With great power comes great responsibility, is the motto Peter Parker aka Spider-Man has lived by. But great power also has great consequences, and if this third instalment in the Spider-Man franchise was when you were hoping Tom Holland would grow up to that realisation, you are in for a disappointment. Yes, No Way Home is all that you have been hearing and talking about. Yes, it gives you bangs to the power of three for your buck. Yes, it is gratifying to indulge in your favourite Spider-Men films of the recent past once more. And yes, Holland’s Peter remains as likable and eager as ever.
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After being outed as Spider-Man by Mysterio in Far From Home, Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) life has turned into a 24/7 media circus. When his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) do not get admission into MIT because of their association with Peter, he decides to ask Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell, erasing everyone’s memory of his identity. Going against advice from his friend and mentor Wong (Benedict Wong), Dr Strange starts to cast the spell. When talking of casting the spell for lesser reasons, Strange mentions a party that we would have loved to go to if only to trip the light fantastic with Wong and Strange.
In desperation, Peter requests his Avengers ally Dr Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a magic spell that will make people forget Spider-Man's antecedents. Dr Strange's agrees to help him out but their plan does not go the way it is intended to. The spell aimed at restoring Spider-Man's 'secret', breaks open the multiverse, bringing five supervillains back into the present universe from all the other universes in which Spider-Man fought and vanquished them.
This isn't only about a 17-year-old boy hoping to be accepted into the college of his dream along with his two best friends. It is, more importantly, about a kid learning the hard way to shoulder the responsibility of being a defender of all that is positive in this world. He deals with anguish and confusion as the revelation of his identity wreaks havoc all around him. But even with his options drying up quickly, Peter must continue to fight for what he stands for. The dangers inherent in that course of action are grave and he carries on regardless.
The bursts of jaw-dropping, VFX-driven action sequences are punctuated with ruminative moments that are utilized for the development of the characters so that each of them has a rounded feel. Aunt May, referring to one of the scientists from another universe who has strayed into hers, says: He is lost, but not in the cosmos but in his head. Yes, that is where Spider-Man: No Way Home is at its best. It explores the notions of a multiverse and alternate realities, taking the aid of all the flights of fancy that the exercise entails. Happily, the film never loses touch with its soul.
Loss, grief, erasure of memory, remembrance and the purpose of heroism - a moral mission opposed to a pursuit of power - are delved into without slowing down the pace of the movie. Spider-Man is determined to give the antagonists a second shot at deliverance while Dr Strange advocates that they be sent back where they have come from and be allowed to meet their fates. Peter wants to cure them before sending them back to their respective universes.
Dr. Strange is all for sending them back to their own universes to meet their fate, while Peter like his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), wants to give them a second chance. Light, bright and touching, (the “With great power comes great responsibility” line is enough to make one tear up), Spider-Man: No Way Home is perfect holiday entertainment.
The multi-verse with its pop science ties to string theory and psychology 101 for the identity issues (“The problem is you trying to live two different lives”), give the necessary heft to the movie without it being bogged down.
It does so largely because of the sprawling lineup of performers — including Marisa Tomei (as Peter’s Aunt May) and Jacob Batalon (Peter’s best friend, Ned) — who fill in the spaces between the fights with feeling and discernible personality. As in every successful franchise, the casting in the Spider-Man movies has often been as, or more, crucial than the generic elements. Even at their chilliest and PG-13 meanest, great actors like Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina, two of a number of series veterans making return appearances, can warm up industrial material just by virtue of their presence. They soften rough edges, sell jokes, break hearts and add to the movie’s tonal coherence.
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It would be nice to see what Watts could do if he weren’t constricted by Marvel’s rigid template, which gives the studio’s movies their clearly defined genre identity but also means that they’re more alike than not. (For complicated business reasons, the Spider-Man cycle that started with Maguire in the role were not part of the Marvel movie world until the first to star Holland.) Among other things, it would be novel to see a more complex Peter. After all, the world is a complete mess, and it would be super swell if Peter’s great power and keen sense of responsibility could be harnessed for other, greater fights, like the one against climate change. Greta Thunberg can’t do it alone.
