Heads up! I will be talking full spoilers here. Do not read this if you do not want to know! You have been warned, twice!
I saw Spider-Man No Way Home again last night, and it was equally as impressive as the first time. Look, I have not been impressed with these new Spider-Man movies with Tom Holland. In fact I think he plays the character much better within the context of the Avengers or Captain America Movies.
But this time aroudn it was different. I mean I still despise Zendaya as MJ-she's definitely not Mary Jane, not by a long shot and too much is different from the comics this is supposedly based on. No Harry, but we get a Ned, who was never particularly close with Peter in the comics, he was more of an acquaintance, really. Yet here the Ned representation is a best friend. Okay, small grumbles aside, let the fun begin.
Mysterio revealed to the world that Peter is Spider-Man in the last movie. That was the shocking end scene. This movie take right off from there. We get to see a quick cameo by a certain blind attorney, who proves he's DD in a quick reaction scene, while also telling Peter he has nothing to worry about, legally.
Legal issues aside, Pete and friends start the new year of school, and it's rough for him. Everyone knows he's Spider-Man. It ends up costing him and his closest companions their shots at MIT. He hatches a plan to turn back time and stop Mysterio from telling the world his identity. He turns to his pal, Dr. Strange for help, but the Good Dr. can't muck up time anymore because he no longer has the time stone. But Strange can come up with a spell that will clear people's memories of Peter being Spider-Man. As Doc is performing the spell, Peter keeps changing the parameters of it, ruining the spell. Doc throws Peter out, once he realizes Peter never reached out MIT to ask them to reconsider. Pete swings off after talking to the annoying wannabe Flash Thompson. He swings to a bridge, trying to catch the admissions officer for MIT who has left a welcome party they were holding in the city. Once he finds her, his very selective Spider-Sense starts tingling and he is attacked by someone he hasn't seen before, but who thinks he knows Spider-Man. It's Doc Ock! They battle, Spidey saves lives, finally taking control of Ocks arms via his Iron Spider Armor. Then, a very familiar metal ball rolls into view, and explodes, just as a leering maniacal madman on a glider flies towards them, cackling madly!
But then Spidey suddenly finds himself back in Stranges' basement, teleported there, along with Doc Ock, who is behind a mystic barrier and held captive. Strange appears and is a little battered as it turns out he was fighting another foe of Spider-Man's, The Lizard, who is also trapped behind a mystic barrier. Strange explains that because Peter caused the spell to go wrong, these villains were pulled from across the multiverse to this reality, because they all knew Spider-Man's identity.
Spidey goes out and captures two more antagonists from other Spider-Man's realities including the Sandman and Electro. May calls Peter and tells him one of his other worldly enemies is in her business looking for help. Spidey swings there and confronts a very lost Norman Osbourne, AKA the Green Goblin. Once returned to Stranges basement, with a confused Osbourne in tow, Spidey and Doc Strange argue about the villains' fates, as most of them ended up dead after battling their version of Spider-Man. Spidey thinks he can change all of that by curing them of their powers. He and Strange battle; he traps Strange in a mirror dimension, and then brings all of the villains to Happy Hogan's home, where he and his aunt May are staying.
Peter begins creating cures for his enemies, the first is Dock Ock and it works. The voices in his head from the arms are gone. Next is Electro, who is very hesitant. Then it becomes Norman Osbournes turn. But the Goblin persona has taken over Osbournes body, and a building wrecking battle ensues. A casualty takes place, scarring Peter to the core. The other villains scatter into the night. Spider-Man disappears.
Ned and MJ are searching for Peter with Dr Strange's mystic portal brass knuckles, which Ned can somehow control. He asks the portal to show him Spider-Man, and he finds him. Spidey jumps through the portal. But something is different about him. He pulls his mask off (Far too much of that in these movies to be honest) and is revealed to be the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man. He was pulled to this world by the errant spell as well. They continue looking for Peter Parker/Spider-Man and they find him, only this time it's the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man. The two Spider-Men ask if there's any special place Peter would go to be alone, because they have places on their worlds that they use for the same reason and MJ thinks she knows where.
They arrive, meet talk, console this realities Peter, and come up with a plan. they break into a lab somewhere, I think it's a university, and they begin formulating cures for their enemies. Next they contact J. Jonah Jameson and his Daily Bugle podcast, tell him that Spider-Man is going to the Statue of Liberty and that his foes should all meet him there.
They do just that, but the enemies never realize that the two other Spider-Men are here. They battle, First the heroes do not mesh together well at all, but this worlds Spider-Man has been in the Avengers which leads to one of the funniest moments in the movie, and he has worked on a team. They go back out and finally beat The Lizard, Sandman and Electro, returning them back to their human, non-powered forms, with the cures they formulated.
Then the Goblin appears, throwing Goblin bombs and destroying the mystic cage Dr. Strange had the awry spell contained in. Strange has finally reappeared at this point. Doc Ock appears and swats The Goblin out of the air. His cure stuck. He's fine and in control of his arms. This worlds Spider-Man drops to the base of the Statue and begins to battle The Green Goblin. It's a brutal, bloody battle, because this Spidey wants the Goblin dead for what he did. Tobey Spidey stops him from killing the Goblin. He's rewarded by the Goblin literally stabbing him the back. Tom/Spidey beats the Goblin down and injects him in teh neck with the cure they came up with, while Andrew Spidey helps Tobey/Spidey. Dr Strange is at teh top of the Statue of Liberty trying to stop reality from cracking up with invaders who know who Peter Parker is. You see images in shadow of the Rhino amongst many others trying to cross over. Peter makes a huge sacrifice and saves the world, at a huge personal cost. All of the other heroes and villains fade away, back to their realities. Time passes. Peter is moving on with his life and makes a new costume for himself. A truly iconic Spider-man suit and swings off into the night.
I know. I told you the entire movie, but it was so great, I couldn't help myself. It tied up so many loose ends from prior Spider-Man franchises and really made Holland Spider-Man in the MCU. It returned Spider-Man to his roots and took away all of the Stark Gadgets. I loved this movie. This to me, was the greatest MCU movie to date. I look forward to the next installment and I can't wait for that to happen. This movie was spectacular, and worth seeing over and over!
BTW, Willem Dafoe is a great actor, as is Alfred Molina.
