Spider-Man: No Way Home

Because there's so little plot in Spider-Man: No Way Home it's hard to discuss the film without revealing its many secrets. What writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers tee-up for fans is a loose structure that allows for the film to throw everything but the kitchen sink, with an almost overwhelming amount fan service (admittedly pretty good fan service), into a single film. While it doesn't measure up to the film that obviously inspired it, Spider-Man: No Way Home turns out to be a pretty fun ride. 

Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is fucked, and his friends (Zendaya and Jacob Batalon) are paying for his mistakes. In classic Spider-Man fashion, Peter's attempts to rectify that situation caused by Mysterio revealing his identity to the world only make it worse. After finding a wizard and loophole to set things right, Peter's interruption of  Doctor Strange's (Benedict Cumberbatch) spell to prevent anyone in the world from remembering he is Spider-Man backfires opening up cracks to the Multiverse allowing anyone who knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man from any other reality to bleed through. Let the chaos begin.

Although the trailer and poster give away many of the guest-stars here, the film offers even more from the other Sony Spider-Man films (which I won't spoil here). After the 20 minute set-up, the film becomes basically one long action scene with a few brief respites for our hero and the audience to catch a breath. It's in these smaller moments that the film attempts to pull on the thread of who this Peter Parker is in a world where all Peter Parker's enemies have suddenly arrived. That thread, and Peter's concern for his friends, is present throughout director Jon Watts' film even if it sometimes gets lost amongst the craziness and chaos the ensues.

Released at Christmas, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a prototypical summer film. It's big, loud, and entertaining with just enough story to tie the various action sequences together. It's not a great film. At two-and-a-half hours, the film could have used at least one more rewrite to tighten up the script. It also features a pretty lengthy epilogue that also feels too long for what it ultimately accomplishes (although its final scene did make me smile), and mid-credit and post-credit scenes are more about setting up what is next for Spidey and Doctor Strange specifically than adding any final touches to this story. Is the movie everything I wanted it to be? No, but it is a fun Spider-Man experience for those who have watched the character grow and change on film over the course nearly 20 years.

Watch the trailer