James Berardinelli review - *** out of ****
https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/spider-man-no-way-home
Note: This review contains no overt spoilers beyond what can be found in the trailers and other officially sanctioned publicity material. However, if you read between the lines, you may sniff out a few things. Proceed with caution.share
Spider-Man: No Way Home completes the Tom Holland Spider-Man/MCU trilogy begun in Spider-Man: Homecoming and continued in Spider-Man: Far from Home. Once again directed by Jon Watts and featuring another high-profile Marvel character (following in the footsteps of Iron Man and Nick Fury), No Way Home brings the three-part arc to a resounding conclusion that may be a little more “sound and fury” than substance. Nevertheless, as superhero movies go, this one offers its share of satisfying moments and is guaranteed to warm the heart of any Spider-Man movie fan, regardless of when their fandom started.
With a movie like this, there’s usually the question of whether the final product can match the expectations generated by a brilliant marketing campaign and the seemingly boundless enthusiasm among potential viewers. For the most part, Watts succeeds in scaling the peak, although it’s fair to wonder how much better No Way Home might have been had its various piece-parts been kept under wraps. But with possible spoilers revealed as part and parcel of the publicity onslaught, the movie is forced to rely a little more on the narrative than might otherwise have been the case and, as is often true with superhero movies, that proves not to be the film’s strongest point.
No Way Home starts its journey by overlapping the shocking ending of Far from Home, where the despicable J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) reveals to the world that Spider-Man’s secret identity is none other than high school student Peter Parker, while peddling the conspiracy theory that the superhero was responsible for the “murder” of the previous installment’s villain, Mephisto. Suddenly, Peter learns what it means to be the most famous person in the world and discovers that fame doesn’t have many perks. Beloved by some and hated by others, he finds temporary refuge in the domicile of Tony Stark’s former right-hand man, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). With him are his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya); his best buddy, Ned (Jacob Batalon, not quite as annoying as in the previous two movies); and his aunt, May (Marisa Tomei, still causing cognitive dissonance for those who recall Rosemary Harris in the same part). Observing the negative impacts the revelation has had on his friends, Peter pays a visit to his former ally in world-saving, Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and asks if there’s a magical solution to the problem. Strange opines that it might be possible to have the world “forget” the connection but, while the spell is in progress, Peter keeps adding conditions and something goes very wrong. Before Strange can shut things down, a collection of Spider-Man’s previous adversaries have crossed universe boundaries: Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church), The Lizard (Rhys Ifans), and Electro (Jamie Foxx).
No Way Home has some pacing issues, especially during the first half. There’s too much filler and the first twenty minutes feel more like a sit-com than a superhero movie. Although the rogues’ gallery might be supersized, the narrative isn’t. The storyline is stretched thin for a 150-minute theatrical experience. When doing the publicity rounds for the second Venom film, Andy Serkis made a comment about comic book films trying too hard to be “epic” when a leaner, meaner approach might work better. That’s the case here. The good parts of No Way Home (and there are some exceptionally good parts) are diluted by a tendency to meander, especially early in the proceedings. (Did MIT pay a promotional fee?)
Watt’s handling of the roughly half-dozen high-profile action scenes is a mixed bag. His touch is perfect during some of the one-on-one struggles, especially the one that introduces Doc Ock to the MCU. However, the more pieces that are put on the gameboard, the more scattershot things become and the Battle Royale is as confusing as it is exhilarating. It’s almost impossible trying to figure out who’s who and what’s going on. It’s necessary to wait for a pause in the action to take stock of what just happened.