19 Years in the Making- A Review of Spider-Man: No Way Home

After I saw this movie for this first time on opening night, I knew one thing… I would never be the same!!!

**NO SPOILERS WILL BE MENTIONED IN THIS REVIEW. Everything directly referenced story-wise in this review will be from the trailers pre-release**

Hey Everyone! First off, happy holidays! It’s been way too long since I’ve written anything here, but it’s time for my return… until the next time when I have a several month gap between reviews. I’m here now though…?! Well, I think the subject of this review speaks for itself. I’m not even going to give the usual IMDb link for plot summary in fear of spoilers, so here’s the trailer link instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfVOs4VSpmA

**Ok another disclaimer, this review is LOOOOOOONNNNGGGG, so I wanted to give a fair warning to anyone who wouldn’t wanna read it all at once**

Alright, we have the table set, let’s dive right in. For anyone who doesn’t know me (or know that the title of this blob is Spinning the Cineweb and I call myself the Friendly Neighborhood Film Nerd for a reason), Spider-Man as a character isn’t just my favorite character of all time he has made me who I am to this day. Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man quite literally came out the year I was born and for as long as I could remember, I have always looked up to this character as who I want to be in my life. The wise-cracking. The endless heart. The ability to take great power and use it with great responsibility. I have used analogy before and I will say it again: creatively in terms of media/film, Pixar is my mom and Spider-Man is my father. Heck, I even wrote an entire review-marathon of the filmography of the wall-crawler, that you may or may not be able find here #shamelessplug

…I think it’s safe to say that my hype has been through the literal roof for Spider-Man: No Way Home (ok maybe not the actual roof since this is a written revi — SHUT UP!). Of course, I was absolutely enthralled from the ending of Far From Home and the official announcement of this movie especially when you take in all the drama of the custody battles between Sony and Marvel (wow… that was so long ago now… time is weird). Massive excitement is a given. Then, Jamie Foxx was announced to be coming back as Electro, returning from The Amazing Spider-Man 2… WHAT!? A couple months later, Al Molina was similarly announced to be returning as mother f***-ing DOC OCK from Spider-Man 2. 30 seconds later, my brain exploded!

A year later and what has been building up to be the culmination of my entire life has now released in theaters. Like the badass it is, No Way Home has been destroying box-office records like 2nd highest domestic opening of all time at $260.7 million… and this is excluding the factoid that we are still in the middle of a pandemic! *Also, quick PSA, everyone get their boosters so we can kick Omicron’s ass harder than my anxiety does to my self-esteem (wait wut, who said that!)*

Anyway, all of that is humbug as I HAVE FINALLY SEEN Spider-Man: No Way Home. My thoughts?! Unbelievable!!! With a week’s worth of thought heck, even immediately after I walked out of the theater there is no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest live-action Spider-Man movie of all time! …given that this is me saying that, I imagine that must be saying a lot!

For starters, there is no other way to start this review other than by talking about the title character, the person who I already thought was best cinematic version of the character going in: Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Dear lordy was he more than exceptional at every single moment during the entirety of No Way Home‘s runtime! The weight of this film is obviously significantly heavier than either Homecoming or Far From Home and Holland manages to lift that weight like it’s a paper clip. His choices in every scene are as dynamic as Peter’s constantly shifting mind, for every tough decision. All of this without ever losing his heart or snark… while also gaining even more. You take everything in and for me personally, I think Tom Holland has given the best performance as Peter Parker/Spider-Man not just in his career, nor even just the movies, but in any piece of Spider-Man media period! (With an exclamation point!)

But wait, there’s more! The entirety of this ensemble cast does extraordinary work in extraordinarily different ways! (Dare I say extraordinary again) In terms of the retuning cast members from the previous Home installments (not Home Alone or Home Improvement… do people my age even know what that show is?!), Tom Holland’s chemistry with Jacob Batalon and Zendaya shines just as bright as it did before. The brotherly bond between Peter and Ned, the wholesome romance with MJ, and the combined dynamic with the F.O.S. (Friends of Spider-Man) really does give the movie an enormous heart. As does Marisa Tomei in yet another character-best performance with Aunt May. Providing comedic relief and dramatic grounding at just the right moments, Tomei does whatever an Oscar-winning actress can in the iconic role.

