Film Review - Spider-Man: No Way Home (12A)

 You have a gift. You have power. And with great power...

I don't know where to begin. I don't know what to say, and what not. Either you've seen Spider-Man: No Way Home by now, in which case I can wreak no spoiler havoc, or you haven't, in which case you possibly don't care. But just maybe you've not yet made it due to family or work commitments and still want to experience the movie fresh. I'm going to assume that last scenario, also that you've not seen so much as a trailer for this Spidey outing. Because if you are such a person - someone who loves the whole Peter Parker teen-super mythology but who gets to watch this movie cold, then you're in for the treat of your Spider-loving life. 

The starting point of this film is the end to the previous one, and that much I'll assume you have seen. Peter's precious anonymity has been shattered by J. Jonah Jameson, played with muck-raking gusto by J. K. Simmons (reprising the role from Tobey Maguire's Spider-Era). Jameson is likewise promoting the lie that Parker/Spider-Man is responsible for recent villainous events internationally. With his cover blown, Peter finds his reputation and college chances ruined, along with those of girlfriend MJ and best friend Ned. It's more than a high-school lad can take, so this being the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he calls on Doctor Strange's mystical powers, to see if the world can forget that Spider-Man is really Peter Parker in spandex. But spells have messy consequences when cast in the presence of excitable teens, and the consequences here are remarkable - not least for long-term fans of the webslinger on page and screen.

2002 was my proper introduction to Spidey with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, this Maguire iteration of the character probably being the purest in terms of adherence to comic-book lore. The hard-on-the-heels reboots brought a skater-boy cool to the character, Andrew Garfield's likeable interpretation hampered by variable narrative choices, but still not without its entertainment value and dramatic punch. Finally the MCU and Tom Holland effectively made the character Spider-Boy, with less of the angst that plagued Peter in the other versions and greater emphasis on high-school dating and friendship. 2017's Homecoming and 2019's Far From Home majored on fun, including amusing support players and more jokes. (Thankfully the latter had a high hit-rate.) But No Way Home, the final part of director Jon Watts' Home trilogy, does something unprecedented, in terms of Spider-Man and of popcorn cinema. It begins with the jokey Holland style with which audiences have become familiar, and then it goes old-school, taking enormous storytelling risks. This might all have resulted in a disastrous mess, but instead it creates a magic that's little short of alchemical.

No Way Home begins with all the wit and charm of its MCU predecessors - but in focusing on the consequences of Peter's identity reveal, it highlights the burden of personal responsibility on a teenager that has always made Spider-Man uniquely compelling. And that's only the start of what turns out to be an emotionally turbulent and constantly surprising story. Holland is as welcome a presence as ever in the lead, being called on to find constantly greater range in the character and meeting the challenge every time. He and Zendaya become steadily more endearing as the Peter/MJ paring, with Jacob Batalon's Ned rounding out the trio of friends in a way that takes it from purely knockabout to something considerably more touching. 

With great support also from Marisa Tomei (the most impactful and - let's say it - hottest Aunt May ever), Jon Favreau ever loveable as Happy Hogan and Benedict Cumberbatch bringing the weight and humour of his ever-evolving Doc Strange, it's an engaging and pacy prologue, but that's all it is. For when the story's antagonists arrive, they do so from a place and in a form that will steal the breath of those few Spider-Fans who've bunkered up and avoided all publicity. And from there the surprises keep being sprung - not cheaply, but in ways that reforge expectations of what this kind of live-action film can achieve, while deconstructing the Spider mythology to build it into something more impressive than before. Never has the Parker/Spider-Man duality been explored with such invention and import.

If I were to quibble, it'd be to say that certain choices made in the story's early stages are more to facilitate the amazing plot twists that come later, rather than a natural extension of how you might expect certain characters to behave. Yes there's an element of contrivance, but what it leads to is so thrilling and so punch-the-air joyful that it's okay in this case to let such conveniences lie. Look, I'm not going to claim straight out that No Way Home is the best film in the wider Sony-related franchise (though it certainly stakes a claim). What I will say is that it takes Spidey enthusiasts to places they probably never dreamed they'd go, and puts a big goofy, teary grin on their faces once they get there. If you've paid any attention to the big screen adventures of Spider-Man over the past two decades, you might end up wearing a similar grin yourself.

Gut Reaction: Spellbound by a sense this was more than just Spider-business as usual. Then grinning a lot and tearing up for reasons of both sadness and joy. 

Memorable Moment: I can't say much, just that it was one of the most audacious reveals I've ever experienced in a cinema.

Ed's Verdict: 9/10. Hugely satisfying block-buster entertainment - less from its scale and effects (both stunning), more from big emotions, rooted in a plot that embraces its ambition with a bear-hug and doesn't let go. This everyday neighbourhood hero has never blown so many minds.