Are you ready for a BIG movie, world? Those big blockbuster movies you pay to see in a movie theatre and line up for, even after nearly two years of the world being in chaos? Remember the experience of seeing something BIG and HUGE on the big screen? Boy do I have something fun for you…SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME is by far the most anticipated movie of 2021 and with it comes a lot of excitement and intrigue; when the 2019 movie came out it was right on the heels of the success of AVENGERS: ENDGAME and it finalized with a huge reveal that left audiences thirsting for more. The release of NO WAY HOME, especially after a long time of uncertainty, is somewhat of a metaphorical breakthrough and one I know many Marvel Cinematic Universe fans have been waiting for.
One thing I like here in NO WAY HOME is the idea of Peter Parker having his secret identity revealed to the rest of the world and how he deals with it. This was the capper to FAR FROM HOME and it is full swing here, and I loved seeing the world around him reacting to the “Court of public opinion” in such interesting ways. Most of the story is Peter trying to reverse the process with the help of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and all of the “multiverse” wackiness that comes out of it. The 2019 animated INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE movie had a LOT of fun with this concept and it is taken to dizzying heights here in ways that I will leave for the viewer to discover.
There is so much fun to be had here; there’s Dr. Strange clearly annoyed by Peter and his friends and you can tell he clearly doesn’t like younger kids. A few characters in other universes make their way back here, and since I didn’t see any of the trailers or advertisements I was clearly laughing out loud at the lengths this movie goes to entertain. Of course, as everyone knows, the joy of these is going in and not knowing anything, and even more so to just NOT tell your friends what you just saw.
The majority of the fun with NO WAY HOME working so well is with our star Tom Holland, who really is at his best here in a deeply conflicted and complicated role. There’s a lot of strong drama here and his Parker handles it incredibly well, and he is matched by a very strong cast; a personal favourite now is Zendaya as MJ who has lessened her snark from the previous two movies and has a more full, developed role with a lot of range.
In addition to all of this, it’s also a very slickly made film. Jon Watts, who broke onto the scene in the early 2010’s with COP CAR, quickly moved onto this series of and has always been a good choice to represent this material. It’s a great looking movie, shot by cinematographer Mauro Fiore and the usual terrific visual effects are also on display; seeing the multiverse and splitting city wide shots in particular made my jaw drop. My only main issue is like with several recent Marvel movies, the big climatic action tends to go on longer than I would like it to and my attention wanders, and I always wish these sequences were tightened up a bit. But that’s a small quibble for the overall fun experience.
I feel like I have said very little but at the same time hope that I sold a fun, highly entertaining experience that is better than many of the Marvel movies as of late and can be enjoyed on its own. You’re likely going to go see it regardless of what I think, but I hope you have a good time and keep the praise simple and brief and let viewers discover the fun on their own.
SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME is now exclusively in theatres. Pro-Tip: If you haven’t seen the first two SPIDER-MAN movies in this series, both HOMECOMING and FAR FROM HOME are currently streaming on Netflix.