'Spider-Man: No Way Home' movie review: Fan service, with gravitas

One of the flick's great strengths is that it finally realises Peter Parker's true potential as a human being

Director: Jon Watts

Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Benedict Cumberbatch

Score: 4.5/5 stars

Taking inspiration from the past to boost a character's persona is a classic storytelling trope used across many forms of media. The main character, stuck in a deadlock, recalls his experiences in the past to push through a crisis and save the day. But it is one thing to do that and another thing entirely to literally drag the past into the present to push a character to new heights.

And that is exactly what sets Spider-Man: No Way Home apart from its predecessors, Homecoming and Far From Home. It brings in classic Spider-Man villains and allies, using them to elevate a character from a fledgling hero to a man capable of carrying the weight of the world on his back.

One of No Way Home's greatest strengths is that it finally realises Peter Parker's true potential as a human being, even more than tapping into Spider-Man's power or emotional state. On a fundamental level, Peter Parker is a character who has repeatedly embraced misery so that those who are close to him can be happy. His utter selflessness has been a driving force that's made him a fan favourite over the years. No Way Home runs with this idea, putting Peter front and centre and his Spider-Man being the ride-along.

Of course, there is the matter of being a little too selfless and this is what drives the film's plot. Having been driven into a corner by Mysterio and the Alex Jones-esque J Jonah Jameson, who is all but baying for his blood, Peter turns to Doctor Strange to wipe the planet's memory that he is Spider-Man. However, his desire to keep his friends in the loop messes up reality and drags old Spider-Man villains from the films of the previous era into his world.

The rogues gallery from the live action films of the Sam Raimi and Marc Webb era - Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Lizard and Electro - are back in business in No Way Home (some notable exceptions are Venom from the Raimi-verse and Rhino from the Webb-verse), forcing Peter to literally take matters into his own webs and sort this multiversal mess out.

No Way Home is laced with nostalgia from the moment Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) arrives and continues all the way to the final minutes. The narrative takes special care to ensure the villains are true to their personalities from their original timelines but takes liberties in updating them because it doesn't have the baggage of establishing them all over again. This leads, in particular, to making the Green Goblin the creepiest and scariest he has ever been on screen and redeeming Electro from that weird blue mess into an actual character with his own desires and fears.

The star of the show, among all the returning characters, is definitely Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), for he gets to really stretch his chops as both the broken, vulnerable scientist who lost everything - his company, his home and his son - and the menacing Goblin who thinks nothing of causing death and chaos. The character's duality and the masterful portrayal proves beyond doubt that Dafoe has not just managed to tap into what makes Goblin tick but has also surpassed all expectations. As an actor and a character, he runs circles around the rest of the cast, owning every scene he is in.

Director Jon Watts has finally achieved what many Spider-Man fans thought would be impossible - creating a highly effective Spider-Man story arc. Starting with the Vulture and moving to Mysterio, Watts' Spider-Man tended to feel less like that classic superhero and more like Iron Man's protege. Here, Spider-Man finally gets to be himself, with a little help. Watts demonstrates a near-reverence for the past as he folds it neatly into the present, opening the doors to an uncertain but hopeful future for the character.

There is a lot more that can be said about No Way Home but many of those aspects would veer hard into spoiler territory, so we'll refrain from that. It's better to experience it first-hand than to hear about it, after all.