Spider-Man: No Way Home is the latest Marvel superhero film with Tom Holland in the familiar red and blue tights again. He is joined by an impressive cast that includes Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jamie Foxx, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Willem Dafoe, and Benedict Wong. There are some other cast members that may reveal some spoilers I want to avoid in this entry. The script was written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers with Jon Watts serving as director.
At the end of the previous film, Far From Home, Mysterio has let the cat out of the bag regarding Spider-Man’s identity. Peter Parker finds out what happens when everyone knows his secret identity and it starts costing to those closest to him. In desperation, Peter turns to his comrade in arms, Dr. Strange. Strange starts to cast a spell that would have everyone forget, however it goes wrong when Peter tries to make some exceptions as to who should have their memories adjusted. When all kinds of monstrous figures start appearing. The audience recognizes these characters, but this version of Spider-Man had yet to encounter them. The multiverse is coming apart, and Spider-Man has all of reality to repair, and he gets some welcome yet unexpected help.
So there is a very basic idea of the plot. It sounds like that it should be an utter mess and frustrating to follow, however the ride is better than I expected. The performances are very compelling. The humor and banter between the characters throughout the film was very engaging and entertaining. Most of the wisecracks landed quite solidly. The film has been breaking records and deserves to. The film does well to steer away from heavy social issues that being embraced by other studios and productions which likely contributes to its success. There may be some lessons to be learned from the success of this particular installment, but I am not predicting that much of Hollywood will pick up on them.
Anyway, this was much better than I expected. With the overall direction of the more recent cinematic offerings, this turned out to be quite refreshing relatively.
Reviews, Musings, and Other Things... 