By Jack Deegan
Staff Writer
After years of buildup, the final movie in Marvel Studios’ first Spider-Man trilogy is here with “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” This movie takes place immediately after the previous film, and follows Peter Parker (Tom Holland) as his identity is revealed to the whole world. In an attempt to fix this problem, Peter goes to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help, but after a botched spell, things only get worse as villains from throughout the multiverse threaten their reality.
I cannot express enough just how excited I was to see this movie; it was my most anticipated movie of the year. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is my favorite franchise, and this movie was shaping up to be one of their biggest films yet. My expectations only rose as I heard more and more rumors about it, and I’m happy to say that it exceeded my already high expectations and blew my mind.
A movie like this has a lot going on, and I was worried that it might be too much — they would either have trouble balancing everything or they’d knock it out of the park — but they executed the story perfectly. The central idea behind Peter’s double life as Spider-Man carries this movie, and we see him struggle with that great responsibility. He makes a mistake that leads to these villains terrorizing his world, and he has to make difficult choices in order to fix this. There are consequences for his actions, and it affects the people around him in really interesting ways. It’s also incredibly emotional. It still has that trademark Marvel humor, but I found myself tearing up several times throughout the film.The story is incredibly satisfying and rewarding and does a phenomenal job of showing just what it takes to be Spider-Man.
At the heart of this story is the relationship between Peter and M.J. (Zendaya). Marvel has been building up to their romance throughout both previous installments and now they finally have an entire movie to explore it. It’s very interesting seeing how Peter’s unmasking affects her. Peter is brought to some really dark places as a character, which feels earned from what he goes through. Tom Holland acts his heart out and gives what is easily his best performance as the web-slinger. One of the biggest questions a lot of people had is how they would bring back all of the old villains and if it would make sense. I found that it was a smart and earned explanation, and every character had a reason to be there. It’s always great to see Willem Dafoe, and it was a treat seeing him as the Green Goblin again. He steals every scene he’s in and his character arc is really interesting. This movie would not work as well as it does without all of these actors bringing their characters to life, and every character in the film feels important and needed. They’re never overstuffed and they only enhance the story they’re trying to tell.
From a technical standpoint, this movie is easily the best out of the entire trilogy and one of the best in the entire MCU. Composer Michael Giacchino’s score is beautiful; he does such a fantastic job and enhances every scene with the soundtrack. With so many old characters returning too, he incorporates their themes from previous films seamlessly. Director Jon Watts also does a terrific job directing. You can see a lot of the choices that he makes in this movie to make certain shots look beautiful, purposeful and interesting. Even with seven prior live action Spider-Man movies, he still found a way to compose amazing shots I hadn’t even seen in any of those films.
Looking towards the future of the franchise, I think this is one of the best endings in any superhero movie ever, and it sets up some fresh and interesting stories for the future. It puts the MCU Spider-Man in a position he’s never been in before, and I can’t wait to see where they go with it. This entire movie wraps up one of my favorite trilogies in the perfect way. I see myself revisiting this film countless times; I truly believe that this is a flawless masterpiece.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” was promised to be one of the biggest movies ever, and they delivered, exceeding my almost impossibly high expectations. The film is exciting, emotional and always entertaining. I could not recommend this movie more; it feels like a passionately written love letter to the character and is Marvel’s masterpiece.
