Spider-Man: No Way Home ** (2021, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei) – Classic Movie Review 12,896

The 2021 superhero film Spider-Man: No Way Home is good natured enough, but relies too much on the easy-going appeal of Tom Holland as Peter Parker and its gimmick of featuring Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire.

Yes, it’s nice to have Spider-Man back. And it’s nice to have Tom Holland back. But…

Director Jon Watts’s 2021 American superhero film Spider-Man: No Way Home is good natured enough, but relies too much on the easy-going appeal of Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, and its gimmick of featuring two previous Spider-Men, Andrew Garfield (‘Peter-Three’) and Tobey Maguire (‘Peter-Two’). It says much for the various skills involved that this cheekily awkward idea pays off. It pays off really well. It is quite charming.

Otherwise, it’s business as usual. There’s virtually no story to speak of, and there is endless pointless action and visual effects, all well staged though. The third films in any series are always tricky to make. It’s kind of very slightly empty and weary, and does get a little bit tiresome after a while, struggling somewhat to fill its over-long 148 minutes, and trying to disguise that by a lot of flash. The visual effects are brilliant, certainly impressive enough to be Oscar nominated.

Peter Parker asks Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to use magic to make his identity as Spider-Man a secret again, but the spell goes wrong and the multiverse is broken open so the visitors from alternate realities can come into Parker’s universe, including Alfred Molina as Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus and Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin. (That’s nice, by the way. All very cosy and retro). It’s a premise, yes, but not a story.

I was going to say that it is all bland and over-familiar, but then that is the whole point of it, I guess. Familiarity breeds content. Marvel and Sony play safe. It’s the only way to go with a long-running series and a budget of $200 million. But finding something new and exciting for Spider-Man 4 is going to be a real challenge.

Also in the cast are Zendaya, M Ram, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, Tony Revolori, and Marisa Tomei.

It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).

It is written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man.

It is produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing.

Spider-Man: No Way Home premiered at the Fox Village Theatre in Hollywood, on 13 December 2021, and was theatrically released US cinemas on 17 December 2021. There is no doubt about its amazing popularity. The film grossed an incredible $1.922 billion worldwide, and was the highest-grossing film of 2021, the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time, and the highest grossing Spider-Man film.

Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire comprises by far the best Spider-Man films: Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004) Spider-Man 3 (2007).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,896

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