"Spider-Man No Way Home" (Without Spoilers)

"Without spoilers" here means that I'm not going to reveal anything that we haven't seen in the trailer footage.  There have been so many leaks and theories and conjecture around this movie, I really don't know how anyone with any interest in seeing this movie has managed to come through the spoiler storm unscathed.  Still, I'll do my best.  Also it's difficult to talk about "Spider-Man: No Way Home" without talking about the events of the previous movie, "Far From Home," so there will be some spoilers for that one.  In fact, you should probably watch "Far From Home" before seeing "No Way Home."  Annnnnd, maybe, all the other "Spider-man" films since 2002. 

Here we go.  

"No Way Home" is probably the most indulgent piece of superhero media made yet, designed to appeal to those devoted fans of Spider-man who have stuck with him through thick and thin over the past two decades.  The big gimmick of this film is not that the Tom Holland Spider-man's secret identity, Peter Parker, has been revealed to the whole world, but that he and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) attempt to cast a spell to fix this, inadvertently bringing Spider-man villains from other universes to their own.  Those other universes, of course, are the previous Sony Spider-man films that predate the MCU Spider-man.  This means the return of Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), the Green Goblin (William Dafoe), and Electro (Jamie Foxx) to our screens, and they've never looked better.

So this movie is packed to the gills with Spider-man references and Easter eggs, and will work best for Spider-man's biggest fans - the ones who have been waiting to see Spider-man fight his most famous franchise foes again.  By the end of the film, it also becomes clear that "No Way Home" functions as a soft reboot of sorts, bringing Peter Parker back to his roots, and re-emphasizing some of the major themes from the older parts of the Spider-man mythos.  This entire trilogy that began with "Homecoming" feels like it's been one, extended origin story.  On the one hand, this means Tom Holland will be gainfully employed for a long time to come (if he wants), and on the other hand the degree to which the MCU is dragging out simple narratives is getting wildly out of hand.        

To be fair, a lot happens in "No Way Home."  Unlike "Far From Home," or the Spider-man appearances in the "Avengers" films, we finally see some meaningful progression in Peter Parker's character arc and changes to the status quo that are not going to be handwaved away easily.  The fact that this is coupled with so much spectacle and so much fanservice is the film's biggest accomplishment.  As spectacle, "No Way Home" is not as impressive as some of the MCU films that we've seen lately.  However, like the "Avengers" films, it benefits from drawing from the material of the previous installments, paying off the storylines for many different characters, and hopefully leaving fans with a sense of closure before we move on to the next phase of Spider-media.  This is a MCU movie, after all, and raises as many questions as it answers.

Holland is as solid a performer as ever, but he's got a lot of competition for the spotlight this time out.  Dafoe and Molina are clearly having a ball being villains again, and chew scenery with everything they've got.  I think this is also the best we've seen of Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, and Marisa Tomei in this series, who get plenty to do.  Doctor Strange is exactly the right amount of annoyed authority figure, and doesn't overstay his welcome.  The only character who feels underused is J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), who got a big reveal at the end of "Far From Home."  His role turns out to be very minor, and functions more like an in-joke than anything else.  

I'm curious as to how viewers with less experience with the older "Spider-man" films are going to react to this one.  I suspect it'll land well, because "No Way Home" does have more to offer than spectacle and nostalgia, which I found a more pleasant surprise than anything else.  And we'll talk about the anything else (and there's a lot) next time.  

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