Yeah, they have heart.. pity about the villains planning on tearing that heart out of your chest ala Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It’s finally time to talk about them! However, you’re probably gonna be surprised with who I’m starting out with hell, I was surpised he was the first one announced to officially return: Jamie Foxx as Electro. Biggest… redemption arc… EVER!!! As I pointed out in my review of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Holy self-plugging Batman!), Foxx was given absolutely awful material to work with there. Here, everything about him is just so much better this time around, with his personality and charisma fusing through his performance. It’s a good second chance turn around. Albeit, this next person didn’t need a second chance, yet he still delivered and then-some. Al Molina as Doc Ock was once again fantastic in the role as one of the central characters! Without saying too much, his presence just lends a sense of gravitas to the film in surprising ways, not too dissimilar to Spider-Man 2.

Oh, and it was nice to hear Thomas Haden Church and Rhys Ifans in the roles of Lizard and Sandman, even if their physical presence was limited due to COVID restrictions (another extremely impressive part about the movie by the way).

…WILLEM, F***-ING DAFOE!!! Holy actual hell! Out of all the returning villains, his return was the one that made me the most giddy for him being the first of all onscreen Spidey villains and dammit did he do more than a good performance. Willem Dafoe somehow managed to outdo what he did in the original Spider-Man and thensome. With a mix of tragedy, unexpected humility, and a sense of absolute dread fueled by a face that can contort on the level of Jim Carrey Dafoe made the Green Goblin, who is already the most iconic Spider-Man villain, one of the best villain turns in any comic book movie! Honest to Keanu, it is Oscar-Worthy (like with so many others in the cast). And with the breaking news that Sony is going to campaign Spider-Man: No Way Home for the big Oscars like Best Picture, I hope him, Tomei, and Holland manage to squeak through in the acting categories.

All of that… and I haven’t even scratched the surface of some of the deeper crap I adore about this film!!! Anyone have a digital dartboard I can borrow so I can choose which part I adore more? No one?! Fine, I’ll do it myself and *throws dart*, looks like we’re talking about action.

Every action sequence in the film is absolutely terrific! Similar to Raimi from each of his Spider-Man installments, you can really tell how much Jon Watts has gotten a handle on how to direct a Spider-Man action scene. Easily the best of the Home trilogy, every set piece was designed with such ease with smooth and hard-hitting impact, leading to all of them being entertaining as hell, while still maintaining the stakes. If I could go into more detail on some without spoiling this movie I would, but for now, just know that there is a lot to look forward to and Jon Watts/all of the stunt people and choreographers deseve so much credit.

Across the board, Jon Watts really did do an amazing job here! (I had to use the amazing pun at least once people) Similar to the worst Spider-Man movies, there is so much going on in this movie, which makes it even more miraculous how Watts pulled it off. Through his steady direction, everything somehow sticks the landing in the best superhero landing evah! Tone-wise, it matches that Spider-Man essence of light-hearted, heartwarming, and heartbreaking at all the right moments. Watts’ visual chocies (assisted by some beautiful cinematography by Mauro Fiore) perfectly capture the necessary emotion of every scene not to mention how there is some pretty iconic Spider-Man imagery too!

Perhaps Watt’s greatest strength (one that has stayed so consistent from Homecoming, to Far From Home, to now) is his brilliant sense of characterization. Look, I already wrote some beefy paragraphs on only some of the performances, it’s pretty obvious that Watts had an excellent bevy of actors to work with. Yet, there’s still something to be said about how his direction keeps them all in character both separately and combined to make for a showcase of mastery in the character department. (This makes me even more excited to see what he does with Fantastic Four!)

