Spider-Man: No Way Home – Does it stick the landing?

Yes, yes it does. Spoilers ahead.

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Clara Weedman, Reporter

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the third movie in the MCU’s Spider-Man series, and, to much relief, concludes the trilogy in a way that’s just as well-done as it is incredibly powerful.

Going into the movie, there were high expectations to say the least. Everyone has their own favorite version of the characters from the different movies, so bringing in old icons from the two previous Spider-Man series meant there were a lot of people the filmmakers needed to try their best to please. If any character were to be mishandled, especially those from the Amazing series, it’d jeopardize one of the biggest things that makes the movie so sick. Although the MCU Spider-Man movies have done a pretty good job at being pretty good, the past attempts at a big finale with a lot going on haven’t gone too well – Spider-Man 3 felt bloated and disorganized, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 failed as a movie in basically every single way imaginable. Needless to say, there were some concerns. Surprisingly and thankfully though, No Way Home nails basically everything it needed to, and is easily one of the best MCU movies to date.

To start, the performances throughout are absolutely astonishing. Every actor brings their A-game and unquestionably nothing less, and not once throughout the entire movie does it ever feel as though you’re watching a movie. Tom Holland and Willem Dafoe especially stand out, as the range of emotion Holland offers never dips below total, encapsulating realism, and Dafoe steals the show as an unsettling and frankly disturbingly terrifying Green Goblin. 

Hand in hand with acting is writing, which for the most part here is very good, too. The jokes land, the emotions hit hard, and the film does a fantastic job of continuing past storylines – staying faithful to the spirit of the Raimi trilogy and somehow managing to redeem the Webb duo of movies. Andrew Garfield perfectly portrays a sullen Peter regretful of his failures and mistakes, while Tobey Maguire is the same old timid, yet sturdy, Peter he was way back in 2007 – albeit with a notably wiser hold about him. Jamie Foxx, in the best way possible imaginable, is almost unrecognizable as Electro, complete with a new attitude and a major redesign, and he, along with rest of the villains, are all included in ways that don’t feel forced and are completely natural to the story – not impeding on any MCU-native elements. They aren’t just cameos or throwaway appearances, and they, especially the other two Spider-Men, genuinely contribute to Holland’s Peter’s growth. Overall, the amount of justice dealt to these characters and stories is incredible, and seeing everything come together without trampling over each other feels so satisfying and right. Because the film is more of an event than a film, however, the pacing isn’t the most amazing thing in the world. The beginning is essentially spoiled by the trailers, so you’re sort of left waiting for the story to start for the first 30 minutes. Where it ends up is pretty cool though, so it isn’t a huge deal, but repeat watches could suffer a bit. 

Overall, the amount of justice dealt to these characters and stories is incredible, and seeing everything come together without trampling over each other feels so satisfying and right.[/pullquote] The action isn’t half bad either. The MCU has a track record of having pretty generic action scenes, never really straying too far from the standard shaky-cam-of-two-people-punching-each-other setup. There are, of course, exceptions (Civil War, Infinity War, Shang-Chi, etc.), however the majority are relatively plain and, ultimately, forgettable. No Way Home, however, is one of the exceptions – boasting some of the best use of Peter’s powers across any of the movies, with clear cinematography to back it up (meaning you can actually see what’s going on for once).

There’s this sort of real-world weight to it all too – During the final confrontation with Norman, rather than swinging around and leaping between buildings while fighting, Peter fistfights him ground level, using his webs to crush the Goblin’s skull into his knee, narrowly dodging blows to get behind, slam him down onto the ground, and impale him with his own glider. The fight, and really the rest, come off distinctively rawer, darker, and perhaps more violent than anything else the MCU’s presented so far, which in no way is anything other than exceptionally refreshing.

The same tone is present in the story, too. This is by no means a light watch, and to say Peter suffers would be a gross understatement. After Peter causes Dr. Strange to mess up casting a memory erasing spell, the main villains from the past two movie franchises begin appearing in their world. Upon finding out they all die fighting their versions of the hero, Peter decides to try to help them revert what led to them becoming criminals in the first place, effectively saving their lives and changing their fate. Strange, justifiably not wanting to mess with something he knows frighteningly little about, urges Peter to leave them to destiny, but after besting him in a fight, Peter goes forward with his plan. Trying to save people who have objectively caused immeasurable amounts of damage and pain against insane, and in this case multiversal, odds is exactly something Spider-Man would do. What’s even better – he’s initially resistant to the idea until May implores him it’s the right thing to do, meaning his actions aren’t inspired by Tony Stark or another Avenger, but finally by his own Aunt.

Peter manages to reprogram the chip to Otto’s arms that allows their AI to control his actions, develop a device to control Electro’s power draw, and almost create a cure for Norman before things go south. Norman’s Goblin side comes out, speaking to the villain’s selfish desires and allowing them to escape. After punching Peter through several walls and dropping him down several stories of concrete, the Goblin, aiming to break Peter into falling to his ideology, fatally injures May. In her last moments, even though the villains got away, even though more people are going to get hurt and she’s about to die because his decision put her in harm’s way, she reassures Peter he did the right thing because (in what her own words here) with great power, comes great responsibility.

Putting Peter’s choice to do what’s right to such an extreme test is such a good story device, such good writing, such good everything. As the finale to his trilogy, everything he stands for should be put to its final test, to the point where he needs to seriously consider whether or not maintaining his cause truly is the best option for himself and those around him; where if the wrong choice is made, things could get incomprehensibly worse. It actually is, he actually does, it actually could, and it’s every bit as real, grounded, and unmistakably true to character as it should be.

Following this, after teaming up with the Spider-Men from the other universes and curing the rest of the villains, the only way to send them home and keep other threats from jumping realities is to recast the spell as originally intended – meaning MJ, Ned, and anyone else who knows Spider-Man’s secret identity will forget Peter ever existed. This ultimate sacrifice of literally erasing his existence and giving up everyone he loves being the only way to resolve the situation is structurally and thematically very sound. He has to lose everything in order to fix the damage caused by the spell (and moreover his immaturity), but if he never messed up in the first place the opportunity to save the villains wouldn’t have been presented. The movie expresses the nuance and complexity of the costs coupled with the benefits of doing what’s right and taking responsibility perfectly, and, as a message that’s been subtly built towards throughout Holland’s time as the hero, fits excellently as the final lesson to push Peter into his own, independent of any Avenger’s funding, high-tech suits, and most importantly, Iron Man.

The implication that Uncle Ben never existed for this version of the character and that the past three movies have essentially been his origin story is an interesting, although controversial, idea, but the payoff in the end is the best out of any of the movies. The final swing doesn’t just represent the end of the movie or the accomplishment of a singular goal – it represents the past 19 years of cinema for the character, the lessons Peter’s learned, the loss he’s experienced, the consequences of his mistakes, and the opportunity to start anew and do better going forward. He’s matured in a way that feels deserved and earned, and after all these years, Peter is finally the hero we all know and love; he’s finally Spider-Man.