Spider-Man: No Way Home – A Spoiler Free Review

Last Thursday, I was gifted the awesome opportunity to catch the new Spider-Man movie. As a long-time Spider-Man fan, I had a fantastic time.
I know spoilers are everywhere to be seen, but if you want a spoiler free review, you’ve come to the right place.
So let’s get started.

Firstly, I wanna state that I REALLY enjoyed the movie. Some of the things I’m about to say may make it seem like I didn’t, because the consensus on social media is that this is the most amazing movie that’s ever been made in the history of movies. I will not be taking that stance.
Let me put it like this. Spider-Man: No Way Home is a great Spider-Man movie, but it’s not a very good Marvel movie.

Alright alright alright, chill out. I did say I REALLY enjoyed this movie, and I meant it. So let me be more clear.

If you’re a Spider-Man fan; you’ve seen all the movies, read all the comics, played all the games, etc, you’re going to enjoy this movie a lot. It’s filled with callbacks and fan service.
The problem I have with it is, it’s so full of callbacks and fan service that it forgets to be it’s own movie, and it doesn’t offer much to the story of the Marvel Universe as a whole. Let me give an example.

Thanks to the trailers, we knew that the Green Goblin and Dr Octopus would be coming back, with Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina reprising their roles, respectively.
They play their roles masterfully as expected. Seriously, Willem Dafoe still gives me the heebie jeebies. They make a few great references to their past roles in previous films, but the movies they’re referencing are better movies, in terms of narrative. Sorry, not sorry. They make no further character development.

In fact, the only person to get any character development at all is Peter. Which I suppose is alright, as he’s the main character of the series, so he should be the one to gain the most development. But no one else gets much, if any at all. If anything, Dr Strange comes out of this movie seeming more buffoonish, which isn’t a very good look for him.

Everything negative I’ve said being considered, this movie is still really great. There’s a lot to enjoy about it, particularly if you’re a long time fan of everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Just know that if you’re a web-head like me, you’ll enjoy this movie for everything it is, and is supposed to be. If you go into this movie with that expectation, you’re going to have a really good time.
But if you’re coming into this movie expecting to move the Marvel narrative to the scale that was seen in Endgame, just know that that’s not what you’re going to be getting.

The last little bit of info I’ll give is this.
Just like you stayed to the end of this article, STAY TO THE END OF THE CREDITS!
I shouldn’t have to say this to true Marvel fans, because we all know to stay to the very very end. But I saw a bunch of people leave the theater when I went on Thursday, and those people were fools for doing so, because they missed what I consider to be the best part of the movie.
There’s 2 end credit’s scenes. Stay for both.