Marvel reaches
what feels like the conclusion to the latest series of Spider-Man films
with Spider-Man: No Way Home. It's a movie that's hard to discuss
without getting into spoilers, so I'll start with a non-spoiler review then
warn you when I'm about to spoil a few things.
Peter (Tom
Holland) has been unmasked as Spider-Man. Public opinion is split on whether or
not he is a hero or a villain after his fight with Mysterio at the end of the last
film. The media attention is relentless. Parker also finds college
opportunities closed off to himself and MJ (Zendaya) because of the
controversy. So he visits Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to get him to cast
a spell so no one will remember he's Spider-Man. Peter immediately has regrets
and tries to interrupt the spell, but in doing so he causes rips in the
universe. As a result, certain visitors emerge into Peter's world (more on this
in the spoiler section).
Overall, it's a
fun film. The actors are all charming, and Peter's inherent kindness makes him
easy to root for. But again, it's hard to talk about the film's virtues without
spoilers, so if you want to see the film in a theater (and yes, I recommend you
do as it should be seen on the big screen with an audience) without spoilers,
then stop reading now.
I'm serious. Spoilers coming.
SPOILERS BELOW
The preview revealed that Dr. Otto Octavius from Spider-Man 2 confronts Peter. So a reasonable person could then guess that other franchise villains would also appear. They do. The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Lizard (Rhys Ifans), Electro (Jamie Foxx), and Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) also appear.
But that's not
the end of it. Also coming through the cracks in the universe are the Spider-Men
from the previous two franchises (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield).
Much of the
film's fun comes from the characters' fish-out-of-water confusion over their
circumstances, both the villains and the heroes. Maguire and Garfield also
remind viewers that they're both charming actors and were both good as
Spider-Man. Garfield even gets the film's most poignant moment in a callback to
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (a film I mostly disliked). The film's meta,
self-referential humor could've come across as cutesy and annoying, but it
generally works here in large part because of the actors.
