Spider-Man: No Way Home Review: Tom Holland Becomes the Spider-Man of the Multiverse
Heads up: there will be absolutely no spoilers in this review, in case you’re worried about reading the following review. I may post a separate spoiler-filled discussion or review when the film releases on VOD, but for now, no spoilers.
It’s been a long road for Spider-Man.
The first trilogy of Spider-Man films weren’t films, but re-edited episodes of the CBS television series The Amazing Spider-Man starring Nicholas Hammond that ran from 1977 to 1979. Then, there was the Japanese Spider-Man film in 1978, a spin-off of the Japanese Spider-Man TV series made by Tōei. From 1978 to 2000, there were attempts to make several Spider-Man films by Roger Corman, Tobe Hooper, Joseph Zito, and James Cameron.
Then, Sam Raimi signed on. He directed what many think to be the best incarnation of Spider-Man ever to exist. With the original Spider-Man in 2002, he crafted a story about a nerdy guy who wants to live an everyday life, but after a radioactive spider bites him on a school trip, he must become Spider-Man. In Spider-Man 2, he has to face the same plight, but with the twist that the film’s villain is one of his mentors. Then in Spider-Man 3…well, let’s leave it at that. It’s not a bad movie; it’s just one that was wrought with studio interference. Instead of introducing New Goblin and Sandman, Sam Raimi also had to add Venom and Gwen Stacy into the mix. Spider-Man 3 did gangbusters at the box office that year, but critics were none too pleased with the time with the plot and pacing of the film.
Shortly after the announcement of Spider-Man 4 and Venom spin-off film, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man was no more. Sony was rebooting the series with a new cast and crew. Marc Webb would direct the new incarnation of Spider-Man from a script by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, and Steve Kloves. The new cast would comprise of Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Conners/Lizard, Denis Leary as George Stacy, Campbell Scott as Richard Parker, Irrfan Khan as Rajit Ratha, Martin Sheen as Ben Parker and Sally Field as May Parker.
The Amazing Spider-Man was a tremendous critical and financial success, so Sony decided to go forward with another film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and would see the introduction of Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Dane Dehaan’s Green Goblin, Paul Giamatti’s Rhino, among others.
The film did well financially but was the worst-reviewed Spider-Man film of all time. Sony decided to pull the plug on The Amazing Spider-Man 3, the two-part The Amazing Spider-Man 4, a Drew Goddard Sinister Six two-parter, a Black Cat film, and a Spider-Man 2099 film in October of 2015, when a deal between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios was announced, allowing Spider-Man to appear in the MCU.
Shortly after that, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man appeared for the first time on team Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War before his own film, Spider-Man: Homecoming, directed by Jon Watts from a screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts himself, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, and Erik Sommers. Homecoming propelled Spider-Man back to critical acclaim, and box office returns unheard of since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3.
The following year was a big year for Spider-Man. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man appeared in Avengers: Infinity War, which had one of the biggest box office openings of all time and was critically acclaimed.
Meanwhile, Sony Pictures released their Venom film directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay by Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel. The film starred Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom, Michelle Williams as Anne Weying, Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake/Riot, Scott Haze as Roland Treece, and Reid Scott as Dan Lewis. Venom was the start of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, even though Spider-Man has not appeared in that universe yet…well, not in-person. It’s complicated. Needless to say, it’s a film critics hated, but the public loved, setting several box office records. The sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, was released this year to similar fanfare.
Sony Pictures Animation also released Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, an animated film directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman from a screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman. The cast consists of multiple Spider-people, such as Shameik Moore as Miles Miles/Spider-Man, Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker/Spider-Man, Chris Pine as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Hailee Steinfield as Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman, John Mulaney as Peter Porker/Spider-Ham, Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker/SP//dr:, and Nicolas Cage as Peter Parker/Spider-Man Noir, with a rogues gallery to match. Into the Spider-Verse became Sony Pictures Animations’ highest-grossing domestic film. The film had a fantastic awards season, becoming the first non-Disney/Pixar film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature since 2011 and winning similar awards at the 76th Golden Globes, 72nd British Academy Film Awards, and the 46th Annie Awards. This isn’t the last we’ve heard of the Spider-Verse, as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part Two) were announced for an October 7th, 2022 and 2023 release with a Spider-Women film in development.
