So, fresh off the back of seeing No Way Home last night I wanted to share my thoughts and opinions on it. The hype had me drooling in anticipation and had my spider senses tingling to the core, after trying to avoid the spoilers as much as possible I still had a fair idea of what to expect and let’s just say I was not disappointed. I went into the movie having not seen Far From Home for quite a while so wasn’t fully fresh in my memory but I remembered basically how it concluded. There will be full spoilers ahead so if you don’t want to know what happens I suggest you stop reading now, Ok, with that out the way let’s get into Spider-Man No Way Home.
The movie picks up exactly where Far From Home finished, on that cliffhanger moment when Mysterio reveals Spider-Man’s Identity.
It was straight into it, as we saw people crowding MJ and Peter as he swoops in to swing her away. Now this all started off great, but as this section of the movie went on I thought it felt really choppy and unclear, basically felt really rushed. From Spider-man being public enemy number one as we saw in the trailer, to suddenly just applying to college like nothing even happened.
I expected much more from this part of the storyline the way it was hyped in the trailer but, whilst I mention the trailer, I also noticed a lot of the shots and dialogue used did not even appear in the final cut of the movie.
It seemed to brush over him being the murderer and when ya boy Matty Murdock turns up it’s like, that mofo just says forget about it mate everything’s fine, I’m here ya bish. I did think this was a great cameo but by this point, I kind of knew he was going to appear after the stories of Tom sitting around the table with Happy, May and Matt was leaked.
The story then kind of diverts to MJ, Ned and Peter trying to apply to college, but due to them all being involved in the Spider-Man scandal no Colleges are prepared to take them. This leads Peter to get the idea to make everyone forget he is Spider-Man. He heads to see Strange to ask him to cast a spell to make everyone forget, we see this section in the trailer where Peter keeps interrupting the spell and Strange has to bring it to a stop before Peter ruins it… Although little do they know the spell has already opened up the multiverse and let certain individuals through.
Peter finds out he could actually appeal his college application and tries to find out who to speak to. When he tracks down the college rep, she is stuck in traffic on the now-famous bridge scene. As Peter is trying to convince her of his friend’s case for getting in, we see the main man Doc Ock steaming towards them, an amazing fight scene ensues as we see Peter and Otto going head to head. This is a brilliant part of the movie and enjoyed seeing them scrap it out. The surprising part which got a great reaction from the cinema was when Peters Nanotech merges with Doc’s tentacles, as in doing so Peter is then able to control the tentacles via the Bluetooth in his suit, using his body to control their movement he contains Doc Ock and keeps him locked in position. Peter speaks again to the college rep and she tells him that he’s a hero as he saved her life and that he and his friends would all be considered for the college again. We then see Green Goblin appear on the bridge as Otto calls out that it’s Norman Osborne, but Peter is transported back to the Sanctum with Doc by Dr Strange before we see anymore.
Let’s Catch Some Multiverse Men!
We then find out that more of these characters have arrived and Strange sends Peter on a mission to retrieve them and send them back to the Sanctum basement where he has created a prison for them. We follow Peter as he tracks down these villains, namely Electro and Sandman as they seem to be out in the wilderness, Electro seems to be charging up via the power lines while sandman is hiding amongst the trees. I loved the back and forth with Jamie Foxx as Electro and the recalls to his previous version of himself from Amazing Spiderman 2, Sandman also helping out Peter at this point due to the relationship they had previously in the Sam Raimi Spider-man universe.
Peter successfully manages to send them both back to the Sanctum prison where they are contained, alongside the already captured Lizard. But we don’t know where Norman Osborne is at this point.
I love how they portrayed Norman in this as he turns up to the F.E.A.S.T centre for the homeless, as he seems confused and mentally unstable. As May takes him in and looks after him, Peter hears about this and rushes over to find nothing but a dazed and confused man who seems no threat at all. They take him back to the Sanctum where he discovers all the others locked in the prison, then Strange locks him up too. This is when we find out that all of these characters die in their universe and if they are sent home they will all most certainly die. This causes a huge moral dilemma for ya boy Petey P, as he had maintained his stance that they need to go back, as that’s the best thing for them. It was May who said that he needs to help people and do what’s best for them, not for him.. So I think this plays in his mind… as Strange is about to send them back Peter then steals the device used to send them back and makes a run for it.
The whole chase scene through the mirror dimension followed and was really kind of trippy and almost a kaleidoscope effect as the city bends and folds around them. Peter explains to Strange that he needs to at least try to help the villains before sending them to die, as the chase ends with Peter using his mathematics skills to string up Strange like a fly in a web, as he whips the cube and Dr Strange’s ring from his finger and away from him and leaves him dangling over the canyon. Peter fills in Ned and MJ on his plan and tells them if it doesn’t succeed they need to press the button on the cube to send the villains back to their own universe.
