MOVIE REVIEW: SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

 

MOVIE REVIEW:  SPIDER-MAN:  NO WAY HOME

Our Webhead returned in a MASSIVE way with this latest installment from the join Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures venture, Spider-Man:  No Way Home.  I gotta tell you, gang....this was THE greatest Spider-Man movie I've EVER seen!  It had it ALL:  emotional beats with loaded drama, damn good action scenes, and lots of great surprises (even though the internet tried to ruin it all), it STILL it all the feels that you could ask for, and it set the tone for Spidey going forward from here on out.  It elevates Tom Holland's version of our web-slinger going forward in this Phase 4 of the MCU.  

This movie picked right back up after No Way Home, in the fact that---thanks to Quentin Beck---everyone now knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.  This forces Peter and MJ to flee, but they eventually have to face the music.  As for Peter, he's haggled by the police about Beck and the drones that were used for his nefarious plot in Europe, but Beck was careful enough to ensure that the man on the hook for ownership of the drones where Peter himself.  Because of his association with the late Tony Stark, Peter is automatically implicated in Beck's death, plus any other forms of destruction Mysterio was responsible for.  But, with the help of defense lawyer Matt Murdock, the chargers against Peter are dropped.  However, the same can't be said to Happy Hogan, as he is STILL employed by Stark Industries, that makes HIM on the hook for the drones (and, by that measure, Pepper Potts as well).  So, Happy will have to deal with that.  Meanwhile, due to J. Jonah Jameson's yellow internet journalism, public opinion has been swayed against Peter, as he, MJ, Ned, and even Happy and Aunt May have to face the public with the situation regarding Peter's dual ID.  It's hard on MJ and Ned, who've been implicated in Peter's activities as accomplices, while May herself is grilled by the cops about enabling a minor into dangerous activity.  Either way, it gives the public reason to hate on Peter, and for everyone else that he's gone to school with, reason to just follow him around.

Frustrated by everything that's transpired, and knowing that his friends and Aunt May shouldn't have to suffer the fate of HIS mistakes or deal with the fallout of HIS dual ID, Peter seeks the aid of Doctor Stephen Strange at the Sanctum Sanctorum, where he asks Strange to cast a spell to make the world forget that Peter is Spider-Man.  However, in the process of casting the spell (which Wong has warned Strange against, before taking off for China, where we found him in Shang-Chi), Peter can't keep his mouth shut, wanting Ned, MJ, Aunt May, and Happy to remember he's Spider-Man.  But the spell is messed up, and Strange has to work to kill it.  However, as it turns out, in the process of messing up the spell, it allowed the multiverse to be opened up, and some new people started coming through to their world.  Peter didn't get into MIT, as MJ and Ned were also denied, and Peter went to go plead with the dean of MIT to allow Ned and MJ to get in, but as he catches up to her, the bridge is attacked by Doctor Octopus, whom has come over from another Earth, and battles Peter, but he notices that this is NOT the Peter Parker HE knows, but mangaes to absorb Peter's nanotech through his Stark suit.  Peter manages to stop him, but also has to face off against yet another villain who's come through:  the Green Goblin.  Octavius recognizes Normal Osborn, and he attacks, but Peter manages to fight him off, and he disappears.  Strange pulls Peter back to the basement of the Sanctum, and captures Octavius.  He tells Peter that since the spell got screwed up, people have been coming over, and he needs to stop it.  

First on Peter's list is Max Dillon:  Electro.  He heads out and manages to not only run into Dillon, but into Flint Marko as well.  Having captured BOTH of them, they get a bead on Norman Osborn, who's found his way to F.E.A.S.T., where Aunt May works.  There, he grabs Norman, and they are all in one place.  Strange shows up, and says that each of them will be returned to their proper worlds, but they must suffer the same fate that they had on those Earths:  namely, they die fighting Spider-Man.  Peter can't sit well with that, and he and Strange battle over the box that will send the villains home without curing them.  He traps Strange in the Mirror Dimension.  So, Peter, MJ, Ned, and Aunt May move them to Happy's apartment.  Peter then begins working on a way to "cure" them, in order to prevent them from dying on their respective worlds.  However, Norman has played Peter, and has been looking to plot against him the entire time.  While he DOES cure Otto, Electro, Sandman, Curt Connors, and Norman attack Peter, and in the process of the battle, Aunt May is critically injured.  She tells Peter that "With great power, there must also come great responsibility", and she dies in Peter's arms.  Distraught with her death, but also facing the cops, Peter takes off to escape capture.  

