[Rating: Rock Fist Way Up]
Exclusively in theaters Friday, December 17.
The culmination of not just a trilogy, but of a universe of franchises and iterations that have tried to do right by a beloved pop culture icon, Spider-Man: No Way Home is more than a movie: it’s a mission statement. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is the third live-action Spider-Man in just the last 20 years, and this most recent outing marks the sixth time he’s appeared as the web-slinging hero, so there’s no shortage of plot, theme, or character routes to explore in this one. It’s a lot to tackle, yet the film triumphs because it manages to merge and synthesize all that has come before, offering a satisfying endcap to not just Holland’s trilogy, but for the character writ large.
Picking up literally seconds after the J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) reveal at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home that Spider-Man is Peter Parker, No Way Home immediately begins grappling with the consequences of this new development. The news comes with the false accusation that Peter, rather than Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), was responsible for the recent destruction in London, so on top of his loss of anonymity, half the world is now chasing bogus conspiracy theories about how he’s a villain. The bad publicity makes friendly neighborhood Spider-Manning damn near impossible, and what’s worse, it leads to college admissions trouble for not just Peter, but MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), too.
Hoping that his Thanos-Snap comrade can help with some of his patented magic, Peter turns to fellow New Yorker, Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), for a solution. Yet when a spell designed to erase the world’s memory of Peter as Spider-Man goes awry, a crack in the multi-verse opens and baddies from different Spider-Man iterations begin to appear in Marvel-616. This is as far as the trailers and IMDb go in revealing specifics about the plot, and it’s also where this review will halt any further discussion about who does and does not appear in No Way Home, but it should suffice to say that events, drama, and trauma from several Spider-Man franchises comes into play during the last two acts.
The journey of discovery is half the fun of this one, and while the appearance of characters from different Marvel universes provides no shortage of “oh shit” moments, perhaps the biggest surprise is that all of this works as well as it does. There’s plenty of fun exchanges where mystery guests and Peter trade confused glances and remarks born out of the multiverse fracture (and Easter Egg references), but where the film gets interesting is when it explores the pathos surrounding both sides of the superhero coin.
Iron Man 3 kicked off the MCU’S first earnest discussion about post-traumatic stress related to the wild and fantastic events of the previous installments (particularly The Avengers), and it continued in not just the stand-alone pictures, but in the team-ups as well. Despite what some critics of the genre say, the superhero movie boom hasn’t sustained itself purely on escapism, but rather because the good ones have taken the time to invest in lasting consequences that reverberate across multiple characters, franchises, and timelines. These heroes bleed, bruise, and panic, and it is this hard-earned vulnerability that keeps audiences coming back for more.
Like Tony (Robert Downey, Jr.) in Iron Man 3, or Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in Ragnarok, Peter has earned the unpacking of his own trauma and tragedy by his third installment (and sixth appearance), something the Holland-verse needs to keep its marquee lead both interesting and tactile. And yet this one goes a step further! No Way Home also explores the most interesting aspects of Spider-Man/Peter Parker across several franchise re-boots, allowing Peter and the film to grapple with all that’s come before in this world, while also cherry-picking the most interesting ideas from the others.
Again, to say much more would threaten to spoil certain twists and revelations that are crucial to the turn of events that inform the back two-thirds of No Way Home. What won’t ruin anything is the confident declaration that Holland and Zendaya have never been better in these roles, with the latter in particular freer to express vulnerability and liveliness in a way that her character’s development hasn’t allowed for prior to this. The fact that MJ (and everyone else) knows Peter’s secret frees the movie and its characters up to explore less pedantic and juvenile concerns, and the overall story is better for it.
The film also benefits from decades of rendering experience that bring Spider-Man to life in exciting and dynamic action set-pieces that are on par with the best of the MCU aside from Winter Soldier (still the gold-standard). This represents the third Spider-Man outing for director Jon Watts, and his comfort with the physics of this character allows him to effortlessly communicate the action’s particulars to the audience. Merging break-neck fight choreography with genuine stakes and emotional buy-in is no small feat, yet with the possible exception of Into the Spider-Verse, there isn’t a more emotionally affecting version of this character out there.
So there it is: they did it, by God, they really did it. Putting a satisfying cap on not just this trilogy, but on the concept of Spider-Man as a whole, No Way Home finds a way to send the Holland-verse off with style while also improving the standing of all that came before. It would be like if they made a new version of Hamlet that was stunning in its own right, but also made a person love, understand, and appreciate all the other productions that much more, too. There’s more to say, and many will have fun saying it after stepping out of the theater, but that’s not for now. Go see this one before the spoilers start to leak, and revel in a franchise and character that gets the closure all heroes deserve.
“Obvious Child” is the debut novel of Warren Cantrell, a film and music critic based out of Seattle, Washington. Mr. Cantrell has covered the Sundance and Seattle International Film Festivals, and provides regular dispatches for Scene-Stealers and The Playlist. Warren holds a B.A. and M.A. in History, and his hobbies include bourbon drinking, novel writing, and full-contact kickboxing.
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