Spider-Man: No Way Home is a wish fulfillment for Spidey and MCU fans with good dramatic moments! The film is directed by Jon Watts, his third Spidey movie, he had directed the crime film, Cop Car (2015). Also continuing the trilogy is screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Peter Parker entered the MCU recruited and given a costume tech upgrade by Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War (2016). It also established his only family member, his Aunt May. His solo movie was Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) which introduced his friends, Ned and Michelle Jones. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) occured after Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Peter had to go on his own without mentor, Tony Stark, and instead worked with Quentin Beck, Mysterio to defeat the Elementals.
It is revealed, spoilers for that film, but necessary, that Mysterio has been in control of the Elementals as illusions and takes over the Stark Industries drones (did Stark learn anything from creating Ultron?). The mid-credit scene showed that Beck’s drone recording showed his death and Peter’s secret identity was open to the world! Important, since Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up with Beck’s death. Apparently, he was a hero even though he wasn’t on the Avengers, didn’t fight against Thanos, but he is somehow on their level of heroism. Spider-Man (Tom Holland) sees that MJ (Zendaya) is surrounded by a crowd. Holland has a bit more drama with this installment, he was also in the sci fi movie, Chaos Walking, this year. Zendaya starred also in 2021 as Chani in Dune.
Spider-Man swings her away from a crowd which frightens MJ. They pass the billboard of J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) ranting about Spider-Man on his show, The Daily Bugle.net. Simmons returns as Jameson, his last Spidey film, besides his cameo in Spider-Man: Far From Home, was really Spider-Man 3 (2007), but this year he was in Being the Ricardos. Jameson is basically a cameo and Simmons plays him as a parody of a conservative commentator hawking supplements. They reach a building, Peter leaves MJ on the edge, he gets a video call from his good friend, Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon). Batalon was in the comedy romance Let It Snow (2019). He is there mostly to give one liners, serve as the audience pov, but we do get a family moment with his mother later with some Tagalog chatting.
They head back to Peter’s apartment with Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) also entering through the door. Tomei was in the comedy special, Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine (2020). Her Aunt May has more of central part for Peter in this movie. Favreau voiced Happy in two episodes of What If…? They have ended their relationship and Peter tries to close the shutters and also uses his webs. The situation is a MCU look at the out of the control paparazzi scene. Still, they are taken to be interrogated by Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed) of the Department of Damage Control. Peter, MJ, and Aunt May get through the questioning, but Ned after a compliment gushes secrets. Afterwards they get an extraordinary lawyer that has the charges dropped for all of them.
Aunt May says they need a more secure place and go to Happy’s condominium in Long Island. It has a Stark security system and various devices. Betty Brant (Angourie Rice) is covering the arrival of Spider-Man and his amazing friends to school. Rice was in the dramatic series, Mare of Easttown. Peter, MJ, and Ned head to school, they see Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori) who has turned from hating Peter to now thinking he is his number one fan. Revolori starred in the recent Wes Anderson movie, The French Dispatch. Peter goes to see three teachers; Coach Wilson (Hannibal Buress), a victim of the Snap, who is angry about Mysterio’s death, Coach Wilson (Hannibal Buress), Mr. Dell (J.B. Smoove), and Mr. Harrington (Martin Starr) who has all sorts of photos of Peter Parker’s alter ego. Starr and Smoove were last in the MCU with Spider-Man: Far From Home. Buress was last in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
This fame causes Peter to walk away and find his privacy place, the rooftop, so he can chat with MJ. They hope to get into universities, Peter gets some rejection letters, the same with MJ and Ned. Their last hope is MIT so when the letter arrives when they meet at MJ’s workplace, Peter Pan’s Doughnuts and Pastry Shop, but they are all rejected due to the Spider-Man connections. They are disappointed, but don’t get any kind of support from family members, and Peter gets desperate going to Doctor Strange’s mansion in Greenwich Village. He finds that inside the foyer has turned to winter snow. He meets with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and tells him about his problems. Cumberbatch has an amused and frustrated character. Strange says he lost the Time Stone and can’t fix the identity problem turning back time. He brings up a spell that can wipe out the memories of everyone.
Wong (Benedict Wong), who became Sorcerer Supreme when Strange was blipped, warns against that spell. Wong was also in Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings. He ends up leaving in a portal. Doctor Strange takes Peter to a basement room and starts casting the spell. Peter interrupts adding that MJ and Ned should be spared, then adds Aunt May and Happy, he finally decides on anyone who knows that he is Peter Parker. The spell fails and Strange is just able to contain it. Afterwards, Strange goes over Peter’s situation and says that he should speak to the MIT administrator. They go to Flash’s MIT party and find that the administrator has just left. Spider-Man swings over to the motorway and manages to talk to the Assistant Vice Chancellor (Paula Newsome). The actress is currently in CSI: Vegas. Their conversation is interrupted with some disruption on the bridge tearing into cars.
A clawed tentacle slams down. It is Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), who was last seen in Spider-Man 2 (2004), Molina played Peter Sellers in the bio pic, There Used To Be a Me (2021). The Spidey film was one of the best in the series and had a great villain with Molina. The battle has the chancellor’s car almost tipping off the bridge. Doc Ock has Spider-Man pinned against a bridge pylon and removes his mask, it is not his Peter Parker! Spider-Man is able to gain control of the tentacles and save the chancellor. Thrown to roll on the bridge are the pumpkin bombs of Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe)!
The last Green Goblin appearance was Spider-Man 3 (2007). Dafoe is also in Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley. His performance is alternately restrained, wild, and crazy. Strange brings Peter back to the Sanctum Sanctorum. One of the villains, the Lizard (Rhys Ifans) from The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Ifans is also in The King’s Man as Rasputin. Strange notes that villains are unleashed from the Multiverse from the failed spell. He has to find them with the help of Ned and MJ. Spider-Man heads out to forested hills with transmission towers. There he finds Electro (Jamie Foxx) powering up. Foxx played the villain in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). He voiced Joe in the Soul (2020) animated film.
Electro is about to finish Spider-Man, but he is protected by the sand shield of Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), the Sandman. He was one of the villains in Spider-Man 3 (2007). Church played Lobster Johnson in the Hellboy (2019) remake. His Sandman is interesting, less revenge motivated, and more wanting to return to his daughter. The major villains are Green Goblin (without the helmet) and Doc Ock. The threat to the Multiverse and the almost-Sinister Six have Spider-Man’s webs full, he will need some help! This is a possible new beginning for the franchise, I imagine that Sony can work on its own outside of the MCU, with the development of Peter’s character. Spider-Man: No Way Home has surprising characters, developed character arcs, and crowd pleasing action!
Four Web Shooters out of Five!
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