Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) Movie Review

 Hey everyone! How was your Easter weekend? Mine was pretty awesome. So yesterday I got a 3-Movie Collection Blu-ray set that includes Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Because of the pandemic I was unable to see No Way Home in theatres as so many of you got to see it. Because of that I've been chomping at the bit to see it because the stuff I was spoiled on made me more and more excited to see it. I finally got to see it last night and I'm here to talk about it. The movie is out on home video now and there's gonna be spoilers in this review, so please be aware of that if you haven't seen the movie yet.

When the first Spider-Man movie directed by Sam Raimi came out back in 2002, I was in my first year of high school, grade 9, getting ready for final exams, and it came out only a few weeks before Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones came out. I remember seeing the TV spots for the movie during That '70s Show and Smallville and I remember thinking how cool it was that a live action Spider-Man movie was coming out. Unlike with the X-Men two years before, I had been familiar with Spider-Man as a character because I used to watch reruns of the original 1967 cartoon and I'd watched the 1994 animated series on YTV and Fox Kids earlier in the '90s. I also had three Spider-Man comics and had read a fourth in the waiting room of one of the hospital clinics I had appointments at. I loved the character and to this day Spider-Man is my favourite Marvel character.

As Sony and Marvel announced what this movie was going to be, I was a little bit worried. I'd loved the previous two Spider-Man movies set in the MCU, but they were basically doing a live action version of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) as well as dealing with the cliffhanger ending of 2019's Far From Home, setting things up for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), and trying to wrap up the Tom Holland version of Spider-Man, since at the time this movie was being filmed, nobody knew if this was going to be the last MCU Spider-Man movie or if Sony would renew their deal with Marvel Studios despite them REALLY wanting to do Spider-Man on their own again in light of their plans for characters like Venom, Morbius, Black Cat, and Madam Web, among others. But despite everything they were saying, this movie came together wonderfully and wasn't actually as full as it sounded like it was going to be.

As I said, I saw Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004) when I was in high school. I didn't get to see either movie in theatres, but I saw the first movie for the first time on VHS with my friends for the birthday party I had for my 16th birthday at the end of 2002, and Spider-Man 2 was one of the first DVDs I ever got. I'd never heard of Sam Raimi before that as I'm not a fan of horror films, but I have a connection to all three of his Spider-Man movies, even though I've only seen Spider-Man 3 (2007) only once, right after I got it on DVD, and when elements from those three movies showed up in Spider-Man: No Way Home, I geeked out so much. Especially when Tobey Maguire showed up near the end of the movie, wearing his Spider-Man suit underneath his street clothes, as he always did in those movies.

I don't have as much attachment to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) though The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) does hold a special place in my memory. I saw The Amazing Spider-Man in theatres with Brad the same day I saw The Avengers (2012) in theatres making it my first double feature movie going experience ever. I did see the second one with Brad, but we saw it on it's own and I only saw both movies the one time. So I didn't geek out as hard when elements of those movies appeared here. Though seeing Andrew Garfield back in the costume was pretty cool. I always felt that he got shafted in his own movies as Sony cared more about setting up a Spider-Man Universe of films rather than just trying to make good Spider-Man movies. 

One of the things that I've liked about Tom Holland's Peter Parker is that he portrays the Parker Guilt extremely well. Garfield and Maguire were fine with it, both felt a bit whiny with it. I mean there's that whole meme of Tobey Maguire ugly crying from the scene where he finds Uncle Ben in the first movie. I never got that sense from either the '90s cartoon or the Spider-Man comics that I've read over the years though. 

I've also always loved his friendship with Ned and his relationship with MJ, as short as it was. While the earlier Spider-Man movies did the classic relationships of Peter and Mary Jane, and Peter and Harry, Spider-Man 3 screwed up the Peter/Mary Jane relationship by making MJ needy and selfish. Which, aside from a few specific instances, mostly from before she knew Peter was Spider-Man, MJ was always supportive of Peter's life as Spider-Man. Which is what we've seen in the last two Spider-Man movies so I really like that.

It's still a bit weird seeing who Spider-Man has teamed up with in these movies. You had Iron Man in the first one and Nick Fury in the second one, and here you have Doctor Strange. I'm not a big fan of Doctor Strange and I didn't really care for the first movie he was in, but I find he's actually much better when he's interacting with other MCU characters, be it the Avengers or Spider-Man or whoever. I found that in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019) as well as in this movie. I wasn't a fan of the insanity of the Mirror Dimension in this movie anymore than I was in Doctor Strange (2016), but unlike in that movie, it was a fairly short scene.

One of the things I didn't understand is why Aunt May had to die. Like, thematically, I get it, because it makes Peter want to fight Norman Osbourne, but as an audience member, I wasn't as invested in Aunt May as a character in this movie as I was in the Raimi movies. I think it's because Aunt May isn't in these three movies as much as Rosemary Harris's version was in the 2000s movies. So I felt her death felt like a replacement for Uncle Ben's death, since we didn't see that this time around. Though it did finally give us the line "with great power there must also come great responsibility", which is the proper version from the Spider-Man comics, while the earlier movies paraphrased it to "With great power comes great responsibility". So that was cool.

I've always found the character of Peter Parker to be relatable in so many ways. Unlike so many other superheroes, Peter finds it difficult to get through a regular 24 hour day which is something everyone can relate to. I've always said that DC characters are who we want to be and Marvel characters are who we are, and I think Spider-Man embodies that even more than Captain America or Iron Man do. Which is why I was able to get into the character when the Marvel Universe isn't something I was exposed to growing up outside of Spider-Man, and I haven't been able to be a fan of any of the other characters, though certain eras of the X-Men in the comics come close. 

I also found the ending to be confusing. Just because Happy still knew Aunt May even though the reason he knew her in the first place is because of Peter. Thanks to Doctor Strange's spell though, Happy doesn't know who Peter is, so how did he meet Aunt May? It's not made clear, without even a hint that the spell didn't have an effect on everyone who had known Peter. But it's messy multiverse/magic/time stuff that has no way around it being messy so I'm not overly concerned about it. Unless it's not explained in the next movie, whenever that ends up getting made.

Honestly it was nice to have a Spider-Man movie that was concentrating on being a Spider-Man movie rather than a bridge between other MCU films or setting up a Spider-Man Universe movie franchise. Yes, Doctor Strange is in the movie as a bit of a set up for his next film, but the only movie this one is piggybacking off of is it's predecessor Spider-Man movie. Unlike Homecoming, which came off of Spidey's appearance in Captain America: Civil War (2016) and was leading up to his appearance in Infinity War, and Far From Home, which was coming off of Endgame, No Way Home is simply being a Spider-Man movie and not worrying too much about the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe like the Disney+ Marvel shows have been doing. Which was nice for me, because I don't care about the larger MCU as much as I did pre-Infinity War. 

Alright guys I think that's going to be it for me for today. I loved Spider-Man: No Way Home and I had so much fun watching it last night, and reuniting with characters I went through high school watching, but haven't seen anything new from since 2007. If you're like me and weren't able to go see it in theatres, I highly recommend you buy it, or rent it, and watch it as soon as possible, it's really good. Until next time have a wonderful afternoon and I will see you all back here on Friday for my review of Batman (1989). Take care.