In another realm, Insomniac Games released their incarnation of Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man for the PlayStation 4. It was heralded as one of the best superhero video games ever made, earning several awards that year, and became one of the fastest-selling games that year and one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games of all time. The three-part DLC, Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps, was less well-received but still fun. A spin-off, titled Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales released in November 2020 for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, along with Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, reviewed similarly but didn’t sell as much as its predecessor, likely due to the ongoing PlayStation 5 shortage and outcry over the replacement of John Bubniak’s face model from the original game with a new face model provided by Ben Jordan. The two Spider-Men’s next adventure will release in 2023 for the PlayStation 5 and will feature Kraven the Hunter and Venom as the antagonists.
In 2019, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man appeared in Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, two box office and critical successes, the latter of which paves the way for Spider-Man: No Way Home, when Mysterio revealed Spider-Man’s secret identity in a post-credits scene.
Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up immediately after this reveal and deals with the aftermath of the world knowing that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Unable to deal with this weight, Peter calls on Doctor Strange to help the world forget he’s Spider-Man. Things go awry as Peter keeps tampering with the spell, and it just so happens that Peter accidentally opened a hole in the fabric of the multiverse. Yikes. Now, it’s up to Peter and his friends to repair the multiverse.
Jon Watts never has a distinct direction, at least not to me. If he has a tone for these Spider-Man films, Watts's direction is apeing popular 1980s films like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, National Lampoon's European Vacation, but with Jake Gyllenhaal as a trans-dimensional superhero. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, there's no model for Watts can base his direction on. As a result, Watts reverts to his independent film days making films such as Cop Car, where he focused on a singular feeling to drive the film. That singular feeling for No Way Home is the consequence of sudden fame. Watts pulls this off elegantly, to the point that it feels like it's not Watts directing, but a more seasoned director. It's quite an out-of-body experience, but you get used to it by the time all the superhero punches start landing.
There's a concerted effort to make an intelligent superhero film here. In previous Spider-Man films, the one gripe I had was that Spider-Man never used his brain to deal with his problems. Here, it feels like scriptwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers looked back on the Spider-Man comics of the early 2000s and noticed Peter Parker's greatest strength: his smarts. How this film allows Peter to use his smarts in a fight (and stupidity in real life) is just so satisfying that it allows the film to give detractors of Tom Holland's Spider-Man everything they ever wanted. Of course, I'm dancing my way around spoilers here, but it reconfigures the audience's perception of his journey in the MCU up into this point.
Likewise, the script finally gives the supporting cast of Zendaya's MJ, Jacob Batalon's Ned, Jon Favreau's Happy, Flash, and Aunt May a ton more to do. They aren't just scene-dressing; they are actual characters with needs and concerns. The supporting cast has things to do to support Peter and help him make the decisions he needs as Spider-Man while addressing their concerns with Peter.
Speaking of beef, the rogues' gallery of Electro, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Lizard, and Sandman is also treated with a lot of love and care to the point that the villains are almost supporting characters here. Instead of the typical mustache-twirling, these villains have reasons for facing off against Spider-Man here, and audiences are forced to reckon with whether Peter should even be fighting them.
Doctor Strange's role in the film is the worst-developed of all the characters. But, again, dodging spoilers, you could very easily take him out of this film and still have a similar storyline to what happens in the film. Of course, you'd have to take the mystical part of the film away, but the important thing is that this film doesn't require the assistance of Doctor Strange.
Another thing that the script doesn't do well is cater to all audiences. There are many things audience members need to remember before purchasing a ticket to No Way Home. Since characters from the Raimi Spider-Man films, The Amazing Spider-Man films as well as characters from the Doctor Strange and MCU Spider-Man films appear, you must watch at least nine films before you can even dig into the context of this movie, and that's not even accounting for Tom Holland's Spider-Man showing up in other films. Not only that, but some jokes won't even be funny to you if you haven't seen those films. That's a lot of legwork to do for what is a conclusion to the Homecoming trilogy, as Sony refers to the MCU Spider-Man standalone films.
