almost nothing to him here this time. Only seeing him early on in his chamber there recording more anti-Spidey propaganda was funny. He surely made him his priority gently-speaking. Or, more accurately, his obsession. So there is a third Oscar winner on board here in fact.

As my review is getting closer to an end, I also want to talk a little more about the other Spideys here. They included really great references to their films from years ago that kinda made me want to watch those again at some point in the near future. I mean pretty much their entire inclusion here did. But there were specific moments too and those were not about the comedy like some of the earlier stuff I mentioned, but they were about serious situations. I am referring to Franco’s character in these very old films or also how Osborn says he has a job for Parker, just like he liked the character back then and with Garfield’s character the most serious moment is of course when he holds Zendaya’s character like he held Stone’s back then. But Holland’s character, the current Spidey, also has his own major loss here. Family affair. The moment was maybe not as touching as I would have liked it to be, so yeah there are negative criticisms for me too with this film for sure, but they are not too major. The good moments are far more frequent. The ending in terms of closure was really nice too with how he runs into certain characters again and we know there is hope for him and with Zendaya’s character it is also best if he starts anew and destroys the note he prepared. It’s basically as if his universe is a new one as well. Only he remembers what happened. Back to solitude and ready to save the world or at least New York many more times. Look at the cup on the table and what is written on it before he swings out in the end through New York during wintertime. The snow was amazing. At the very end, let me say that you also see Jake Gyllenhaal at the very start in what is a reference back to the second movie from this trilogy. But as I said, the closure to this third film and the entire trilogy could not have been any better. Great job and this makes it very easy to forget some previous mediocrities. Such a creative movie. One of 2021’s best. Do not miss out.