By Lee Romero
OPERATION: COBWEB CLEAN OUT
It’s hard to talk about NO WAY HOME without talking about NO WAY HOME! But if I did need to lay down a comment… well, let’s just say the landscape for our web-flinging friend has changed!
For the first time in Spidey cinematic history, his identity is revealed, leading to heroic responsibilities into conflict with his normal life and placing those he cares about most at risk. When he taps Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help to restore his secret, the spell tears a hole in their world, releasing the most powerful villains who’ve ever fought a Spider-Man in any universe. Now, Peter’s (Tom Holland) abilities on all levels will need to be put in place in order to overcome his most complicated challenge yet, which will not only forever alter his own future but the future of the Multiverse.
Well, in a nutshell, I think of all Spider-Man films, this one’s definitely the most ambitious iteration and best for so many reasons. Quite frankly, for me, it felt like the ENDGAME version of the series as it intertwines so much and serves up a presentation that finds itself entangled in a web (no pun) of nostalgia, contemporary touch, and sets up a new beginning.
A game changer would be understatement. For starters, NO WAY HOME carries a lot of weight in helping to introduce a new phase in the MCU. One that entails all sorts of craziness pertaining to the Multiverse with upcoming stand-alone pieces. NO WAY HOME goes hard and literally pulls no punches. In many ways a lot of the narrative forces this version of Spider-Man to really go at it hard when utilizing his abilities and solidifying himself as a super-hero. You see it, feel it, and can almost taste it. While NO WAY HOME has lots to expose in terms of fun and funnies, there’s an underlying, balanced element of darkened drama that leads to harsh and brutal battles and outcomes. This one really places the spotlight on Spidey going one-on-one, particularly with a much more sinister, frightening Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), whose exposition in this piece is visceral.
The same can be said for the other villains, who go through an upgrade from their prior films, and while we’re in the mix of Multiverse chatter, NO WAY HOME’s narrative also makes the other Spider-Man films a bit better by placing arcs across the board and providing comforting closure. Tying all into one, the end result places this Spider-Man version on a different level. One that changes the landscape, with what seems to be having Doctor Strange as a major player across the Multiverse storylines in play. NO WAY HOME is more than just its own piece, it’s a multilayered, cinematic phenom. Aside from a nice and well-executed tie-in among other films and characters, NO WAY HOME also provides great set pieces, action sequences, crazy imagery, cameos, sad setups, and an overall sense to the end and/or start of a new era courtesy of its own strength and post-credit scenes – there’s two!
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Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi | Rated: PG-13 | Run Time: 2:28
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Willem Defoe, Jamie Foxx, Alfred Molina, Benedict Cumberbatch
Directed by Jon Watts
https://www.marvel.com/movies/spider-man-no-way-home
