After
being framed for murder and outed as Spider-Man, Peter Parker (Tom Holland)
sees his life turned upside down. While attorney Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) is
able to get him out of legal trouble, he, his Aunt May (Marissa Tomei), his
girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) are all
hounded by negative publicity. This prompts Peter to ask sorcerer Stephen
Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to wipe knowledge of Spider-Man’s identity from
the public consciousness. However, Strange’s spell goes haywire, bringing in
villains faced by other Spider-Men in other realities. Strange is adamant that
they must be sent back to where they came from even if it means they will die
fighting their respective Spider-Men, but Peter believes he can save them, a
noble stance with a dangerously high price to pay if he is wrong.
The third
film in the most recent Spider-Man trilogy (a Sony-Marvel collaboration) is
somehow both its most ambitious and its most essential. The previous two
outings (2017’s Homecoming and 2019’s Far From Home) were
entertaining and energetic, but they also had to contend with fitting Spider-Man
into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Tony Stark in particular cast a
long shadow over the proceedings. Holland did an admirable job under the
circumstances, but his designation as “kid in over his head” definitely
constrained the character. Though the creative team (director Jon Watts and
writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers) returns for this outing, they are
finally letting Peter grow up. The stakes – both personal and universal – are higher
this time around, and the film is able to pull off darker and weightier turns
without sacrificing its sense of hope or humor.
Watt’s
direction is slick and fluid though it lacks a discernable “wow” factor.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to do much heavy lifting here given the
charismatic cast. Holland gives perhaps the best live-action Spider-Man
performance to date, imbuing Peter with everything from anxiety to optimism to
conviction to cold vengeance as the story unfolds. MJ and Ned remain as snarky
and as loyal as ever, but their characters take on more sincere and conflicted
shading. While rival Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori) remains a sitcomesque
nemesis, May is finally, after two films of being diminished and objectified,
given more focus here, and Tomei steps up by capturing the character’s
protectiveness and morality.
These performances
are matched by a cadre of returning villains (and Cumberbatch, who plays Strange
as exasperated and begrudgingly helpful) from previous Spider-Man film series.
Some, such as Flint Marko/Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and Dr. Curt
Connors/The Lizard (Rhys Ifans), are given little to work with, a causality of the film’s
inflated character count. On the other hand, Jamie Foxx is able to play Max
Dillon/Electro as something closer to himself in both appearance and temperament
(compared to his maligned blue-hued turn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2),
and a digitally de-aged Alfred Malina effortlessly slips back into Otto
Octavious/Dr. Octopus. The real standout, however, is Willem Dafoe as Norman
Osborn/Green Goblin. Here, the personality split between the two is more
pronounced than it was in the character’s debut twenty-plus years ago. As
Norman, Dafoe is confused and regretful, a sympathetic, mentally disturbed inventor.
As the Goblin, his nefariousness is cranked up well past his hammy initial
portrayal to Joker-esque levels of sadism. Dafoe puts his famously expressive face to
good use here sans mask, and though he too gets the digital de-aging treatment,
the sixty-something actor impressively did much of his own stunt and combat
work, establishing the Goblin as both a physical and psychological threat.
Part of Spider-Man’s
appeal as a character has always been his flawed relatability, and Peter’s
early-film woes (social media harassment and college admissions anxiety)
will feel recognizable to many. Another part comes from his sense of duty no
matter how many times he gets put through the ringer, and the film does not shy
away from seeing if there is a breaking point. At times, No Way Home can
feel like too much – a superfluous character, a shoehorned in line of
fan-pleasing dialogue, an awkward conversation that goes on too long – but its winning
performances and deft balance of humor, action, and tragedy make it among the
best cinematic Spider-Man stories ever told.
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