★★★★

The third installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Spider-Man is quite the ambitious venture that meets every expectation and still manages to shock and awe despite major online speculation. Bringing the villains from the first two Sony Spider-Man franchises and cracking open the multiverse is something that the Marvel has worked toward, and it only look to be getting weirder and more interesting.

Spider-Man: No Way Home opens up right where Far From Home left off. New York and seemingly the whole world now knows that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is Spider-Man and it leaves the nation divided as to whether Peter is a murderer, thinking he killed Mysterio or that Peter is a hero and Mysterio was a villain (which he was). Peter finds that this newfound fame is affecting those closest to him, including his girlfriend MJ Watson (Zendaya), best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). To protect them and regain his anonymity, Peter enlists the help of Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Master of the Mystic Arts, to cast a spell to have everyone forget that he is Spider-Man. After starting the spell, Peter realizes that the people who want to know that he’s Spider-Man would also forget and asks Dr. Strange to exclude them from the spell; this causes a rift in the Multiverse, however, and brings well known villains Dr. Otto Octavious (Alfred Molina), Norman Orborn (Willem Dafoe), Electro (Jamie Foxx), Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), and Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) into the MCU.

When it comes down to it, Spider-Man: No Way Home is the biggest Marvel movie event since Avengers: Endgame. Like Endgame, ripping open the multiverse leaves the possibilities endless and has audiences cheering as if they are at a sporting event. This movie has many high points, many of them having to do with Tom Holland. Holland has been a favorite of mine since he burst onto the scene in Captain America: Civil War. He has had such a great progression as an actor and here he is able to have scenes in which his character gets emotional, and Holland knocks it out of the park. He has a certain charisma and charm that elevate the Spider-Man/Peter Parker character in ways his predecessors did not. At the heart of this movie is Peter’s friendship with Ned and relationship with MJ, and they finally have scenes together that grow their relationships, with this element seemingly lost in previous installments. The one villain who appears to make the most of his talents is Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn. Dafoe’s acting prowess has come such a long way from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and he has become another of my favorites. And here for a movie he could have gotten his check and phoned it in, he gives a performance that is up there with his original portrayal of Norman Osborn and on par with other great previous performances.

No Way Home is a turning point in the MCU’s Spider-Man. It’s a movie that is full of surprises, a lot of fan service, and arguably one of the best endings to a Marvel movie. While a lot of these superhero movies have the audience looking forward to what comes next, this one will have people talking about something that they never thought they would see on the silver screen.