After two initially successful Columbia franchises, Spider-man entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe as an orphaned teenager living with his attractive Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). Iron Man tutored him. His movies had charming performances, witty quips, and all of roller-coaster fun of the Marvel movies. They also had all of the clutter and only a little to do with the original, web-swinging adventurer who battled odd but non-world-threatening criminals.

Spider-man: No Way Home gives us more wild thrills, as many effects as The Avengers movies, and it clutters itself with every previous superhero movie of the last twenty years. The hyperbolic plot not only works, it ends with our hero accepting the role very like his earliest incarnation, Peter Parker the kid with the home-made costume who moonlights as the friendly neighborhood Spider-man.

Before you read further, know that his review contains spoilers. Major spoilers. If you want to know if you should watch the film, the previous two paragraphs should convince or dissuade you. If you want to be surprised when you do see it, stop here.

Seriously.

I'm going to include major spoilers. Their seriousness will increase as the review progresses.

If you read on, you will encounter spoilers.

Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers.

Q: Will there be spoilers in this review?
A: Yes. This review will contain major spoilers.


SPOILER ALERT #1: MODERATE


In the wake of the previous film, everyone knows Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is Spider-man, false evidence has framed him for murder, and the public is divided as to whether he is a hero or a villain. The deliberate echoes of the divided America, 2021, could not be clearer. Whipping up frenzy against the web-slinger we have the bombastic J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons). In this version, he's no respected publisher and editor. He runs a sensationalist, conspiracy-charged news site and he recalls more than a little Alex Jones. He even hawks vitamin supplements.

The legal charges against Parker are baseless, and his lawyer, Matt Murdoch (Charlie Cox), clears him. Of course, he cannot do anything about the court of public opinion. Cox's cameo represents half of a one-two punch that introduces the Netflix Marvel characters into the Marvel films. Those series had always dropped references indicating they existed in the larger cinematic universe, but the movies ignored them entirely. The newly-founded Disney+ service had access to neither the shows nor their characters until recently. Now we have Murdoch/Daredevil in Spider-man and, allegedly, in the forthcoming She-Hulk show. Meanwhile, at roughly the same time over on Disney+, Hawkeye encounters the Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio).

Annoyed that his life has grown unworkably complicated and his friends are suffering from their association, Peter visits Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and asks for a spell to make everyone forget he is Spider-man. They helped save the universe together. Surely he can ask a favor. Of course, Peter's still a teenager who cannot leave well enough alone and he interferes with the spell. His actions create serious problems with the universe. No, this doesn't really make a lot of sense, but we have to accept a certain amount of silliness and comic-book science to get to the plot.


SPOILER ALERT #2: SIGNIFICANT


Soon, Peter and his friends find himself up against villains from the previous two franchises: the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Electro (Jamie Foxx), and the Lizard (Rhys Ifans). It's almost a Sinister Six movie. Fortunately, Peter has help from his friends, MJ (Zendaya) and Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), and a couple of other Peter Parkers from alternate realities: webheads played by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. The comradery among the three different Spider-men proves a highlight of the show. And our heroes endeavor to do more than merely defeat the villains while quipping. They want to cure them while quipping.

All of this gets performed with the blockbuster budget and boundary-pushing visual effects for which the series has become known. If you're looking for that kind of movie, No Way Home delivers it.

Mmmm. Popcorn.


SPOILER ALERT #3: MAJOR


It's not all fun. Along the way, Aunt May puts herself in the path of danger and dies. While this saddens many a fan's heart, it finally gives the MCU Peter his "great power/great responsibility moment." It proves even more powerful than the classic source version, because we barely knew the ill-fated Uncle Ben in the original comic before he died, and only a little in the first two movies. This Peter and May had a developed familial relationship. It has been played beautifully.

Otherwise, the film comes to a fairly predictable conclusion-- save for the consequences of MCU-Parker's sacrifice. Alone and isolated, he moves into a dingy apartment and prepares to sling webs in his homemade, non-Stark costume. I really wish he had passed by J. Jonah's en route to his new apartment and sprayed his chair with web fluid. That would have been an amusing touch to a bittersweet conclusion. However, the finale prepares us for the classic, young adult Spider-man who can fight one-on-one with his own colorful Rogues Gallery while remaining available for larger, more cosmic adventures with the Avengers and others.

And it's good to know other Spider-men continue to patrol their universes, too.

Director: Jon Watts
Writers: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers,using characters created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and owing more than a little to Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse, written by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman

Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Zendaya as MJ (Michelle Jones-Watson)
Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange
Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds
Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan
Marisa Tomei as May Parker
Alfred Molina as Dr. Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus
Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon / Electro
Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin
Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard
Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Benedict Wong as Wong
J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson
Angourie Rice as Betty Brant
Arian Moayed as Agent Cleary
Paula Newsome as MIT Assistant Vice Chancellor
Hannibal Buress as Coach Wilson
Martin Starr as Mr. Harrington
Haroon Khan as Apprentice
J.B. Smoove as Mr. Dell
Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock
Jwaundace Candece as Damage Control Agent
Clay Savage as Suit Voice
Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock / Venom

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