Spider-Man: No Way Home: It's Amazing!

Spider-Man: No Way Home is directed by Jon Watts and stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Marisa Tomei, Alfred Molina, and Willem Dafoe. After his identity is revealed to the world, Peter Parker (Holland) turns to Dr. Strange (Cumberbatch) for help. When the spell goes wrong, enemies from other dimensions come pouring in, and Peter must stop them. Along the way, he'll find out what it truly means to be Spider-Man. With all of that out of the way, let's get started!

I loved this movie so much. As mentioned before, I was a little skeptical going in because I was worried how the movie would balance everything yet focus on Peter. There's a lot going on in this film, but it still manages to focus on Peter. I've been saying since Civil War that Tom Holland is the best Spider-Man. This movie further cements that fact. No Way Home is his strongest performance to date. That's saying a lot because I've always loved his take on the web head. In this movie Peter is really put through the ringer. Hollands acting really reflects this. We genuinely feel for him when things go south. But, in true Spidey fashion, he somehow manages to pick himself back up again. Everyone always said that, in the MCU, he's Iron Man Jr. because of his reliance on the tech that Tony Stark gave him. I always thought that was a stupid criticism because the last two movies have really showed Peter trying to find himself and figure out what it means to be a hero. That goes even further here in ways that I can't really elaborate on because they're spoilers. What really enhances his performance is the chemistry he has with his costars, particularly Zendaya (who plays MJ) and Batalon (who plays Ned). They bounce off of each other effortlessly. As mentioned earlier, everyone knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Early in the movie he calls Ned (who's known this since Homecoming) to tell him the news. They just start yelling, "Dude!" at each other as the situation really sets in. For me, this really gave off the vibe that they are teenagers. It was a little interaction that I loved. What really helps is that all three actors are friends in real life as well. As seen in the trailers, villains from past Spider-Man films show up. What's interesting is that they're from past iterations of the character, so we've got Doc Ock (Molina) and Green Goblin (Dafoe) from the Tobey Maguire films and Electro (Jamie Foxx) from the Andrew Garfield ones. A few others from these franchises show up but I won't elaborate too much because not everyone has seen the trailers. Going in, I thought they wouldn't be in the film too much, but I was wrong. They have quite a lot to do and in a way that never steals the spot light from Peter. It was great seeing these actors reprise their roles from previous installments. I was a little hesitant at first because I thought they would phone it in, but, again, I was wrong. Everyone brings their A-game here. Alfred Molina is great as Dock Ock, but Willem Dafoe's Goblin here is terrifying. He does a fantastic job. It's genuinely unsettling to watch him at times. The best part is that he's not just a glorified cameo, he has a significant role. I might get some flak for this but I think Dafoe did a better job here than in the original Spider-Man. Granted, it's been a while since I've seen it, but he just does a phenonmenal job. It was also really neat to see the villains interact with each other. Remember, by the time Doc Ock showed up in Spider-Man 2, Norman Osborn was dead (spoilers I guess, for a movie that's 20 years old). It created a lot of interesting moments in the story as well. I also really liked the inclusion of Dr. Strange in the story. I remember some people were worried because they didn't like the fact that another Avenger was going to be in a solo Spider-Man film. It never felt intrusive at all. His relationship with Peter is a little different than Tony Stark's. He's kind of like a grumpy uncle, but deep down he cares about him. This movie has a ton of fan-service as well. "But Ben, didn't you tear Rise of Skywalker apart for that same reason?" Kind of. I was so harsh on Skywalker because, well, it sucked. As I've said before, I'm all for fan-service...if it's done well. No Way Home pleases fans, but at the same time, it remembers to be a good movie. The story doesn't take a back seat to the Easter eggs. It never felt like the filmmakers were going, "REMEMBER WHAT YOU LIKED ABOUT SPIDER-MAN??" There are a few moments where it's a teeny bit forced, but never to the extent Rise of Skywalker was. Tonally, this movie isn't afraid to get pretty dark. There were some things where I thought, "Oh damn." This makes sense because, as mentioned earlier, Peter goes through a lot in this movie. The third act in this movie is just incredible, too. People were losing their minds when I saw it. On the technical side, this movie looks great. Peter gets a few new suits and they all look really cool. The effects (for the most part) are awesome, particulalry with Doc Ock's tentacles. They look identical to the ones in the original films. Since most of the villains are effects-driven, it's kind of important that they look believable. This also leads to my next positive: the action sequences are fantastic. The Doctor Strange one (seen in the trailers) is fantastic to look at and I've never really seen anything like it in a Spider-Man movie. Some of the battles are pretty brutal too, but I can't really get into why. When it comes to music, composer Michael Giacchino brings it again. He's just fantastic. The score added so much to the music by bringing in old themes and making new ones. I can't wait to see what he does for The Batman and Jurassic World: Dominion.

While I loved this movie, there were a few things I had some issues with. Most of the villains have enough to do, but there are others who don't really do much and are sort of just there. **MILD-SPOILERS AHEAD** Sandman makes his return in this movie but I was a little confused as to why he was joining with the bad guys. In Spider-Man 3, it's revealed that he's robbing people to get money in order to pay for his daughter's cancer treatments. So, even though he's doing villainous things, he's not necessarily evil. It was just a little confusing. **END OF MILD SPOILERS** Even though Molina does a fantastic job, he doesn't really do all that much in the final act. I wanted to see more of him. Sometimes the CG is a little wonky but it's never enough to detract from the movie. There was a mini-side-plot with Ned that didn't really go anywhere. Granted, what he does is very important, they kept hinting at certain things that never really materialized. There were a few things that got rushed through that I wanted to see more of an elaboration on also. Again, I can't really get into it because of spoilers. With all of that being said, these are very minor complaints in an otherwise amazing movie.

To wrap everything up, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a triumph. It has great performances, headlined by Holland's spectacular performance as Peter Parker, the chemistry between the characters is off the charts, most of the villains do a great job (particualarly Dafoe as Osborn), the fan service never got in the way of the story, the effects (for the most part) are awesome and the music is well done. Some of the villains, however, don't do much, there were a few scenes where the CG was iffy, Ned's little side-plot was eh, and some elements were a little rushed through. This doesn't take away from the fact that this movie is just great. As soon as it ended I knew I needed to see it again. At the time of this review I've seen it twice and it still holds up. This movie, even though it gets pretty dark in some places, just made me happy. The crowd was going crazy in certain scenes and it's just eating me up that I can't say why. Just thinking about this movie gets me a little happier. As I've mentioned before, I was worried that this movie was going to be bloated. There were a ton of villains in it and a lot plot points that needed to be resolved. I was worried that the movie wouldn't focus on Spider-Man. Thankfully I was wrong. Director Jon Watts manages to juggle all of these elements (and there's a lot I can't get into because of spoilers) and manages to deliever one of the finest Spider-Man movies to date. In a way, it reminded me of Captain America: Civil War in the sense that there were a bunch of characters but it still managed to focus on the title one. I can't wait to see where everything goes! If I were to rate it, I'd give Spider-Man: No Way Home a 9/10. Be sure to stay through all of the credits, too. Also, if you want to go in blind, STAY OFF OF THE INTERNET. I had some things spoiled that I was bummed out on. Despite all of that, I still loved this movie!