Spider-Man: No Way Home — Movie Review
Peter Parker’s life has been a bit tumultuous of late. After being “blipped” for five years, he came back only to immediately lose his mentor, Tony Stark. Things were looking up when he started going steady with MJ, but then Mysterio’s accusations of murder surfaced, turning things upside down again.
Parker manages to stay out of jail, but many people believe the accusations and now see him as a villain. This has consequences for him and the people he loves. MJ, Ned and he are all denied admittance to MIT, their first-choice college, along with all their backup schools. Peter feels responsible. He must change the way the world views him, even just for his friends and Aunt May. But how? Why, magic of course.
Off he goes to the Sanctum Santorum to request the help of Stephen Strange, suggesting the doctor could turn back time and alter the moment where Mysterio outs him as Spiderman. Pointing out the impossibility of the idea given that Thanos destroyed the Time Stone, Strange instead suggests a spell to make everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spiderman. Due apparently to Peter’s interference, the spell goes terribly awry…
Instead of causing everyone to forget his identity, the spell pulls everyone who knows Spiderman in alternate dimensions into this reality. Which means some dangerous characters.
Spoilers ahead…
The remedial action started by Doctor Strange is to catch and imprison the multiversal characters one by one, then push the button on a box containing the remnants of his spell, sending them back from whence they came. He kicks things off by apprehending two of the “bad guys”, but for some reason trusts three kids to complete the job, or “Scooby Doo this shit”, to be more precise. They start off well, catching all but Green Goblin (aka Dr. Norman Osborn), who finds Aunt May first.
The doctor is in his right mind at the time, but clearly confused, and Aunt May takes pity on the man, suggesting Peter should try to help him and the others before sending them back. After it’s revealed that all of them were pulled from their dimension right before a violent death, Peter comes up with a “plan” to cure them of their abnormalities before pressing the button. Preferring a chance over certain death, they all reluctantly agree.
This is where the plot started to lose me. Given the destructive power of these characters, Peter arguably puts millions of people at risk to save 5 individuals from their alter-egos. Upon his aunt’s encouragement, he resorts to reckless compassion rather than undoing what should never have been done in the first place. As is bound to happen when you try to help someone who doesn’t want help, the plan goes south, and there are consequences, albeit not as severe as they could have been. At least when Tony Stark put everyone at risk he was trying to protect them from a future alien invasion. Peter saves five people from another dimension in which they already inflicted a great deal of damage on others. Of course, in the end, it’s all worth it.
This type of theme is becoming more and more common in Hollywood movies, and modern culture in general. Something bad happens to a handful of people, so we decide to sacrifice everything at the altar of pseudo-compassion. To hell with everyone else. It also reminded me a little of the recent Batman adaption, which basically told us that true heroes don’t use violence. They save people. Without using violence. I mean, it’s a good ideal, but always realistic? No. When did the Jedi way of balance go out of fashion?
The movie isn’t over yet. In the end, Peter does sacrifice pretty much everything of his own when an even bigger threat emerges. This does redeem it to a certain degree. It’s just too bad he spends the middle portion of the movie on an irresponsible plan that’s portrayed as the moral high ground. As mentioned earlier, he’s had a rough of time of it and deserves some slack. The problem with the story is not that he messes up; it’s that he makes the wrong decision and it works out as if it was the right one.
Watch or skip?
I liked Homecoming, and Far From Home even more so, but the silly plot elements in this one make it last place in the trilogy. The ending is very touching and well done, but you have to watch what’s otherwise an unsatisfying movie to get there. I wouldn’t say don’t watch it, but I wouldn’t recommend it either. Though judging by its box office performance and being out for almost 5 months, you probably already have.