While it may seem odd to critique a sequel to a trilogy that exists in a cinematic universe that has twenty-six other films and five other T.V. shows (if we're not counting Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Inhumans, the Marvel Netflix series, the Freeform series, and the Hulu series) to watch as of this review, it's a valid concern. After Avengers: Endgame, the slate has pretty much been wiped clean. There's no Iron Man, Hulk hasn't been seen since The Blip, Thor's off with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Steve went off to live the life he's always wanted, and The Avengers haven't assembled in quite some time. This current phase of the MCU is all about the next generation of heroes, so why burden moviegoers with the need to see a ton of movies before they purchase a ticket for No Way Home?
Tom Holland's portrayal of Peter Parker and Spider-Man has been one of shifted priorities. Unlike Raimi or Webb's portrayals of the wall-crawler, this portrayal leans much more on mentor figures and Stark tech to help him defeat the big bad in the climactic battle of each film. This makes Holland's Peter never have to deal with the fallout his actions cause on others. In No Way Home, Holland is forced to face the consequences of his battle with Mysterio and being so loose with his identity in the past. This surfaces in the way Holland plays Peter this time around is as if he's always playing defense, constantly unsure of his actions and hoping he's doing the right thing while the public drags Peter and Spider-Man's names through the mud. As heartbreaking as it is to watch, it brings his portrayal of the character closer to the comic book counterpart.
Speaking of counterparts, Zendaya's "M.J." gets a far more significant role this time around. Unlike her appearances in Homecoming and Far From Home, she's an integral part of Peter's life, helping him to talk through his feelings and come to terms with the decisions he makes. As a result, Zendaya's playing MJ much more seriously, cutting down on her joking personality and becoming much more of the film's emotional core. Zendaya did such a great job here that she made me care for her character to the point where I cried at one point.
Jacob Batalon's Ned gets a similar treatment. The proverbial "guy in the chair" and Peter's best friend, we get to see who Ned is, in and out of the chair. Batalon doesn't get a lot of material in the film to play around with, but whenever he was onscreen, I was psyched.
After the minor bit parts he received in the previous Spider-Man films, I hoped that Tony Revolori's Flash Thompson would get a more prominent role this time around. Unfortunately, the film doesn't have space for him yet again, but when he does appear, this time as a Spider-Man superfan, it's always entertaining. Here's hoping that he gets a more prominent role in future Spider-Man films, considering how big of a deal he is in the comic books.
Marisa Tomei's Aunt May is given a more prominent role in No Way Home, moving on from her duties with the Salvation Army to helping at a local homeless shelter called F.E.A.S.T. Despite this increased role, Tomei's acting didn't enhance her story arc for me. However, she's able to get a few moments in that made me emotional.
Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange I could take or leave. Like I mentioned before, I don’t think this film needs him outside of the more magical things that happen throughout No Way Home. I love Cumberbatch, but if you’re a Doctor Strange fan or a fan of Cumberbatch’s, watch something else.
The returning villains such as Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus, Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, Jamie Foxx's Electro, Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman, and Rhys Ifans's Lizard surprisingly get a ton of screen time. They are more affecting than in the films they last appeared in. Each actor brings the baggage they carry from those films, making their performances here so much richer than they could have been if these were new incarnations of the villains. If there’s one highlight of this rogue’s gallery, it’s Dafoe. Instead of playing Green Goblin as a Shakespearean character, he’s much more of a wicked and cruel villain. There’s one shot (which I’m sure you’ve seen on social media at this point) where Peter is punching him, and he starts laughing. It’s genuinely terrifying stuff and shows just how much Dafoe understands what makes Green Goblin tick.
