Skip to main content

Spider-Man: No Way Home

 A review by Forrest Humphrey

In the wake of Mysterio revealing his secret identity to the world and framing him for murder, life has become quite harrowing for Peter Parker, his family and his friends. Hoping to at least pull the people close to him out of the mess, Peter turns to a friend from the Avengers, Doctor Strange, to help him. The plan? Cast a spell to make the whole world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Unfortunately, things go awry when Peter panics upon realizing “Everyone” includes MJ, Ned and Aunt May. He tampers with the spell and things get even worse from the attempt. Not only does everyone still remember, but the spell pulls in some uninvited guests who also know about Peter Parker's life as Spider-man. Now Peter has to stop these multiverse visitors from making his own world worse. 

That's the basic premise from the trailers and I wont go further than that. This film had a great deal to live up to, considering everything its trying to follow up on. Not just the MCU films, as this film positioned itself as a celebration of Spider-Man's 60th birthday, the 20th anniversary of Sam Raimi's trilogy of films AND the 10th anniversary of Mark Webb's more controversial duology. As the trailers showed, Tom Holland's Peter Parker would be squaring off against beloved villains from Spider-Man's cinematic past. Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Sandman, once again played by Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina and Thomas Hayden Church; as well as Lizard and Electro with Rhys Ifans and Jaime Foxx reprising their roles as well. 

With so much cinematic weight on its shoulders, does the film live up to the hype? For my money, the answer is a firm “yes”. The core cast of Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei and Jon Favreau remains as entertaining to watch as always, with J.K. Simmons and Benedict Cumberbatch giving great supporting performances as well. And of course, every returning actor from the prior films brings their best as well. Willem Dafoe in particular is an absolute treat to see as Green Goblin again all these years later. 

The action sequences are as good as one would expect from the MCU at this point, but the emotional character moments are the real standouts here. Several points in the film brought me to tears, and even characters whom I didn't expect to get strong moments surprised me. While not every single joke lands, the chemistry of the cast, new and old, is delightful.

I'll need to do some thinking before I commit, but as of right now, I'm very tempted to say this is my favorite live-action Spider-Man film, and it may be in my top 5 MCU films period. Nearly everything about the film clicks, and its record breaking box-office smash is well deserved.

Rating: 5/5



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

John Travolta month: Saturday Night Fever

 A retrospective by Brooks Rich So this was not the big start of John Travolta's career. That would be the classic sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. But this did elevate Travolta to another level. For any of you going oh come on. This silly movie with a disco soundtrack? Come on, Brooks. Just wait. Have you ever actually seen this? This isn't about disco. Disco just happens to be the music of choice. This about the kind of people who are kings at the dance clubs and then losers the rest of the time. There is a lot of darkness and truth in this film. So if you've never seen it please. Do yourself a flavor and check it out. Just watch it and then come back to read this.  This is a movie about the different types of people we become between our real lives and our weekend lives. Tony Manero is a regular working class guy in a Brooklyn neighborhood, struggling to make ends meet and dealing with his loving but at times overbearing family. He lives in the shadow of his priest brother. ...
1 comment
Read more

Forgotten Film Friday: Melinda and Melinda

 A retrospective by Brooks Rich I know Woody Allen is a complicated figure. He is a creep in a lot of ways and some people find his sexual weirdness to be too much. I get that. But on the blog I sometimes like to separate the art from artist. Not always to be sure. Jeepers Creepers will never be covered here because Victor Salva is a useless piece of human garbage. What he did I can't ignore. Allen I can push aside him being weird to cover him now and then. It's hard to write a film blog and not mention a Woody Allen film now and then. The man has some bangers. And I've always wanted to cover this film. The concept is so interesting and Allen post 2000 is fertile ground for Forgotten Film Friday. So let's look at the film and not Allen himself.  Melinda and Melinda is a dual narrative about a woman named Melinda, an underrated and brilliant Radha Mitchell, who shows up unexpectedly at a dinner party in New York. The film questions if life is inherently tragic or comic a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ranking every Tintin comic

A ranking by Brooks Rich In order to expand the blog a little, we'll sometimes cover other media besides films. Film will still be our bread and butter but the blog will also cover tv, music, comics, books, and other forms of media. To start it off I will be ranking all 21 main comics in a beloved series of books form my childhood, The Adventures of Tintin. Created by Belgian cartoonist Herge, Tintin, who has literature's greatest cowlick, is a reporter who travels the world with his faithful dog Snowy, the best fictional dog of all time, chasing bad guys and sticking his nose in other's affairs. Tintin is often joined on his quests by Captain Haddock, his most trust human sidekick. I credit Tintin and the Hardy Boys for my current love of mystery novels. Ranking the 21 main Tintin comics is far more doable than ranking the original Hardy Boys runs. As a quick note I will not be counting the unfinished Tintin and Alph Art or Tintin in the Land of the Soviets or Tint...
Post a Comment
Read more