Of course, at the very core of that characterization comes an ingenious script from returning writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. I mean, come on… AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (Don’t ask me how many A’s and H’s I typed there) What they did with this film is somehow create the definiton of a perfect Peter Parker story… based off of one of the most infamous storylines in the comics “One More Day”… HOW?!

I guess this really proves how if it is broke, you can still fix it! Anyway, McKenna and Sommers knew exactly what key on the Spider-Man keyboard to press at exactly the right tempo. (Yeah, I took piano lessons, I know music… kinda ;)) I mean, there’s just really no way to describe exactly how I feel about the script/story without giving away spoilers. All I will say for the moment is the emotions I felt watching this thrilled, terrified, overjoyed, distraught (all four emotions) are some of the highest I’ve felt watching any movie over the course of my entire life!

…I’ve seen this four times now and those emotions have NEVER dipped in the slightest. Honestly, there’s too many great things to talk about here. Michael Giacchino giving another terrific score! Pacing that makes two-and-a-half hours fly by! The visual effects being stellar as always (seriously, I didn’t even notice the de-aging on Al Molina or Willem Dafoe in the slightest). The theatrical experience I had watching this three times on opening weekend was ecstatic!

At this point, I suppose I should talk about the handful of problems (I guess I’m still a critic after all). First off, it is clear how they do rush through a lot of the beginning set-up in an effort to get to the stuff we all wanted to see. With how seamless the pacing was (and still is), I feel like they could have easily managed more during that part of the movie. As part of that packaged deal, there was one performance/character that felt glaringly off compared to the others in a cartoony fashion. Sure, the teachers from the last two films are also cartoony, but something about the way they were handled versus this new character (even if in a brief appearance) just hit different. Lastly (can’t you tell I’m an English minor?!), for as well as they justify the presence of four of the five villains included in the movie, one is unfortunately not there with the same level of importance. Not to name names, but let’s just say that reptiles are… I didn’t have a joke there I just really wanted an excuse to say reptiles.

Other than that and a handful of minor nitpicks (common with anything on this scale), Spider-Man: No Way Home gave me everything I wanted and so much more! As I kinda sorta imply in the title of this review, Spider-Man has literally been a massive part of my life for the entirety of these 19 years. When I’ve felt down, I know that Spider-Man would know how to pick himself back up. If I ever felt life was against me, I knew Peter Parker felt that too. Whenever someone needed help, Spider-Man always taught me it doesn’t take much to lend someone a helping hand whether it’s holding the door for a stranger, or helping your friend cope through a tough situation.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is an embodiment of all of that! It is more than my favorite movie of the year and an inevitable addition to the all-time favorite list: this movie will– ok, already has changed my life forever!!!

Rating: 10/10, it is the Best Live-Action Spider-Man film, a life-changing cinematic experience, I love it so much, and it is mind-blowing!!!

Also, just as one last thing to say, this film came out during my first in-person semester of film school at Temple University. I have been absolutely floored by the amount of friends that I’ve made and to see this film on December 16th with 13 of them was the definition of a dream come true! So, if any of those people are reading this right now, I want you to know from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!!! Spider-Man: No Way Home isn’t the only thing that changed my life that night! 😉

Welp, I guess that wraps it up and DAMN!!! Oh boy, even without going into spoilers, I sure do know how to talk about this movie! Hmmm… I wonder, what would a spoilers review look like for me?! (Nudge nudge WINK WINK) Be sure to look out for more details on the Spinning the Cineweb spoilers *discussion* on Spider-Man: No Way Home coming soon to a YouTube near you…

For now, thank you so much for reading my review! To anyone interesting in reading my previous Spider-Man reviews, be sure to find it on this blog… somewhere. Also (and I can’t believe I’m about to say this), but look for me on social media as well (Instagram: @FriendlyFilmNerd, Twitter: @FriendlyFilmNrd)

If you have seen this movie (I’m looking at you two people who haven’t seen this yet), feel free to let me know what you thought about Spider-Man: No Way Home in the comments. And as always, I think you should know who I am at this point…

I’m Alex, Your Friendly Neighborhood Film Nerd!!! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!