27 – Spider-Man: No Way Home
Even though I enjoyed some of the more unpopular MCU movies like Black Widow and The Eternals, unlike many Marvel fans, I understand that maybe Marvel was off its game. But here with the third movie in the Spider-Man sub-franchise, No Way Home, the quality came back in a big way. Not only did they deliver a fantastic story, but they were able to neatly tie the larger MCU franchise into the Sony Spiderverse without even breaking a sweat. It was seamless and completely believable, within the confines of the superhero genre. Here was our first big introduction to the Multiverse, and it worked beautifully.
We picked up right where the last Spider-Man movie left off. The world suddenly knows who the webbed hero’s secret identity is, and it not only ruins his life, but the lives of his friends and family. I love the somewhat realistic path the story takes in that direction. It follows the progression, or should I say, the conclusion of the romantic relationship between Aunt May and Happy Hogan. It follows the deepening of the relationship between Peter Parker and MJ. It gives Ned a chance to have some super-powers. And through all that, it gives us plenty of fantastic action sequences, which goes without saying. It is, after all, an MCU Superhero Movie.
But the coolest thing this movie did is rounding up the two Sony Spider-Mans and most of their villains like the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Electro, Sandman, and the Lizard, and the got all the same actors to come back and reprise their roles. It was incredible enough to see Andrew Garfield and Toby MaGuire show up as variants of Peter Parker, but to get all the best villains back as well was a pretty incredible feat. And they did it in a way that totally made sense! And the great thing about it was that the actors from the Sony Spider-Man movies didn’t just show up for little cameos. They were full-fledged participants in the narrative. Not only did this movie pay homage and respect to the Sony movies that came before, but they built on the complexities of the various characters and continued their stories. It was brilliant!
But they even went a step further. They gave the villains costume upgrades, and even went so far as to explain the differences. For example, in the Sony movies, Electro’s powers were blue-based. But here they changed it to yellow, which is actually more comic-book accurate, and they explained it with just a quick line or two of dialogue. The energy in the alternate universe felt different to the character and manifested itself in a different way. Smoothly done!
But not only was there thrilling action, like the climactic battle between the three Spider heroes and the five super villains, but there was also a huge emotional content in the film. The whole idea of Peter asking Dr. Strange to make all his friends forget about him was actually heartbreaking, if you think about it. And the scene where Aunt May dies was gut-wrenching. And here, it was she, and not Uncle Ben, that delivers the great line, “With great power comes great responsibility,” a phrase that has become synonymous with Spider-Man.
For me one of the best parts of the movie was one of my least favorite Spider-Man bad guys, the Green Goblin. And that is because of Willem Dafoe. He is such a phenomenal actor! I’ve never seen him do a bad job in any movie he’s ever been in. He always gives every performance a thousand percent. And this movie was no exception. But he made the Goblin even scarier here than he could in the Sony film. They took the silly looking mask off his face and allowed us to see Dafoe acting the hell out of his part. It showed us his conflicted nature, and the true madness of the villain. The fight in the apartment building between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin was awesome, and ended with the emotional death of Aunt May. This movie got so many things right, and it is great to see the MCU back on top of its game.
Top 10 Favorite Parts
- Peter and MJ arrive back at Aunt May’s place and find May and Happy breaking up.
- Peter goes to see Dr. Strange and the Spell.
- The Fight on the Bridge and the introduction of Doc Oc.
- Spider-Man captures Electro with Sandman’s help.
- The Conversation between all the Super-villains in the Wizard’s Dungeon, where they all realize they were snatched away from dying in their own universes.
- Spider-Man’s fight with Strange.
- The Green Goblin reveals his true face and the following fight with Spider-Man.
- Ned Summons the other two Spider-Mans. I also loved the scenes where they compare the differences in their powers.
- The climactic battle with the three Spider-Men and the five villains.
- Peter says goodbye to his friends, knowing they will forget him forever.