Goblin Strikes
Peter convinces the villains he can help them and to let him try, this part was great as he sneaks them all out and into Happy’s apartment… we see them sneaking in past his security camera by the door. Peter has some Stark technology which he uses to create ways in which to help them so that when they get sent back they won’t end up dying, so he attempts to remove the thing which ultimately causes their death, their powers. Peter creates an update for the chip embedded in Doc Ocks neck which nullifies the control the AI from the tentacles has over him and they return the nanotech to Peter’s suit. This is an unexpected twist to see Doc Ock return to himself before he was twisted by the control of the tentacles. Peter tries to start helping the others until his Spidey sense get sent into overdrive and he can’t seem to put his finger on it… until he sticks Osborne with web as he gets the feeling from him that something isn’t right. This is just before all hell breaks loose and the other villains all take a turn and start to fight back and escape. I absolutely loved the fight scene between Peter and Osborne here, as it’s so full-on and crazy… my favourite part showing Normans madness was when Peter is literally pummelling his face over and over and Norman is just laughing in his face, really shows just how crazy he is with that classic Dafoe expression.
Doc Ock makes a run for it and disappears as the fight goes on, the other villains flee and Peter is left facing off with Osborne. This part of the movie really brought a tear to the eye as we see Osborne recreate the scenario we saw in the original Spider-Man movie as he draws the glider behind Aunt May in the lobby, he slams it through the wall and seems to catch her as he sends his bombs blowing up the lobby area. We see Peter and May in the rubble, they find each other and help each other up, but something just didn’t seem right with May, she was wobbly and unsteady and you just knew things weren’t looking good for her. She stumbles to the ground and keeps saying she just needs to catch her breath… Peter seems unaware of what is going on and just thinks she will be ok until he notices she is covered in blood. This is a heartbreaking scene for Peter as Aunt May takes her last breath. The police start unleashing bullets at Peter as they discover him over her body so he makes an escape.
3 is the Magic Number
We see Ned and MJ at this point waiting to hear from Peter, MJ thinks she should just hit the button and be done with it, but Ned accidentally manages to create a flicker of a portal as he wears Strange’s ring that Peter stole. He continues to try and create portals as he asks to find Peter… Now this scene… I absolutely loved it. The cinema went wild, clapping, cheering… you name it. It was crazy. Ned manages to open up a portal in the house… to a dark alley looking location where we see Spider-man, he turns and runs towards them jumping through the portal in what is clearly Andrew Garfield’s Spider-man suit… He takes off his mask and low and behold it’s only bloody Andy G mate… what a legend. But hold on, what’s that, Ned creates another portal asking to find Peter Parker again and who should step through it… The swinging and dancing one himself, Tobey Maguire. It went absolutely went wild in the cinema at these moments, and it was so incredible to see them both onscreen sharing the iconic role once more, what a time to be alive. We then see them both prove they are spider-man and shoot webs and crawl on the ceiling in a demonstration. The back and forth between these characters was so funny, awkward and nerdy the way we love to remember them.
We then follow them to find Peter in his rooftop spot as they try to console him over the loss of Aunt May, bringing with them the unexpected surprise of two more spider-men to aid his mission. The three Peters meet for the first time and as you would expect this whole sequence is hilarious and amazing to witness, bringing the three spider-men from different movies together as their universes have collided. They all share stories of their similar lives and life events, losing people and the effect it had on them, such a brilliant piece of cinema as we then get to see them work together in the lab to construct antidotes and ways to nullify the villain’s powers. The moments here with Garfield in his white lab coat and Tobey in his T-Shirt, jacket and slacks, bumping into each other, all reacting to their name being called at the same time, just some really funny moments to behold.
Let’s Cure Some Ass!
They concoct a plan to lure the villains to the statue of liberty, as we see Peter live streaming to Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle letting him know that he’s only trying to do the right thing. He signs off and they take up their positions ready for the big showdown. The three Spider-men come together and have some hilarious conversations as they limber up for battle, in what is clearly the leaked footage we saw of Andrew Garfield on the scaffolding in front of the blue screen, the conversation covers such topics as Tobey’s organic web-shooters and if he can shoot them from anywhere else… Tobey and Andrew come across with such amazing chemistry together onscreen and almost seem like old friends, the whole section about Tobey having a bad back is hilarious as Andrew offers to crack it for him, proceeding to lift him from behind, jolting him until he hears the crack, this is such a brilliant scene.