J.K. Simmon's J. Jonah Jameson has a lovely new twist to the character he played in the Raimi films. This incarnation of Jameson is an Alex Jones-style podcaster, solely focused on dragging Peter and Spider-Man’s names through the mud. As much as I love the Raimi incarnation of Jameson, I love what Simmons is doing here much more. At the time of the Raimi Spider-Man films, newspapers started steadily declining as more publications pivoted to online readership. So, the pivot to Jameson as a podcaster is ingenious. Simmons is easily the highlight of the supporting cast outside of the rogue’s gallery.
Speaking of galleries, cinematography is not something that’s been discussed often when discussing the MCU. Talented cinematographers like Ben Davis, Bill Pope, Gabriel Beristain, and Trent Opaloch have developed the visual language for the past two years of the MCU. Respectively, they’ve worked with visionary directors like Matthew Vaugh, Martin McDonagh, Clint Eastwood, Sam Raimi, The Wachowskis, Edgar Wright, Guillermo del Tero, David Mamet, and Neill Blomkamp, among others.
Mauro Fiore, a replacement for Seamus McGarvey on this film, is similarly credited, working with legends like Antoine Fuqua, Michael Bay, Joe Carnahan, Peter Berg, James Cameron, Shawn Levy, and is filming Zach Braff’s latest film, A Good Person.
A common criticism of the cinematography is that it looks flat and without much color. Fiore flips the script on that here with some of the best-looking scenes in the MCU. For example, there’s a scene in the rain during nighttime, where Peter is standing and crying amongst a myriad of electronic billboards. This scene includes a shallow depth of field, in which Peter’s face is in the primary focus, while the billboards light his face from all angles.
Something that also isn’t talked about much when talking about the MCU is the editing. Editing can make or break a movie, as they take everything that was filmed and make the storyline in the script cohesive while keeping in mind what works best for the audience. The sign of lousy editing is usually being bored by a film, even if you like the story.
Jeffrey Ford has worked as a co-editor on eight previous MCU films, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and other films like One Hour Photo, The Family Stone, Public Enemies, and Let Him Go.
Likewise, Leigh Folsom Boyd has worked as co-editor on films like Man on Fire, The Amityville Horror, Next, Fast & Furious, Battle: Los Angeles, Total Recall, Ant-Man, and TV shows like Pacific Blue, Bull (2000), Traffic, among others.
Both Ford and Boyd come together to craft a tightly paced, exciting thrill ride that makes the two-and-a-half-hour runtime breeze by. It’s truly astonishing how much the film breezes by. One minute, the opening credits are rolling, and before you know it, the lights are coming up, and the theater attendants are telling you to leave.
Nowadays, hundreds of visual effects artists make most Spider-Man films worldwide. For No Way Home, VFX companies like Cinesite, Luma Pictures, Digital Domain, Framestore, Crafty Apes, SSCFX, Sony Pictures’ own Imageworks division, ILM, among a few others.
These VFX companies had to do a lot on this film. Beyond the obvious CG models of Spider-Man, you’re also dealing with visualizations of the Mystic Arts that haven’t been seen before in-universe and all-new CG models of the five digital villains (plus the digital de-aging and CG arms on Doctor Octopus). This kind of VFX work is usually reserved for Avengers films like Endgame, and somehow, the dozen or so VFX studios producing the CG models (along with other things, I’m sure) pull it off flawlessly. Gone are the fake-looking Spider-Man CG suits; they look real at points.
By this point, Michael Giacchino needs no introduction. He is one of the GOATS when it comes to composing music. Anytime he’s scoring a film, even if the film is terrible, his score is always great. So, it should come as no surprise that the soundtrack for No Way Home is an absolute banger. Giacchino includes all the classic motifs from the Raimi and Webb films and Doctor Strange, along with some trippy new compositions that put this soundtrack amongst one of the best scores of all time.
So, if you’ve made it this far, first: congratulations for reading this monster of a review, second, if you took nothing else away from this review, know this: besides Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man 2, this is easily one of the best Spider-Man films of all time.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in movie theaters worldwide.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Until next time!
Thanks to Thomas Stoneham-Judge from Movies For Reel, Shane Conto, Joseph Davis, David Walters, Ambula Bula, and Matthew Simpson for supporting Austin B Media on Patreon!
