Spider-Man: No Way Home
**There will be spoilers in this review. Read at your own risk.**
A fundamental issue that has hampered Tom Holland’s first two “Spider-Man” “solo” movies has been his Peter Parker being linked at the hip to Tony Stark. But, it also gave Peter a mentor to help him figure out his place among Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and even if “Far From Home” wasn’t among my favorite “Spider-Man” movies, I think it did a very good job showing him struggling with Stark’s death, and setting up a fundamental issue for Parker to deal with in this third film.
Recasting J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson not only allowed Jon Watts, Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal to incorporate one of the highlights of Sam Raimi’s trilogy, but also to reimagine what he would be like for the MCU. Is there anyone who truly things it doesn’t make sense for Jameson to be an Alex Jones-type conspiracy theorist as he goes about his crusade to unmask Spider-Man? The surprise of Parker being revealed at the end of “Far From Home” gives us one of our most interesting “What if?” concepts of, “What if Peter Parker had been revealed as Spider-Man?” What would that mean for MJ or Aunt May or Ned? “No Way Home” is devoted entirely to that idea, and I love it.
The best “Spider-Man” movies over the past two decades have had Peter Parker or Miles Morales wrestle with what it means to be Spider-Man, to have that code their father figure instilled in them, “With great power comes great responsibility,” bouncing around in their heads as they try to find a balance between being a superhero and being a normal person. For me, “No Way Home” isn’t just about the fact that they’ve brought back villains from the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield films to make life difficult for Holland’s Peter, and it’s not because they’ve brought in one of my other favorite Avengers, Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), to help him with his dilemma. At its heart, “No Way Home” is about Holland’s Peter really being challenged for the first time with the fallout of what him being Spider-Man means, not just for himself, but for others. That’s why I was a blubbering mess by the end of the film, and excited to see what this means for the character moving forward.
Jameson’s announcement of Peter as Spider-Man doesn’t just result in consequences for Peter, but his inner circle. Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), MJ (Zendaya), Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) are all under the microscope, and it’s causing anxiety with all of their lives, including potentially keeping MJ and Ned out of the college of their choice along with Peter. It’s the personal reason why Peter turns to Strange to see if he can help him with people forgetting he was Spider-Man, which leads to the spell Strange is attempting to backfire because Peter has interrupted it, opening up the multiverse, and giving Peter some old foes to face. In addition to being responsible for what is going on with MJ, Ned, May and Happy- how about being responsible for Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church), Lizard (Rhys Ifans) and Electro (Jamie Foxx) terrorizing your city, Peter?
We hadn’t heard that famous saying, “With great power comes great responsibility,” in the context of this Spider-Man, though. Well, it is said for the first time here, and to say it flattened me as an audience member given the context is an understatement. One of the ideas central to that phrase that “No Way Home” drives home is what does responsibility mean for this Peter. Is he just supposed to fight the bad guys and neutralize them, or is he supposed to help them remember who they were before they went villain? This is one of the things I though was most interesting in the Raimi trilogy, especially the underrated “Spider-Man 3,” but none of the movies since have really delved into. (“Into the Spider-Verse” does a little bit, but it’s ultimately too late for Kingpin in that one.) Seeing Holland’s Peter follow through with that gives meat to the bones of his Peter Parker that we haven’t really seen before. Because his Spider-Man has been so tied to the Avengers, we haven’t really been given a chance to know this character as an individual, and here, we really get that chance. The result is not only the best performance Holland has given in the role, but maybe his best one period. If he doesn’t feel the weight of his actions in this film, we won’t feel as though there’s weight to anything going on. He delivers.
On the whole, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is built on the idea of “fan service.” In other words, giving audiences something they’ve wanted to see for a while. Making 30+ films and TV shows that all interconnect is, without question, a massive narrative undertaking, but it also serves the hopes of fans who may have been waiting years to see some of these characters interact together on the big screen. With the introduction of the multiverse, naturally that ramps the idea up to 11. There’s been speculation for months, even years, about whether we’d see Maguire and Garfield show up to help Holland’s Peter fight these baddies. That they do is not a surprise; that they work as well within the fabric of the story “No Way Home” is where the decision feels right. I haven’t seen Garfield’s films since they were released, but when he talks about losing Gwen Stacy, and how that impacted him, it hit me right in the gut. Maguire recounting what he did after Uncle Ben died is one of those moments where yes, having a memory for those films helps, but more important is Maguire’s delivery, which feels as authentic as anything he did in the Raimi films; it’s on par with similar moments in “Into the Spider-Verse” in how it impacts the story in the moment. This isn’t just placating fan wishes, but choices with purpose for the story at hand for Holland’s arc. Yes, there are silly moments, but it’s the emotional impact of these two showing up at this time is what makes it special.
The ending of “No Way Home” follows the trajectory of the narrative, and it is one that is beautifully handled. I haven’t really focused on the technical aspects of the filmmaking here because the narrative is what stands out the most. If you’re familiar with the MCU style, you know what you’re getting, as well as whether that works for you or not. For me, it did, because it’s at the service of a story that gave me what the best Spider-Man movies have given me; a reflection on the hard struggles and choices growing up throws at us. More than anything else, I want that in a Spider-Man film, and “No Way Home” delivers.
