DISCLAIMER: Spoilers Ahead!

Overview

Spider-Man: No Way Home Is the third installment in the MCU and Tom Holland portrayed Spider-Man universe. It garnered a lot of hype and excitement from extreme marvel fans as well as the casual movie watcher. The movie made $668 Million domestically in ticket sales as well as made $1.5 billion globally. This put the movie in 8th place of all-time domestic box office records. The movie stars Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, as well as Zendaya, Jacob Balton, and Willem Dafoe.

Story

The movie is about 18-year-old Peter Parker, or as you may know him: Spider-Man. His identity has been revealed and he has also been framed for a death that he was not responsible for. The movie begins with Peter having to deal with the news and other random people either siding with him or going against him, resulting in him having to go into hiding. He takes matters to court in order to prove his innocence. Despite his name being cleared, most people are still against him, so in an act of desperation, he consults Dr. Steven Strange, a man trained in different magic techniques. Peter asks for a spell to be cast that makes everyone disassociate him with Spider-Man by forgetting that they know the two are the same. He tries to add layers to the spell, making friends and family exempt from forgetting. This causes the spell to malfunction and makes a tear in the multiverse. Two alternate Spider-Men (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield), as well as the villains from their movies, spill into the universe, causing peril. Peter comes in contact with those villains first and traps them all so he can figure out how to send them back home. After talking with them all, he realizes that he should probably try to fix their various powers and issues. All is going well until the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) goes crazy and that causes the others to change their minds and go to terrorize New York. After the death of his aunt at the hands of Green Goblin, Peter goes missing and his friends (Zendaya and Jacob Balton) are left alone to solve all of the problems. This is when they meet the alternate Spider-Men. After previously dealing with the villains, they can help Peter defeat them. After a perilous final battle, Peter realizes that the only way to fix all the problems is to get Dr. Strange to make everyone in existence forget that he ever existed. The movie ends with Peter starting a new life without any friends, family, or anyone at all to help and support him, but he seems to be content with that. “In drawing the previous cinematic incarnations of Spidey into “No Way Home,” Marvel Studios subsumes the narrative content of the previous live-action Spider-Man films into their multiverse. Not only are those earlier film series retconned into being a part of the MCU, but the entire conflict of “No Way Home” involves an active effort by the collected Peter Parkers to retcon its very narrative content.” is the perfect summary of the movie from The Observer that I think captures the magic and essence of this movie. They perfectly highlight the aspects of the movie that can connect to both new fans and those who haven’t watched Spiderman since 2002.

Thoughts on the movie

No Way Home is a very unique movie in comparison to the rest of the MCU. The movie is starting to dabble in new ideas from the comics and connect the movies that weren’t before. The movie had many nostalgic moments, and the old villains being brought back is a very good way to connect younger, newer fans with some of the older and more dedicated fans. I think this is a movie that even those who haven’t seen the previous ones can enjoy. The story is easy to follow and, though the topic of the multiverse is complicated, it isn’t explained too in-depth in the movie, which would cause overcomplication of the plot. It was sad to see all of the characters forget about Peter and pretty much eliminate them from any future movies, but I think going against the industry standard is a much-needed change for Marvel/Disney. A lot of speculation has been done about where the next movie could be headed, as the idea of the multiverse has been confirmed. Fan speculation is by no means a new idea, but even those who most wouldn’t consider “Marvel Nerds” have been participating in the discussion. 

This movie has been said to be the greatest Marvel movie of all time and it’s easy to see why. Throughout the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, a great job has been done trying real-life teenage problems with the bigger issues of being a superhero. The stories have been well written with all three inciting very strong emotions. The actors are phenomenal and the scripts are put together perfectly–balancing comedy, action, and drama in a very ideal way. The uniqueness these movies hold compared to other MCU movies is highly noticeable and they deserve all of the hype and acclaim they receive. With all that in mind, I give Spider-Man: Far From Home a 9.5 out of 10 for its unique story, memorable characters, talented cast, great soundtrack, fantastic direction, great writing, and overall movie experience. This film made me very excited about what’s coming in the next couple of years.