The following final battle sequence is ram-packed full of iconic moments featuring all three spider-men coming together joining forces and trying to work together as a team to take down the bad guys and remove their powers. They have devices for each villain to remove their powers and set about taking them down one by one as a team. They successfully manage to take them all down, with even Dr Otto Octavius returning to help the spider-men by battling Electro and ripping out his arc reactor. Lizard even jumps through a portal which Ned can’t seem to close and chases Ned and MJ around the lab where they are hiding out, in the end forcing them through and onto the scaffolding surrounding the Statue of Liberty. Strange returns through a portal on the Statue of Liberty, letting us know he’s been dangling over the canyon for about 12 hours where Peter left him earlier in the movie, he is let in on the plan to help all of the villains and that it seems to be working, as he sees them curing Lizard and reverting him back to his human form as Dr Connors. Sandman traps Tobey inside the Statue of Liberty and proceeds to fill it with sand engulfing Tobey until at the last moment he is thrown the device to revert Flint back to his human form. We then see the return of Green Goblin as he comes swooping in, during his attack he manages to lodge a pumpkin bomb inside the cube containing the spell, this explodes sending a ripple through the multiverse and begins to crack the reality wide open, also sending the Shield that the statue of liberty has been holding, crashing down through the scaffolding to the ground below. During this chaos MJ is sent flying from the scaffolding in what is a very familiar scene throughout the spider-man franchise, a female falling to her doom, with only the hope of spider-man saving her. Peter leaps to save MJ and almost grabs her hand.. Just as he reaches out, Goblins glider comes flying into shot and takes him out, leaving MJ falling to the ground below. Cue ya boy Andy G, Garfield leaps from the scaffolding towards the falling MJ in what felt like such a brilliant moment, and even a little redemption for the way he lost Gwen, even I felt a little tear at that moment, as he definitely wasn’t going to let Toms Peter, lose his Gwen the same way he did.
Ned finds himself being cradled to the ground by none other than Strange’s cape, which seems very fitting what with his newfound magical abilities and takes him down to safety where he is reunited with MJ.
The Perfect Ending
At this point, we find ourselves at the final battle as Peter faces off once more with the Green Goblin on top of the fallen captain America shield from the statue of liberty. They slug it out and really give each other a battering until Peter eventually takes him down… he picks up Goblins glider and is about to strike him down with it, until Tobey leaps in the way in Norman’s defence, he blocks the strike and helps to really drill home what Aunt May told him about helping people and the forgiveness in order to save them. However, while Tobey is blocking the strike Norman manages to stab him in the back, I really thought Tobey was going to die at that point, but thankfully he laughed it off like, ‘come on mate, I’ve been stabbed before, this is nothing’. This was a huge relief as I didn’t wanna see the main man, go out like that. They then manage to get the serum into Norman and he is also cured.
The multiverse seems to be cracking open more and more as Strange tries to control it and suppress it with magic, we see numerous characters appearing through these cracks and would need to go back to check exactly who we see, but I did notice a more comic accurate looking Rhino seemed to be in there amongst many others. Peter knows the only way to guarantee his friends safety is by making it so they don’t remember who he is. He tells Strange what to do and says his final farewells to his friends, promising that he will find them and make them remember him again. Strange casts the spell and sends everyone back to their own universe as they all fade away one by one, Electro, Doc Ock, Lizard, Osborne, Sandman and then Andrew and Tobey. This was a great ending as it kind of wipes the slate clean for Peter moving forward now, with nobody remembering and makes him once more fully anonymous as the friendly neighbourhood spider-man, who will once more be trying to clear his name from the slanderous reports from Jameson at the Daily Bugle.
We flash forward to see Peter walking in the snow, I’m not sure exactly how long has passed in-between these scenes, but Peter has a letter in his hand as he seems to be preparing for what he’s gonna say as he approaches MJ’s place of work. He enters and sees MJ, she turns to look and appears to be waving to him; he goes to wave back just as Ned comes through the door behind him. He discovers they were waving to each other as they are both totally unaware of who he is. He overhears them talking about how they got into College and planning for the future. Peter awkwardly orders a coffee and tries to talk, MJ asks if there was anything else… but after hesitating, Peter says no and leaves. He clearly can see that his friends are back on the right track and their futures are looking bright, and if he gets involved he’s only going to spoil it for them and open them up to the same problems they faced before, so he decides to leave them to it.
A Fresh Start
We then see Peter moving into his own apartment as he prepares for his own new start, he appears to be heading to college and has made himself a brand new spidey suit, I loved the look of the new suit, which seemed to be going back to a more comic book accurate colour scheme, if not a slightly metallic looking blue. The movie ends with Peter in the new suit swinging over what seems to be nighttime, wintery New York setting and really leaves possibilities wide open for the web-slinger moving forward.
I absolutely loved this movie, with the alternate spidey’s showing up, the whole theatre screamed and cheered on all the really poignant moments throughout, which I think really heightened the experience for me as you knew everyone felt the same. After the initial kind of awkward beginning where it seemed to stumble through the whole Mysterio murder storyline and how that was dealt with, I think it really came into its own and kept getting stronger and stronger as it progressed. All of the key points really hit home and left a satisfying feeling… however, it did make me really want to see more of Tobey and Andrew as their versions of spider-man too… Is that too much to ask… who knows, only time will tell. But I am looking forward to what comes from Toms Spiderman too as it has so many options open to explore next, as the mid-credits scene revealed. It looks like the venom symbiote could be heading his way, which I think would be great to see.
Overall I’m going to score this movie
9/10
and I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who loves the genre and anyone who has been following these movies for the past 20 or so years, as it really feels like a service to the fans and just a little slice of feel-good nostalgia mixed in as well as letting us revisit these well-loved characters. I hope you enjoy the movie too and be sure to let us know what you think. Thanks for reading and I hope to catch you again on the next one, take care, peace!
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