A JD Review - Spider-Man: No Way Home · 9:54pm Dec 24th, 2021
Oh, boy, Christmas came early. Let's not waste any time, shall we?
NON-SPOILER REVIEW
To say I've been slightly disappointed with the MCU Spider-Man is fairly accurate. While each film had their highlights, nothing really stood out to me, or really stuck with me for that matter. They were just... there. But Marvel didn't pull any punches with this film. They made a third Spider-Man film would be remembered, and my Lord, they pulled it off.
No Way Home is a phenomenal experience from beginning to end. Actual consequences, actual threats, choices that Peter has to make that lead to graver events later down the line. This is the Spider-Man I've always wanted to see from Tom Holland, exactly what I knew he was capable of. Story was greatly improved over the others. Doctor Strange was utilized incredibly well, and the film helps set up his sequel.
The villains and side characters kill in this film. Green Goblin, Doc Oc, Electro, everyone was so well handled and respected. Even Ned and Michelle, characters I wasn't really fond of before, shine in this film. I actually really like the relationship between Peter and Michelle in this one. Felt natural. Felt real. Plus Peter's interactions with each villain was sooooooo good.
10/10! Masterpiece, best Tom Holland Spider-Man film hands down, go out and watch it now.
SPOILER REVIEW
Okay... y'all ready?
No more holding back.
I'm serious.
3...
2...
1
THAT WAS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIE-GOING EXPERIENCES I'VE EVER HAD!
First of all, Charlie Cox's Daredevil is BAAAAAAAAAAACK! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
So, yeah, I kinda liked that part. 
Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire dude... Andrew and Tobey. They did it. They pulled it off. They actually did it so incredibly well that I'm shocked. Each character was so respected and improved that they honestly deserve sequels for their own movies. Especially Andrew. My boy got his redemption in this film 
Peter losing Aunt May, having everyone forget who he was, now living on his own, making his own suit, starting over as a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man... I love it. I'm so excited to see Tom's Spider-Man and the future stories he has yet to tell.
Also the end credit scene. Tom Hardy teasing us with his Venom in the MCU... only to get yanked right on back to his universe. 
But leaving a little bit of Venom behind... 
I can't say anymore. I'm still shooketh. Go out and see it, experience it for yourself. Absolute 10/10. 
What did y'all think?
Loved it! Spoiled myself, but still loved it (did drag a bit when waiting for action scenes and stuff)
*kneeling in prayer* Please let there be an MCU Eddie Brock... Please let there be an MCU Eddie Brock... No Agent Venom or anyone else until there's an MCU Eddie + Venom... please...
At first I had my doubts, but after watching it I'd acknowledge it as the best Spider-Man's film til date.
I hope, in a future, Tom Holland retakes his role as the wall-crawler superhero alongise the X-Men and the Fantastic Four against Galactus.
Best Spider-Man movie off all time. Mysterio thought he got the last laugh but instead the events of the film only made Spider-Man come back stronger than he ever was before. SUCK IT QUENTIN F***ING BECK!!!!!!🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕
We need a TASM 3 film
They should have JK Simmons reprise his role as J Jonah Jameson again in that universe.
#MakeTASM3
This movie is a huge love letter to all the Spider-Man fans around the world, including Tobey, Andrew and Tom fans. While I'm sure there's a minority of naysayers who still stick to the old ways (aka, Raimi fanboys) and being dicks about it, screw them. This is the ultimate live-action Spider-Man movie and nothing changes my mind.
The fanservice is there but had meaning instead of shoving nostalgia at our faces, having actual contribution to the story. Peter goes through actual development, and unlike Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spider 3, the overstuffed multiple villains get their time to shine and get a second chance in life rather than meet a doomed fate, as Peter believes in second chances, willing to help that ends in actual consequences.
Tobey, Andrew, and Tom had great chemistry alongside MJ and Ned. And they even got memes from the Raimi trilogy.
Also, I said this before and I say this in comment, Green Goblin is still scary AF and Willem Dafoe still nails the door with his role. The apartment fight is some of the darkest fights in the MCU. Goblin laughing off Peter's punches is real creepy.
I'll be seeing it tomorrow so I didn't read the spoiler part of the review (thank you so much for making a non-spoiler part btw) but from what I heard of others along with your review just hypes me even more for when I'll see it.
