Review of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) by Righter — 17 Dec 2021

No Way Home is everything any real fan of Marvel or Spider-Man could ever have hoped for, and a little more. I won't give away any spoilers, but it's a fantastic movie that's made ten times better if you're a long-time fan who's seen the previous iterations in the franchise. It caters to casual fans but multiplies the dramatic (and comedic) payoffs for older fans and is enough to reduce full-grown adults to puddles of teary-eyed, ear-to-ear grinning satisfaction. All performances are top-notch, and Tom Holland delivers his best performance ever, both as Spider-Man and Peter Parker. All the other cast members are equally superb, and it's obvious that they all knew they were taking part in something extraordinary. Their love for the Spidey Mythos shines through every second of their screentime. In spades.

As for the surprises, well, let's just say...the movie does THAT. While you're getting over the fact that it actually did THAT, it then goes along and does THAT as well. While you're recovering from beautiful and understated fan service (there's nothing wrong with fan service when understated and tastefully done and especially when it's done to serve the story, and not at its expense - a lesson that critics should learn when they're not too busy trying to sound above it all), it then goes along and also does THAT, to devastatingly emotional effect. No Way Home is a master class in entertainment, and a masterclass in dramatic storytelling, and nay-sayers like Scott, Cameron, and Scorcese need to wake up and pull their heads out of their collective butts because there's nothing to say you can't be fun, funny, and unyielding in gravitas all within the same movie. If you could distill all your love for Spider-Man into a movie, this would be the result. This is the Peter Parker we've all grown up with, and he's spectacular, and he's still just a young man who's trying his hardest to do the right thing. This is the Spider-Man who never quits. This is the Spider-Man who, despite all odds, could grow into the hero who beat FireLord while the Avengers were gone, and could survive Kraven's Last Hunt. This is the Spider-Man that turns adults to Jello-O while they remember holding a flashlight under the sheets after their parents had sent them to bed on a school night. Incredibly enough for a two and a half hour movie, not a single scene drags. It's tempered to perfection. The action scenes are fast but never confusing, and the dramatic scenes are heavy without feeling slow. It trusts the audience with its dramatic beats and doesn't resort to melodrama.

The only slightly weak point is some undercooked CGI. Then again, Marvel Studios always seems to produce better CGI than the Sony Pictures installments. But that's a minor complaint in a movie that works so hard to be the absolute best it can be.

I've already seen it twice, and it was an even more emotional experience the second time around.

Avoid spoilers! You'll just be ruining a stellar experience for yourself.