Director: Jon Watts
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch
Year: 2021
The Spider-Man films have been some of the most consistent, independent, and universally contented entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first two were fun, funny, a little outside the events of the rest of the heroes, just entertaining, and that’s what we want from our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, so good on Marvel for giving that to us, and for doing it well. Tom Holland reprises the role one more time in No Way Home, the end to his trilogy, but not the end to Spidey’s adventures. This was the cross-over event of the year, a story for all to enjoy, and it was an absolutely solid success.
Peter Parker, after stopping a madman posing as a superhero, has been revealed as Spider-Man, and now the whole nation weighs in on whether he’s a criminal vigilante or the savior we all need. Either way, Peter’s life is pretty much ruined, so he takes a stroll down to see his wizard friend, Doctor Strange, to ask for help making the world forget that Parker is Spidey. Well, it doesn’t go as planned, and the result is a multi-dimensional catastrophe which draws in villains from an infinite number or worlds where their sole goal is killing Spider-Man. Whoops.
Like the other two, the third installment in this series is very cool, very lively, quite humorous, full of heart, and just, generally, works. They’ve done a great job keeping these slightly separate, slightly younger, more for the fans, and free of distraction, and I applaud them for that. This time around, there was even the added element of nostalgia, as villains (and more) that we have seen before popped in to pay us a visit. That works extremely well, and was the best part of the film, helping improve what started out a little shaky, hurried, and overly chatty. Aunt May & Happy were distracting in the beginning, but once the action really got under way the movie soared, and what we were given was something pretty special. Still, take away the surprise appearances and you aren’t left with too much maybe, but it doesn’t really matter; the movie as a whole was grand.
My rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