I already liked the two other ones quite a bit so I'm sure I'll love that one, if I remember I'll make sure to make another comment on this review talking about it once I've seen it.
5620308 We're getting Venom in some fashion, so I'm pumped either way.
5620324 He's sticking around for another trilogy at least!
5620334 Suck it Quentin.
5620354 #MakeTASM3
5620375 That's true! They utilized so many villains and it worked this time!
5620609 You'll love it!
All i can say is that seeing all three major live action Spider-Man actors share the big screen together in a team up of spectacular proportions, was the best Christmas present that could be given to me and all fellow Spider-Man fans! Tears were shed, laughs were laughed, cheers roared, and I loved every minute of it.
Now, I've never been one to have preferences, so I will say this, I enjoy each movie Spidey equally. I respect it if others like one more than the other two, but for me, each one is a good iteration of my favorite Marvel superhero and I loved watching each of their movies. Seeing Maguire and Garfield step through the portals, I could hardly believe my eyes, dude! Even after all these years, those two haven't lost their touch. The interactions between them and Holland's Spidey was so good and wholesome!
And of course, the Webbverse Spidey got some much needed closure when he saved MJ. Dude deserves another movie.
And the villains. Oh man, hearing Dafoe's Green Goblin laugh still gives me chills the same way it did when I first watched the very first movie.
Then the ending. In the end, none of his fellow superheroes, friends and loved ones remember him, he no longer has any Stark Tech at his disposal, lost the only blood relative he has left, has to study for his GED, lives in a lonely little apartment with a rent, and now has to rely on a new homemade suit he sewn up himself.
Yet, despite what he's loss and suffered, Peter still soldiers on as Spider-Man to honor these words: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.
Can't get any more Spider-Man than that.
5620878 Beautifully worded.
5620892
I know a common criticism about MCU Peter was that he was too reliant on stuff loaned from Tony, and I can understand that. Most fans are more used to a working class, independent, Spider-Man who makes his own suits. I myself am quite more accustomed to it. But one thing to remember is that unlike past movie Spider-Men, this one exists in an inter-connected universe where there are more superheroes and given that he's in the superhero thing while still in high school for most of his appearances, of course he'd grow up idolizing them.
I like to think that MCU Peter's story which began in Captain America: Civil War, to what's now being called the "Home" Trilogy, along with his other movie appearances is all one big origin story of how he learns what it really means to be Spider-Man. Learning all the important lessons until he finally finds his place in the MCU.
Not as a literal successor to Iron Man, but as a hero in his own right.
5620670
And you were right ! I'm just out of the cinema (well, it's been around an hour since I've seen it by now) and I truly loved it. The first two movies were good in my eyes but this one completely outclasses them.
It's quite obvious that this movie was envisioned as a way to advertise Marvel's new series and movies involving the multiverse and the like but it doesn't just do that. It goes beyond just being a two and a half hour long advertisement and tells a great story.
If anything, this movie is the true origin story for Tom Holland's Spider-Man as was hinted at when Aunt May died after saying the sentence. At the end of the story, this Peter Parker truly has become Spider-Man and, ironically as he said near the beginning of the movie, it's a new beginning for him and the others, not the one he had originally wanted but a new one nonetheless.
The MCU's Spider-Man isn't bound by the other other heroes like he was before, he's his own standalone hero now and he's ready to have some classic Spider-Man adventures.
Of course talking about Tom Holland's Spider-Man is one thing but I couldn't just ignore all the other characters. As you've put it yourself, the relationship he's got with others, Ned and MJ mainly, feels natural and real, absolutely not forced and too "fictional-looking" which is great and something that's desperately missing from most movies, even good ones.
The villains are also wonderfully represented, will it be in their actors (the fact that almost all of the original actors got casted back is great), their designs (Electro's "classic" costume with the "mask" even if it was just for a single scene was great) or their personality (Doctor Octopus being the definite highlight of the group even if all the others were wonderfully represented).
All of that made for a great show of classic movie villains along with developing on them in a way that probably made most fans of these characters extremely happy. When the end of the movie came, I almost was left wanting to see more interaction from them, especially with the other Spider-Men. Which brings me...
...To the main point: Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men. Well needless to say they both did amazing at their job and it expanded on their characters just right.
