Spider-Man: No Way Home
12AThere’s very much a sense, tingly or otherwise, that director Jon Watts doesn’t hold back in the last entry of his trilogy. With his Peter Parker of Tom Holland, he creates not only a fitting end to his part in the franchise, but quite possibly one of the best superhero films ever made.
Much of this is down to the story, which spans the multi-verse, allowing for a few surprises from some old friends and foes.
With the cat out of the bag, thanks to Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), the world and his wife now knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
Knowing that it’s not ideal going forward if everyone knows who he is, especially for those close to him, his main squeeze MJ (Zendaya), best buddy Ned (Jacob Batalon) and Aunt may (Marisa Tomei), Peter turns to a super friend for help – Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).
He asks if he can turn back time, but with the time stone no longer in his possession, that’s not a viable option. It gives him another idea though, of wiping the memory of everyone on the planet, so Peter’s identity can remain a secret once again.
Peter embraces this idea, but with a few caveats, wanting his friends to still remember him, but all these extras to the spell make it unstable, and cause some very unusual repercussions, that leads Spider-Man to face some unexpectedly familiar faces.
Watt’s possible swansong to the Spider-verse is a real doozy. Not only is its story a rich tapestry of superhero-ness, there’s a number of emotional highs, given Holland his opportunity to give his Spidey some emotional depth, as seen by other Spidey's before him.
And of course there are a number of cameos, which only enrich the experience overall. And because of them, Watts has delivered not only the defining Spider-Man entry, but quite possibly the most entertaining Marvel title in its cinematic universe.
Whoever picks up the spider mantle next has some big, sticky spider shoes to fill, and this entry will be a hard one to follow and difficult to top, but it does show what can be achieved with everyone’s friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.