"With great power comes great responsibility" - Spiderman: No Way Home

 

A movie that has gathered a lot of hype before its release at the end of this year was certainly Spiderman: No Way Home. The action-packed marvel superhero movie, along with the appearance of villains played by the original actors in the Sam Raimi trilogy (Spiderman, Spiderman 2, and Spiderman 3) and the two The Amazing Spiderman movies is a box-office success. In fact, it is the highest-grossing movie of 2021, the 12th highest-grossing film ever, the highest-grossing Spiderman movie ever, and the highest grossing movie produced by Sony. But, in spite of those feats, can it be considered a good or an enjoyable movie?

 

What is the movie about?

Peter Parker (played by Tom Holland), who was framed for murder and had his identity revealed to the general public by Mysterio in the previous movie Spiderman: Far From Home, seeks help from Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to erase people’s memory of his identity being revealed. The reason for that attempt is also the failure to apply for college for both him and his close friends, Michelle “MJ” Jones-Watson (Zendaya) and Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), due to them being involved with Peter in the controversy with Mysterio.

The spell cast by Dr. Strange, however, fails because of Peter’s constant tweaking, and villains from other parallel universes, like Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), Green Goblin (Wilem Dafoe), Sandman, Electro (Jamie Foxx), and Lizard are transferred to Peter’s universe. As Spiderman is hunting the villains down to bring them back to where they belong with the help of Dr. Strange, he decides to help the villains and “cure” their insanities by, for example, fixing Doc Ock’s corrupt, mechanical tentacles that made him violent.

Unexpectedly, the villains rebel and start wreaking havoc upon New York as soon as they see a chance. It was Green Goblin’s other, insane personality, that took the initiative on the rebellion. Consequently, in that degeneration of Peter’s attempt to help the villains, he suffers a great loss because “with great power comes great responsibility.”

 

Is the movie good or enjoyable?

The reason why this movie is an enjoyable movie, in my opinion, is that, firstly, it is a movie made with the popular Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) high-quality format, which we see in a lot of other movies from the same universe as The Avengers. Furthermore, No Way Home tries to relate to a bigger public of various ages since it is a high-budget movie about a well-known comic book hero. In addition to that, the well-made action movie with seamless computer animation, driven by intricate action scenes, a pinch of nostalgia, and an easy-to-follow, linear plot is a very enjoyable thrill for anyone going to the cinema.

Despite the linear plot, No Way Home still does a good job at invoking the emotions of nostalgia for Spiderman connoisseurs. Additionally, the insertion of the villains from other universes does not come off as just a gimmick, in my opinion at least; it works very well because of how some of them develop later on in the movie.

Another element which makes this movie enjoyable is also the mix of drama and comedy. Despite the comedic interactions of the trio of Ned, MJ, and Peter, that are staple of the MCU Spiderman movies, the scenes in the other half of the movie take a dark turn, which is not going to be explained further to avoid spoilers.

Something else worth mentioning is the recurring line in the Spiderman franchise: “With great power comes great responsibility”. This line is what has been the cornerstone of Spiderman comic books and movies, as Peter has always had to face the inevitable consequences of being a super-human vigilante, fighting super villains. For example, he had to face the death of Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy for the two being associated with him as Spiderman. He also had to witness his best friend, Harry Osborne, turning his back on him after finding out that Peter had allegedly killed his father Norman Osbourne, who was Green Goblin. And No Way Home just comes full circle with this line, that also has a major impact in the last scenes of the movie.

The movie is, thus, a satisfying film for long-term fans of the Spiderman movies and it is arguably the best Spiderman movie that we will see in a while. Moreover, the insertion of so many characters from previous movies is somewhat of a one-trick pony that will not be repeated any time soon.

 Written by Stefan Mustafić