Ned and MJ try to find him, but are unable to.  Ned uses one of Doctor Strange's sling rings in order to open a portal to him, but instead, bring across a Peter Parker from another world, whom they call "Peter-Two".  Ned tries again, and then brings in yet another Peter Parker..."Peter-Three" from another part of their world.  Both are at first leery of each other, but then learn that this Earth's Peter just lost his Aunt, and they need to find him in order to stop the villains from whatever plot they've hatched.  They do find him mourning atop a building, and both Peters Two & Three discuss their own tragedies, in which they both share that they lost their Uncle Ben, and have felt guilty about it, because they take the blame.  Peter Two also talks about his girlfriend Gwen dying because he couldn't save her.  But they encourage him to pick himself up, because there's a job to do.  So...with that in mind, all three Peters put their scientific minds together in order to come up with cures for each of the villains at large.  They then realize they're planning on making their grandstand play at the Statue of Liberty, where they're doing renovations.  

The three Spideys engage the villains, and despite some early setbacks, manage to subdue the villains posing a threat, depowering them, or curing them outright.  Otto is the only villain who didn't go along with the plan.  However, this brings back Norman with upgraded Goblin gear, and attacks Peter One.  MJ gets caught up in the melee and begins to fall off the statue.  Peter Two, however, manages to save her from death, thus getting some semblence of peace for saving this world's MJ.  Peter One and the Goblin battle, and Peter One gets the best of him, and then begins to pummel him, and then destroy him with his own glider.  However, Peter Three manages to stop him before he makes that critical mistake.  Peter One relents, but this allows Norman to recover and stab Peter Three.  Norman is then cured by Peter One.  As the villains are defeated, Doctor Strange shows up, as the skies start to open up, and we see the bits of the multiverse seep through.  Strange tries to hold it off, but he can't.  Peter One then realizes that the only way to stop it is to complete the original spell.  And this means that EVERYONE will forget Peter Parker...not just that he was Spider-Man.  Strange asks him if he's sure, and he says yes.  Strange casts the spell, and it works.  The multiverse seems to have been held back, and things are looking like their going back to normal.  But Strange warns Peter One that he only has a little time to say "goodbye" before the spell takes hold.  So, All three Spidey's hug and give their goodbyes, as they take their leave, and they---along with their villains----are sent back to their rightful Earths.  Peter then tells Ned and MJ that he's going to find them after this, and he and MJ kiss and admit their love to each other before he takes off.  In the process of everyone being returned to their proper Earths, this also included Eddie Brock, who'd been transported to this Earth from his own movie, but as he's returned home, a piece of the Venom symbiote is left behind. 

Two weeks later, Peter finds Ned and MJ to help them remember, but he decides against it...allowing them to have normal lives.  He then visits his Aunt May's grave, where he bumps into Happy, who has no idea who he is.  They say they both met her through Spider-Man.  Peter then finds a new place in the city, and creates a new costume, as he continues the fight as Spider-Man. 

This movie REALLY gave us that sense of nostaliga, brought back some classic villains, and two guys we admired for their portrayal of Spider-Man.  Bringing back Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Rhys Ifans , and Thomas Haden Church as the villains from Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire's universes gave the movie a genuine threat, but allowed Tom Holland to play with villains he hasn't quite had to deal with (as yet).  All of them did a fantastic job, and Dafoe especially a treat to see, as he seemed like he did NOT miss a beat as Norman Osborn.  Being the true heavy of the villains seemed appropriate.  Molina was amazing as well, and Jamie Foxx looked MUCH better with HIS upgrades in this movie.  To see Andrew and Tobey back just pierced our hearts, but in all the right ways.  Andrew's Peter was still tortured...even moreso.  His is the darker Peter...the more tortured Peter, as he's still not managed to get over Gwen.  Tobey's Peter is still trying to do better, and still trying to balance everything in his life with HIS MJ.  But he's also the eldest of the bunch, and the one with the most wisdom to provide.  The interaction between the three was just the stuff we dreamed of as youths, and they worked well together.  I could see them work together forever, and never tire of it.  

This movie also provided us the chance to move Peter forward into full adulthood, as the death of Aunt May (which didn't sit TOO well with me, but understood WHY they did it), allowed him to fully become Spider-MAN.  Peter, while guilt ridden, will find the way to push forward as the hero.  And for him to NOT tell Ned and MJ about who he is...it's his cross to bear to live this life alone...and realize that, as the hero, it's the mission that matters, and the protection of those he loves---even if it means keeping it a secret from here on out.  He truly is a loner now.  All the world knows is Spider-Man.  Peter Parker is a nobody...a stranger to the world.  So, this opens up a new avenue to Spidey for the future, and doesn't tie him to Tony Stark anymore.  For the firs time in awhile, Peter gets to be his own man, on his own terms, and is not attatched to the legacy of Iron Man anymore.  It's a clean slate that is needed for the MCU, but for Spider-Man mostly.  It's the kind of reset needed for Spidey for Phase 4, as it elevates him for what's to come in the future.  As for Peter and Strange's interaction was terrific as well.  Plus, this also sets up Doctor Strange for what's to come for HIM this coming May.  

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Until next time...

T