Three is the magic number croon daisy age rappers De La Soul over the end credits of Spiderman No Way Home but is it third time lucky for this latest film with Tom Holland in the title role? Sam Raimi’s trilogy collapsed under an excess of villains and Andrew Garfield’s incarnation as the arachnid hero never made it to a third film. Director Jon Watts Spiderman films have been far more successful and with this third film being delayed by over a year anticipation is high with the internet awash with rumours and possible spoilers.
Spiderman No Way Home picks up almost immediately after the bombshell from the end of Far From Home the last film where Peter Parker secret alter ego as being Spiderman and is emblazoned across every media outlet in the world in the best PR stunt since Meghan Markle’s decided she wanted to marry a Prince. That Peter’s identity is further ramped up by JJ Jameson the ex- Editor of The Daily Bugle and now an online presenter pontificating that Spiderman is a murderer and promoting fake news like a twisted audition to be Donald Trump’s next campaign manager. With Peter’s girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) also having their lives impacted by their association with Spiderman he turns to someone who can bend reality even more than Boris Johnson at Prime Minister’s Question Time. That person is Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in the films Marvel mash up of characters.
Wanting the Doctor to facilitate the world forgetting his true identity the spell goes awry when Peter keeps interrupting and the multiverse that is opened up in a way that will please fans immensely. In summoning up an alternate universe Dr Strange has drawn in characters from the past who collide in Peter’s present world. It’s no spoiler to know that Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) and Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), as seen in the trailer, return. Both are excellent but it’s Dafoe who revels in his return to the role which sees him veer from remorse to vengeful villain again. They’re not the only villains but several others return albeit to far less satisfying effect but their appearance bought whoops from the audience but none as big as the big reveal at the end of the second act.
That this is a convoluted plot as multiverses collide in a set of trippy ‘Inception’ inspired moments does not take away from what befell Raimi’s Spiderman 3 but Spiderman No Way Home juggles a crammed storyline with a wealth of characters in a mostly coherent manner. Watts has put together a film chock full of Easter eggs, significant call backs and as pleasing as this is what it misses is the simple youthful exuberance of the two prior films. But that aside Spiderman No Way Home is huge fun and a mid and post credit scenes hint at a direction that fans have been crying out for
Watch the Spiderman Now Way Home trailer HERE
