Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
★★★ — Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Jon Watts completed his Spider-Man trilogy with No Way Home, having taken the character from the relatively contained high school comedy of Homecoming (2017) through the globe-trotting Far From Home (2019). Released in December 2021, the film arrived during a period when the Marvel Cinematic Universe was actively expanding its multiverse concept across both film and television, making this a particularly loaded release for the studio. Columbia Pictures and Marvel co-produced, as had been the case since the 2015 deal that brought Spider-Man into the MCU, and the $200 million production leaned heavily into that arrangement's commercial logic. It became one of the highest-grossing films ever made, crossing $1.9 billion worldwide, a figure made more remarkable given it opened during the tail end of widespread cinema disruption from the pandemic.
Spider-Man: No Way Home was supposed to be the ultimate fan-service event, a multiverse collision of Spider-Men, villains, and nostalgia. And while it delivered on spectacle and sentiment, for me, it was surprisingly boring. The plot feels thin and overly reliant on emotion that for me it doesn’t earn, and Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, while well-meaning, lacks the depth or wit that made earlier versions so compelling. Zendaya and Jacob Batalon are "ok" but underused, this isn’t really their story anymore. The film leans hard on nostalgia, and honestly, the most exciting moments come entirely from borrowed glory: Tobey Maguire showing up as the original, awkward, soulful Spidey (still the best one), and Willem Dafoe absolutely devouring every second as the Green Goblin. His return alone gives the film its only real spark of danger and drama. Those scenes crackle with energy and history, everything else just feels like setup, CGI, and predictable beats. Jamie Foxx sucked here. It’s not a bad movie, and fans will likely eat it up. But as a standalone story? It’s overstuffed, emotionally hollow, and strangely lifeless despite all the noise. Saved only by the ghosts of Spider-Men past. A spectacle without a heartbeat.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2021 | Watched: 2025-09-14
Where to watch (UK)
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Sky Go · Now TV Cinema · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK
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