There'd be too much to say if I wanted to cover everything and I'd get lost in my words so I'll just say that clearly they could not have done a better job at it.
The only way I'd see the thing be better would be if they had given more screentime to them to get more of them both but that's not directly related to the quality of their characters and if anything just says how good it was.
I'll also note Strange's actions in that that were definitely appreciable and that mirror dimension "fight" was great too, perfectly showed Strange's magic and also showed Peter's intelligence there, something that is often forgotten about the character.
Overall I'd say that while No Way Home won't please everyone as there's a lot of fanservice in there, the longtime fans of the Spider-Man movies will love it, especially to catch the more subtle references spread throughout the movie, and the ones that just saw the MCU movies will also appreciate it even if to a lesser extent.
But clearly, this movie was made with lots of love for Spider-Man in general, comics and movie incarnations included and that's a great thing.
I truly hope that the next Spider-Man movie of the MCU (because let's be real, there probably will be one, especially with that post credit scene) follows in the same steps because if it does, it'll spell absolute greatness for the future of the MCU, even if Spider-Man will probably mostly be in his own mostly secluded place from now on.
Even there I didn't say everything I thought about the movie like the other great action scenes, all the small interactions that built up character, Andrew’s Spider-Man saving MJ as closure on his side, etc... But I think it mostly covers the thing and thank gosh it does with how long that comment is. Here's me hoping I didn't kill you with this wall of text and if I didn't, then thank you for reading that entire rant.
5621009 Great review! Nice insight on it!
5621009
*Andrew's Spidey saved MJ.
My favorite Spider-Man film to date. It managed to do the unthinkable, made it work, and somehow managed to condense everything I enjoy about Peter Parker and Green Goblin’s feud into a single movie. I’d go as far as to say Green Goblin exceeded himself from the Raimi era.
We got the bois back, I remember when the rumors started floating around, but I didn’t believe it. Mostly because Sony kinda… burnt their bridges with Andrew to say the least, which was the last straw culminating in Spidey joining the MCU. But he and Tobey outdid themselves here, all without hogging the spotlight from Tom, who got to show his skills as the de-facto leader of the trio.
And man… this version of Spider-Man has been living life on hard mode. And of course, Osborn’s the one to ruin the last piece of stability he did have. The poor kid’s back to square one and then some. But it’s Spider-Man, this is just the beginning, we’re only past the Lee-Ditko era equivalent of his adventures, he’ll come out of this winning.
As for the Venom stuff, I have to admit the Let There Be Carnage tease disappointed me, I’m not a fan of the SSU’s Venom and only begrudgingly accepted the crossover just to have Spider-Man meet Venom. So to see that it’s not happening and instead the MCU is getting a proper Symbiote Saga with what I assume to be Mac Gargan Venom as the endgame has more excited.
5621151
Oh right, I made a typo there. Thanks for catching it. Doing massive rant messages does tend to result in some mistakes. Apologies, I’ll change it right away.
Fuck Yeah definitely one of the greatest Spider-Man and Marvel movies to date.
My only complaint was Eddy and Venom don’t get to stick around long enough for an interaction with Spidey in the future or Tom Holland’s Spidey still haven’t mentioned having a Uncle Ben who is the most important part of Peter Parker’s life, aside from that definitely a 9.3/10.
Finally saw it, so I can stop dodging spoilers.
It checked off so many of the things I wanted to see from this premise.
Tom and Andrew geeking out over Toby's organic webshooters? Check!
Jamie Foxx getting a chance to redeem his Electro after he got screwed over by bad writing? Check!
Andrew redeeming himself over Gwen's death by saving MJ? Check!
The ending really made me sad, but there's always hope for the future. I'm not really sad about not having Tom Hardy's Venom around for very long, mostly because I really dislike his solo film (Haven't seen let there be Carnage yet, but I've heard it's pretty bad), but leaving a piece of him around certainly has some interesting possibilities.
Is it better than Spider-Verse? In my opinion, no. It comes close, but not quite. Still amazing, though.
I finally saw it with my friends today. Best film of 2021. This really felt like it embodied the best aspects of Spider-Man. He is hounded and hated by the media over something he didn't do, things get out of control for him, he loses pretty much everything, more than probably anyone else ever will, but by the end of it all he keeps fighting and keeps being Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.