{"id":9719,"date":"2024-12-01T10:01:37","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T15:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9719"},"modified":"2024-12-01T10:01:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T15:01:54","slug":"spider-man-no-way-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/12\/01\/spider-man-no-way-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Spider-Man: No Way Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/strong> (2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 148 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (sequences of action\/violence, some language, brief suggestive comments)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jon Watts\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Michael Giacchino\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Mauro Fiore\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 17, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Rhys Ifans, Thomas Haden Church, Benedict Wong, Tony Revolori, Marisa Tomei, J.K. Simmons, Angourie Rice, Hannibal Buress, Martin Starr, J.B. Smoove, Paula Newsome, Arian Moayed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $814.9M (US)\/$1.9B (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0After the interminably dull Eternals, it\u2019s nice to see Marvel regain its footing with Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/strong>, a thrilling superhero adventure that goes against all we\u2019ve come to expect from three-quels. That is to say, it isn\u2019t lame. Quite the opposite actually. It\u2019s nothing short of amazing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Once again, I find myself in a spoiler-related quandary regarding what I should and shouldn\u2019t say in my review of Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/strong>. There\u2019s been plenty of chatter on social media about certain plot developments. Also, if you look at Wikipedia (and I do NOT recommend it!), it gives too complete a cast listing. I don\u2019t want to ruin it for anybody, so I purposely left a few names out of my cast listing. Some information is better left unsaid and\/or unwritten as far as I\u2019m concerned. Surprise appearances should actually be a surprise, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n

\u00a0What I can and will tell you about Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/strong> is that it ties all of the Spider-Man movies together and I mean all of them, from 2002 on. Even better, returning director Jon Watts does it in a way that doesn\u2019t feel contrived. In fact, it\u2019s pretty brilliant.<\/p>\n

The latest chapter in the MCU Spidey saga begins right where the previous one left off. The evil Mysterio has successfully turned public opinion against the web slinger by framing him for murder and exposing his true identity to the world. It doesn\u2019t just affect Peter Parker (Holland); it also affects those closest to him- girlfriend MJ (Zendaya, Euphoria), best friend Ned (Batalon) and Aunt May (Tomei, My Cousin Vinny). Things reach a breaking point for Peter when his friends aren\u2019t accepted into MIT because of their association with him. He decides to do something about it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Peter goes to see fellow Avenger Dr. Strange (Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game) at the Sanctum Sanctorum to ask for his help. The sorcerer suggests a spell that will make everybody in the world forget Peter Parker is Spider-Man. It comes with risks, of course. Peter doesn\u2019t make it easier in requesting that MJ, Ned and May be exempt from it.\u00a0 All this tinkering causes the spell to go berserk. Strange gets it under control by containing it in a magic box, but the damage has already been done.<\/p>\n

\u00a0While trying to talk an MIT administrator into reconsidering MJ and Ned\u2019s applications, a couple of familiar faces show up. Well, familiar to fans anyway. First, Doctor Octopus (Molina, Boogie Nights) appears and attacks innocents. He\u2019s followed moments later by the Green Goblin (Dafoe, The Lighthouse). It seems that the spell caused a rift in the multiverse and pulled in villains from other parts of it. In layman\u2019s terms, this Spider-Man gets to fight villains from the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield movies. The full roster includes such nefarious luminaries as Electro (Foxx, Ray), Lizard (Ifans, Notting Hill) and Sandman (Church, Sideways). It\u2019s on Peter\/Spider-Man and his pals to clean up the mess.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m okay with revealing the villains in Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/strong> because they\u2019re all seen in the trailers. As for whatever else happens, I\u2019m going to plead the fifth. You\u2019re going to have to see it for yourself. Rest assured that it\u2019s totally worth it. This movie is AWESOME! You know I don\u2019t like to throw that word around too freely. A movie really has to be something for me to use it. Well, it definitely applies in this case. It\u2019s, at once, a large-scale superhero actioner and an emotional thrill ride with Peter being faced with major life decisions. Don\u2019t forget, he\u2019s still a high schooler. What he\u2019ll go through over the course of Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/strong> is a lot for a teenager. For example, he\u2019s asked by May to show empathy for the new villains in his midst. If he sends them back to their own universes, they will surely die. Why not try and help them instead?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The effects in Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/strong> are well done. It lends itself well to 3D, especially in the scenes of Spider-Man swinging and swooping his way through New York, action captured with incredible fluidity by cinematographer Mauro Fiore. As somebody with a fear of heights, I damn near tore the armrests of my seat off more than once. There\u2019s a scene at the beginning of MJ balancing precariously atop the Brooklyn Bridge. Wow, talk about vertigo! The fight scenes are very well-orchestrated, especially the climactic one of which I\u2019ll say little. It\u2019s just cool.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Another rule defied by Spider-Man: No Way Home <\/strong>is the one about too many villains spoiling the ride. It might have true of Batman & Robin and Spider-Man 3 (the Tobey one), but it\u2019s not true here. I think it makes it a lot more fun. Instead of confused parallel storylines, writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have them working together (sort of). It\u2019s fun seeing them back in action too. Dafoe hams it up as only he can as both halves of a split personality, Norman Osborn\/Green Goblin.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The rest of the cast is great too. Holland and Zendaya have wonderful chemistry as a young couple with a super-complicated relationship. It\u2019s hard enough for a grown woman to be in love with a superhero much less a teenage girl who\u2019s never been in love with anybody. Batalon adds nice comic relief as the best friend. Tomei is terrific as young and hip Aunt May; she\u2019s actually my favorite May. Jon Favreau reprises his Happy character to nice effect. J.K. Simmons gets laughs as gruff, sensationalistic news reporter J. Jonah Jameson.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I don\u2019t what else to say. Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/strong> is fantastic fun on every level. It doesn\u2019t get bogged down by heavy, serious matters. Instead, it soars! It\u2019s as close to a live-action comic book as you can get without panels and thought bubbles. This is what a superhero movie should be.<\/p>\n

P.S. Be sure to stick around for two bonus scenes, one mid-credits and one end credits.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 148 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (sequences of action\/violence, some language, brief suggestive comments)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jon Watts\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Michael Giacchino\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Mauro Fiore\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 17, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Spider-Man-No-Way-Home-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9719"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9777,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9719\/revisions\/9777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}