Stanko's Stance

“With Spider-Man’s identity now revealed, Peter asks Doctor Strange for help. When a spell goes wrong, dangerous foes from other worlds start to appear.”

Director: Jon Watts
Writers: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, Marisa Tomei, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, J.K. Simmons
Release Date: December 17, 2021
IMDB

Yes, I understand I am three years late. Sue me. I am not a major Marvel fan, so I catch up when I feel like it. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) finally earned its spot on the queue, and I am here to dispense my thoughts.

First of all, let’s open up the dialogue that Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) and Spider-Man: No Way Home are born from the same mother. Both movies attempt to team up with the target audience’s dream scenario while trying to patch together a plot and emotional ethos throughout the runtime. Whether or not you believe the cinematic missions are a success depends on your fandom levels for whom the characters revolve. With No Way Home, it is all about Marvel, the multiverse, Spider-Man, and the tingly teenagers’ relationship, and his responsibility to himself and those around him.  In the case of Deadpool & Wolverine, its entertainment value stems from your knowledge of the X-Men and non-modern Marvel movie attempts made within the last three decades.

With this in mind, I know that No Way Home was not made for me. I do not have a romantic relationship with Tobey Maguire’s admittedly Hollywood-shaking impersonation of Peter Parker. My most memorable Andrew Garfield memory from Amazing Spider-Man adventures is how Paul Giamatti appeared as the Rhino for less than a minute despite being advertised as a big-baddy. 

Tom Holland’s three solo adventures as Spider-Man are my favorite of the Spider-Man solo movie live-action universe (the Spider-Verse movies are way superior). That is mainly because both Homecoming (2017) and Far From Home (2019) had a type of media moat around them. Each of the movies is separated from the major Marvel storylines, meaning there isn’t homework to do to appreciate the story.

No Way Home breaks away from a more simplistic single-story structure and does its best to cram as much as possible into its 2-hour and 28-minute runtime. Peter Parker deals with college admission, his relationship with MJ (Zendaya), the concept of the universe collapsing, and the idea of saving villains’ souls and eventually saving the world. Is that enough? 

The plot is not essential to No Way Home. The movie’s entertainment comes from the return of classic characters, most notably Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), and the two other renditions of Peter Parker. I can only imagine the theater’s reaction when Holland, Garfield, and Maguire shared the screen for the first time. It is a Marvel fan’s dream, and I get that. For me, the characters entering the world of Holland were a tad bit anti-climatic, and the results were predictable till the very end.

I love how all of the “cured” villains stay perfectly in place during the final battle when they are neutralized. There is the big fistfight with Spider-Man and the Green Goblin…the almost shocking death of Toby McGuire’s character…Doctor Strange is doing something that seems huge but falls secondary to half-ass emotional speeches…and during this mumbo-jumbo…Lizard Man, Electro, Doc Ock, the Green Goblin, and Sandman all stay perfectly still. It is a game of “Red Light, Green Light”.

I will credit No Way Home with one thing. The fact that they actually killed off Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) was a huge plus in my book. No, I understand it’s a comic book movie and deaths are never permanent, but the guts to have that emotional throat punch in a happy-go-lucky movie deserves kudos. It is the most emotionally impactful part of the movie, without a doubt. One thought they would go for the double with Maguire’s Spider-Man perishing in the final climax, but you can’t kill that IP.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is one of eight movies that made a billion dollars at the box office after COVID. It was the last major Marvel success before Deadpool & Wolverine. It ranks as the third highest-grossing Marvel movie only behind Endgame (2019) and Infinity War (2018). While It was not made for me, it was made for the masses, and there is no denying success in that department.

Spider-Man: No Way Home was nominated for Best Visual Effects At the 2022 Academy Awards.

STANKO RATING: C