It has officially been one week since I’ve seen Spider-Man: No Way Home and I can still not find enough nouns, adjectives, or even verbs to explain to everyone how AMAZING this film truly is. BUT HERE GOES…warning this is a full-on SPOILER review.
The Nostalgia Was Not a Gimmick or Cheap Trick
Throughout the past years, a lot of franchises have attempted to bring back old characters to increase the viewership of their new films (Terminator and Star Wars to name a few) but with Spider-Man: No Way Home, it felt truly organic. Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin served as the main antagonist of the film, and he was as menacing as he was 20 years ago. In addition, the empathy we have for Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock and Jamie Foxx’s Electro returns. But of course, how can I not mention the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Seeing them appear once again felt like a dream. You can even see the joy in their eyes as they reprise their roles. For example, Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker saving MJ was one of the best callbacks to his attempt to save Gwen in his previous film. There was a rush of emotions seeing him save MJ and I can remember the pain he delivered in Amazing Spider-Man 2 when he failed. Another terrific scene is when Doc Ock meets Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker and he says, “trying to do better…” A quote that all of us are living by.
The Dialogue Was Well-Written
Even though I am an avid fan of comic book movies, the dialogue can be a bit cringey, with cheap jokes interrupting emotionally driven scenes, or an overall lack of character development. Throughout this whole movie, the dialogue created an in-depth story that I believe anyone can enjoy while offering a number of callbacks for the more die-hard fans of Spider-Man. The “with great power comes responsibility” theme was felt throughout the movie and seeing how this is one of the most iconic quotes in comic book history, the script definitely completed this mission.
MCU’s Peter Parker Becomes THE Definitive PETER PARKER/SPIDER-MAN
This was probably the greatest surprise that this movie delivered: Iron Man’s apprentice becomes the Wall-Crawler we all loved. The first two installments of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man films were a bit underwhelming because of how strongly it was connected to Tony Stark’s journey rather than Peter’s (which results in the Iron Boy meme). Although Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Electro, Lizard and Sandman are not originally Tom Holland’s Peter’s villains, they taught him one of the most challenging lessons Spider-Man had to learn time and time again: being a hero requires sacrifice. Peter’s willingness to give up his relationships and his reputation for the sake of saving the world demonstrates the growth of a young boy who was eager to be an Avenger to a man who is willing to give up everything for the ones he loves even if it includes them. Although tragic, the brilliance of the Spider-Man character comes from the loneliness and strength he develops through every battle and struggle. It is what makes him relatable and makes him the most human even with superpowers. I am truly excited to see what is next for this Peter Parker. EXCELSIOR!
