Hiya everyone! As one can imagine, Spider-man No Way Home is the one movie in theatres currently that everyone has already seen or want to see due to one reason or another. Because of how anticipated this movie is, a lot of expectations are riding on the outcome of how credible and well-executed this third installment of the recent Marvel version of Spiderman turns out more than any other in the recent years. I mean, how can it not? Spider-man No Way Home is attempting to tie all Spiderman movies together in one, and if it fails to do so perfectly, pitchforks especially from the older generation will be pulled out. High risk, high reward. Well, let me get straight to the point- put those pitchforks away. Our precious relationship with all reiterations of Spiderman is safe in this movie.
To be honest, I watched this movie during the opening weekend but I had so much packing and moving to do that I have delayed the second half of this post until now. I was actually so excited about the movie that I wanted to write a review right away. Alas, life gets in the way. The reason why I wanted to write a review right away is because as a fan, audience member, and writer, I am impressed with Spider-Man No Way Home. Let me tell you why right away.
Though somewhat predictable, I want and welcome all the resolutions. As a writer, I like endings. I like closure. I like things being resolved. It is such a euphoric feeling that I cannot begin to describe. Spider-Man No Way Home does exactly that, but not for its own movie, but for multiple movies at the same time. One of the best scenes as well as one of the best resolutions is when Andrew Garfield’s Spiderman saves Tom Holland’s MJ, which is so heartbreaking because in his own movie/universe, he failed to save his girlfriend Gwen. Sure, he might have been able to resolve his anguish and feelings if a third movie came out but it never did. The writers understand that and gave that closure that we all wanted for him. Throughout the movie, there are so many instances of moments like this that I can’t even begin to name them all. I can feel from a writer to other writers that everyone really took care of the characterizations of all the Spidermans and villains involved. There is so much heart and wonderful character writing in one movie.
Besides the superb writing and characterization, I also love the acting and pacing of this movie. I can also feel that every actor put everything into this movie, from older ones to newer ones. There is not a moment in the movie where I felt the acting dipped in its superiority. Tom Holland as the newest Spiderman really outdid himself. I always thought Defoe was a perfect Green Goblin but to see him act again as I myself am an adult now is such a treat. I cannot commend him enough for selling Green Goblin to me. The most unexpected actor that I thoroughly enjoyed and noticed is actually Andrew Garfield. Despite disliking his Spiderman in his own movie, I loved his acting in this movie. What a pleasant surprise! The pacing fits with how rapid everything is happening and I never once felt the movie was too long despite being a relatively long movie. Incredible.
Despite all my praises for Spider-Man No Way Home, I cannot commit myself to close to a perfect score because there are some major flaws that I cannot shake off. There is a lot of suspension of belief to make the entire plot of the movie work such as Dr Strange actually casting the spell for Peter Parker in the first place and Spiderman moving the villains around recklessly without a plan. The realism in me cannot ignore questionable actions by the characters that I feel are done due to trying to move the plot along. I know I said above that I enjoyed the resolutions and I do. But in order to get to the juicy, heartfelt moments of the movie, I need to ignore how unrealistic and reckless the plot progresses to get there and it’s quite difficult for me. I just wish there are better explanations on why some of the choices were made in this movie.
Overall, I highly recommend this movie. It lived up to all of my expectations from someone who grew up with the Toby Mcguire Spiderman movies and loved Tom Holland’s rendition of the character. Any fault I pointed out only made me objectively rate it lower and has no effect whatsoever on how much I actually enjoy the movie. I would watch this movie again. This might be one of most creative Spiderman movies in my opinion and it will be quite hard to match up to this. I love everything that went into this movie from writers, director, actors, etc. If you are going to try to produce a complex Spiderman movie where it is not always about the good guy beating the bad guy, this is the Spiderman movie for you.
Rating: 8.1/10
Geeky Musings with Anaitic 
I just watched it today! I definitely agree with everything you said. Great acting, but did also feel that it was pretty reckless on Spiderman’s part in handling all villains.