Movie Review: Spider-Man: No Way Home

The violence includes a lot of comic book-style fighting and peril, with characters getting slammed, bashed around as well as falling from high places. There's punching, choking, kicking, explosions, bloody cuts and scrapes, and brief guns and shooting.

Characters die and lives are threatened and there's also brief sex-related dialogue, kissing, and non-graphic partial nudity. Characters learn from their mistakes and demonstrate perseverance, and messages revolve around the importance of second chances, helping those in need, the lasting impact of doing good deeds, and, of course the connection between power and responsibility.

“Spider Man: No Way Home” picks up moments after the ending of “Far from Home,” in which J. Jonah Jameson (J.K Simmons) revealed Spider-Man's secret identity to the world. This bombshell upends the lives of Peter Parker (Tom Holland), M.J. (Zendaya), and Ned (Jacob Batalon), even resulting in their applications to M.I.T. getting rejected.

Peter decides to go see Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and ask for a spell. There is one, but it will cause everyone to forget who Peter is and it would be as if he had never existed. While they attempt to modify the spell to exclude Peter's loved ones, things spin out of control. Shortly supervillains from alternate universes descend upon Spider-Man's world, and his hands are full. He's going to need some help.

This Spider-Man sequel has all the necessary ingredients for a top-notch superhero movie, including hilarity and heart, action and anxiousness, and some happy surprises. There's so much in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” to try not to spoil, but, given that the three Tom Holland Spidey movies all play on the word "home," even the title holds some clues.

At its core, the movie is about families doing the right thing, and helping out. Peter makes a most unusual decision in the story, steering away from what might be the "normal" choice in a comic book story and choosing something more unconventional, perhaps even uncinematic, because it's the right thing to do.

There's plenty of time for some of the funniest bits of dialogue in any of the Marvel movies so far, as well as moments of undeniable warmth between characters who've become so soothingly familiar. Unsurprisingly, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is also technically superb, with exhilarating effects sequences, expert cinematography, and a breathless music score.

Overall, this 27th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe feels in some way like part of a great Spider-Man TV show, built on characters we really care about, whose trials and tribulations are truly affecting.

Movie Details

In theaters: December 17, 2021

Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya,Benedict Cumberbatch

Director: Jon Watts

Studios: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing

Genre: Action/Adventure

Topics: Superheroes

Character strengths: Courage

Run time: 148 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13

MPAA explanation: sequences of action/violence, some language and brief suggestive

Awards/Honors: Common Sense Selection