Review of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) by Theredsky — 21 Dec 2021

No Way Home is everything I wanted it to be. I will admit that I was hesitant about this before the film came out due to the nostalgic elements but it worked beautifully. This film isn’t without fault though.

Doctor Strange acts out of character here to do the spell for Peter and Ned being really good at making portals before Strange was doesn’t make a lot of sense. Sandman says a line that throws a MASSIVE plot hole into Raimi’s Spider-Man films.

It’s very obvious that the filmmakers didn’t know what to do with Sandman and The Lizard. They just kinda hang out in the background and unfortunately the actors for them aren’t doing a great job.

I could really pick apart the plot if I wanted to but this film does so much right that I can’t bring myself to do it. Electro is a massive improvement from his appearance in TASM2 and Jamie Foxx is clearly having fun with the role.

Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock is great and it feels like he hasn’t left the role. I’m glad that he stops being a villain halfway through and has a hand in helping the hero’s during the final battle.

Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin steals the show. He ended up being my absolute favorite MCU villain. Dafoe steps back into his Goblin shoes flawless. His performance can be absolutely terrifying at points.

In the apartment scene where he fights Tom Holland, the score becomes incredibly haunting as Holland lands blow after blow while Dafoe laughs manically. It’s haunting and amazing. Speaking of the score, it’s absolutely fantastic.

It adds so much emotion to the story and helps with the grand feeling. The light motifs for each character works brilliantly when thrown into the scene. The biggest strength this film has is the death of Aunt May and the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men.

Aunt May’s death came out of nowhere and really hit hard when she dies in Peter’s arms. It’s a brilliant scene. Tobey and Andrew step back into the suit perfectly with Andrew Garfield being the best part of the film in my opinion.

Both of them bring back their quirks of their Spider-Men and they have their own little redemption moments. Tobey saves Goblin from being stabbed by Tom’s Spider-Man and Andrew saves MJ from death in an absolutely beautiful scene and brilliant performance from Garfield.

It almost made me cry to watch Garfield realize that he had redeemed himself and saved someone but in the end, this is Holland’s film and he goes through Hell in this. He loses his aunt and in the end, everyone forgets who he is and it’s brilliant.

Holland finally shines in his best performance as Spider-Man here. It’s heartbreaking to see him go through all of this but in the end, when he loses everyone, he looks on the bright side and continues being Spider-Man.

It’s what his aunt and friends would want him to do. He makes his own custom suit and swings out to continue being Spider-Man and in that moment, Tom Holland became his own Spider-Man. This film does so much right and I would HIGHLY recommend watching this as soon as possible.