Adhithya Rajagopalan – Staff Writer
Marvel’s Cinematic Universe has recently produced some of the highest grossing and most popular movies in recent years. The newest addition to this list of hyper-influential films is “Spiderman: No Way Home”, a tale depicting Spiderman’s struggles in the wake of his identity being revealed in the former movie, “Far From Home”.
The concept of the film is greatly intriguing, considering how his identity being public is an idea that strays off the beaten path of former Spiderman films. Many other aspects are foreign to traditional Spiderman movies as well (the Multiverse infusion especially); in that regard, the direction of the film was laudable, and it deserved its hype prior to its screening. There were also some parts of the movie that I particularly enjoyed: the portrayal of Spiderman as an imperfect human being (one capable of making bad decisions), the loss of a loved one and the decisions made after, and especially the need for personal sacrifice. These portions are all highly commendable, as the movie introduced unique and varying takes on these classic Spiderman tropes.
However, the movie’s plot was often insufficient, and heavily relied on nostalgia trips to substantiate its scenes and plot choices. The Green Goblin’s and Electro’s screen performances were excellent, but both characters presented no new problems and exhibited nothing special to develop the respective characters. Norman Osborn’s identity crisis is simply repetitive, and the film would have been the exact same without Dr. Connors. Instead of taking a manageable cast and developing the characters substantially, the movie takes on too many characters in the name of nostalgia, leaving many characters feeling heavily underdeveloped and surface-level. Hence, the only real benefit I felt from the introduction of these past characters and Spidermen was nostalgia.
Another serious issue I saw was the failure to address some serious plot holes. For example, considering the importance and danger of such a multiversal issue, why was no one else called to help? It’s understood Spiderman is destined to defeat all the villains in the film, but for such an impossible list of antagonists, why is no one else called on? Another serious one was the absence of the other Spidermen until they were summoned by Ned and MJ. The old films made very clear that all the Spidermen feel a sense of duty to protect, to use their gift for good. So considering the other Spidermen were already in Tom Holland’s timeline and that they saw him fighting the other villains on the news, why did they not make themselves known earlier, if at least to help fight?
Finally, the film’s purpose in the larger scheme of the MCU is very minimal. The film serves as not much more than a transition, a set up for the next movie. The problems Tom Holland’s Spiderman encounters in the film are not solved, rather postponed, or handled in a shoddy manner that creates new, worse problems for the next film to solve. Spiderman’s loss of a loved one leads to some good scenes in which he struggles to deal with his loss, but that plot point is not fully delved into, and is interrupted by some unnecessary action scenes. The way he deals with the villains in this film is not satisfying and it simply leads into a world with an even worse problem, a world without him.
Although I have many criticisms of the movie and although I feel that for all the recommendations and hype it received, it was mediocre, it was still a good and entertaining film.