Spider-Man 'No Way Home' is the 8th stand alone, live action, Spider-Man film since 2002. It's also Tom Holland's sixth official live action outing as your friendly neighbourhood spider, with Holland appearing in two Avengers and one Captain America movie as well as three Spidey ones. And that's going to be really important in this one.
With this also being, officially, the 27th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you have to imagine that somewhat of a passing knowledge in previous movies is required to understand this one, but that's not really the case. The setup is surprisingly straightforward, as Mysterio has revealed the identity of Spider-Man as Peter Parker with his dying breath, creating issues not just for Parker but his Aunt May, girlfriend Michelle Jones Watson and best friend Ned Leeds.
Approaching Dr Strange, Peter Parker has just one request, that Strange conjure a spell which would prevent everyone knowing that of his true identity. Strange, having returned after the blip, is all too aware of the Multiverse (a topic which has been much discussed in both the Wandavision AND Loki TV Series) and is hesitant to cast a complex and dangerous spell. From there, both chaos and insanity reveal themselves in equal measure; and almost every five minutes we're introduced to what could easily be considered a major reveal in any other situation!
Breaking down the barriers of copyright and non disclosure agreements once and for all, Sony Pictures and Marvel work together, successfully reintroducing several villains (and heroes) and working towards so many resolutions that you might just lose count. I hesitate to mention them individually here for fear of spoiling it, which I have to be honest, is extremely difficult. Several major names of stage and screen reprise their classic roles from films between 2002 and now; a sort of proverbial wish list of those you'd always want to see but never thought you would (or could) again. Death of their character is not a barrier, and they accept that pretty easily.
With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97% and a worldwide box office gross exceeding $1 Billion; it's hard to argue they've not absolutely nailed it.
Ultimately, No Way Home is the MCU film I've been waiting over 20 years to see, and if rumours are believed opens its own possibilities with a McGuire Spiderman 4 and a Garfield Amazing Spiderman 3 both in discussions. It's a film that warrants repeated viewings just to capture some of the more sutble references, as with most outings to the MCU. Peter Parker was always an orphan, alone in the world and longing for a place to belong, and ultimately this film does as much as it can to give those resolutions to each character.
So, does it struggle? Whilst the premise of the film is incredibly simple, and there's little to no complexity, ultimately that is it's real beauty. If you were to introduce a complicated subplot you might miss something you should be looking at. I also found myself wanting to see more characters not re-introduced, perhaps some further cameos, but when I considered exactly who I realised I was ultimately nit-picking.
In the previous two Holland films, Homecoming and Far From Home, I've felt (through repeated viewings on Netflix) that these movies were solid - but always missing something, something that this (potentially) final piece of the Holland trilogy has cemented. And it's important to say that had I missed watching this film on the big screen, I would have really missed something, as this movie truly is a cinematic experience that you owe it to yourself to do that. And it's the first film in a long time that I would really want to go back and watch again on the big screen, because I can.
And my big reveal, I've never really liked Tom Holland all that much, never rated him highly as an actor and didn't agree with his casting as Peter Parker or Nathan Drake. But there we go.
Remember as always to stay until the credits have completed entirely, so that you can see exactly what the future holds, something I imagine is still being cursed by every cinema usher out there. More of an experience than a film, this has been more a love letter than a review, but if you take one thing away please make sure it's that you go and see this film.