Spiderman- No Way Home review

 

Waiting for the cinema to open at the early hour of nine forty, a caterpillar of school kids starts to emerge at the top of the escalators. There must be at least a year group here and guess what film they’d come to view on this most unlikely of school trips? The most we ever got to go to was a piece of waste ground to analyse whatever flora and fauna we could discover there, clearly educational outings have become far more sophisticated. It was interesting to see though that once this film began they settled down and were just as captivated as the rest of us. This was also the first film I’ve been to where I had to wear a face mask all the way through courtesy of the latest pandemic rules. Plus the fact that none of the kids were wearing them. If you’re thinking I’m playing for time to avoid spoilers in this first paragraph you’d be exactly right…

A whole web of spoilers after the break...

  

Be careful what you wish for could be the tag line of this good hearted film in which sparky Peter Parker faces his biggest challenges yet. Held together by Tom Holland’s charm and a barrage of effects No Way Home has a refreshing take on familiar topics and when the audience reacts with applause on more than one occasion it confirms that this is now surely the biggest crowd pleasing series of the ever expanding number of superhero films.

The action picks up immediately were Far From Home left off with Peter Parker now the most famous person in the world thanks to the worldwide broadcast of Mysterio’s dying address. However, Peter is also one of the least popular people as few know of Mysterio’s real agenda and think he was a superhero ruthlessly killed by Spidey. Here the narrative proves very much of our times showing how fame of any sorts can change the way you’re treated. There’s plenty of fun to be had as Peter, MJ and Ned deal with the fallout. As Peter is escorted into high school and treated like a superstar by the staff the breezy tone of the first two movies is initially maintained.

No Way Home` as the title suggest has darker places to go however. When he learns his friends’ college applications have been rejected because of their association with him Peter seeks out Doctor Strange to evoke a spell which will make everyone forget him. Only this gets botched as an increasingly irritated Strange is constantly asked to amend it mid spell. This results in villains from other `multiverses` being able to seep into our reality leading to danger and, when Peter’s mask is off, some confusion.

Thanks to the trailer it wasn’t a secret that Doctor Octopus as played by Alfred Molina is back -his claws are on the film poster anyway- and joining him are a bevy of baddies all from previous versions of the franchise including the Lizard, Sandman,  Electro and most significantly the Green Goblin. Its impressive they’ve got all the original actors back too.

Usually the more villains a superhero movie has the less effective it is but one of this film’s successes is in wrangling these characters in interesting ways. Needless to say the situation is very meta but the writers don’t overcook it. While at first it seems to be setting up a hide and seek style plot better suited to an ongoing tv series matters take interesting turns. Spurred on by Aunt May’s principles Peter decides these people could be cured before being sent back. The appeal of Peter as a character lies in this more innocent, even naïve, worldview he has.

The really big surprise is the return for a substantial chunk of the last third  of the movie of the two precious modern day Spidermen in the forms of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. Their appearance caused actual cheering at the showing I was at, can’t remember when that last happened. While they do make the brew fizz even more- Garfield in particular is a lot of fun- this later affects the tone of the narrative. We are only minutes from a personal tragedy that stuns Peter when he’s back mugging with his other selves in a lab and this for me is were the film goes off track a little. Where we end up is where every film of this sort ends up with a noisy climax in which public buildings are destroyed and the balance between genuine jeopardy and spotting the CGI bits tilts over. Given the invention up till this point I was hoping for something different but having said that there is plenty of power in these scenes.

However this is a film to savour in many ways with some enjoyable performances. All three Peter Parkers gel really well together (a flat share comedy with the three actors would be a treat!) and the early two are given some lovely story beats to pay off aspects of their own films. Willem Defoe roars and cackles with some splendid scenery chewing and I love the chemistry between Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon. Benedict Cumberbatch and Marisa Tomei are also superb. Also to be appreciated are the appearances by JK Simons as the permanently agitated J Jonah Jameson. There should be more of Tony Revolori’s Flash Thompson though as he’s a great counterpoint to the sweetness of the main three kids.

This is a winning film that hits the majority of its targets and has just the right mix of action, excitement, humour, emotion and likeability