Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) Retro Throwback Review

Quippy Title: Nostalgia Is One Hell Of A Drug

Let’s Start By Showing Y’all The Trailers Shall We?

Why am I doing a retro reveiw on this now? Because it’s been a years ans now were getting the 4th installment id around the corner this month on July 31st. So no better time to take a look back at this film because oh boy my opinions have shifted.

I still remember the marketing for Spider-Man: No Way Home being absolutely insane. This was one of those rare movies where the trailers did not just feel like trailers, they felt like worldwide events. Every frame was being paused, enhanced, zoomed in on, overanalyzed, and probably examined harder than the Zapruder film. People were looking at reflections in windows, weird empty spaces in action shots, villain silhouettes, pumpkin bombs, lightning colors, and anything that could possibly confirm what everyone already believed, which was that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were in this movie.

And honestly, I was right there with everyone else. I remember seeing Doctor Octopus show up at the end of the first trailer and say, “Hello Peter,” and I lost my mind. That was the moment where it felt like Marvel and Sony had opened the forbidden Spider-Man vault. This was not just another MCU Spider-Man movie anymore. This was suddenly a Spider-Man multiverse event, and the hype machine went from zero to “everyone on the internet has become a detective overnight.”

Then you had Green Goblin’s pumpkin bomb rolling onto the bridge, Willem Dafoe’s laugh, Electro coming back, Sandman, Lizard, and the whole thing became a giant guessing game. Were Tobey and Andrew in it? Were they not? Was this all bait? Was Marvel really going to bring back the villains but not the Spider-Men? Andrew Garfield spent months lying in interviews with the energy of a man trapped in a hostage situation. Every time someone asked him if he was in the movie, he had to pretend he had no idea what anyone was talking about, and absolutely nobody believed him.

At the time, the trailers had me completely sold. I thought this was going to be one of the greatest Spider-Man movies ever made. And when I first saw it in theaters, I walked out thinking exactly that. The audience was cheering, Tobey and Andrew showed up, Willem Dafoe was stealing the movie, and the whole theater experience was electric. It was one of those nights where the crowd reaction became part of the movie. You were not just watching No Way Home, you were participating in a giant Spider-Man celebration.

But here is the problem.

A great theater experience and a great movie are not always the same thing.

And unfortunately, after rewatching this movie and thinking about it more over the years, I have realized that No Way Home is one of those movies where the hype, nostalgia, and audience reaction did a lot of heavy lifting. Back in 2021, I was caught up in the moment. Now, with the hype gone and the movie standing on its own, I have to be honest.

This movie does not hold up nearly as well as I wanted it to.

Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

The movie picks up right after Spider-Man: Far From Home, where Mysterio reveals Peter Parker’s identity to the entire world. On paper, this is a fantastic setup. Peter’s secret identity is gone, his life is destroyed, the media is harassing him, his friends are suffering because of him, and he has to deal with the consequences of being exposed. That is a genuinely interesting idea for a Spider-Man movie.

The problem is that the movie does not really want to sit with that idea for very long. Instead of fully exploring what it means for Peter Parker to live in a world where everyone knows he is Spider-Man, the movie quickly uses that problem as a launchpad for the multiverse plot. Peter goes to Doctor Strange and asks him to cast a spell that will make everyone forget he is Spider-Man. And this is where the movie immediately starts losing me.

Because Doctor Strange agrees.

That is not a small issue. That is not a tiny nitpick. That is the entire reason the plot happens. Doctor Strange, a man who has fought Dormammu, protected the Time Stone, looked through millions of possible futures, and understands better than almost anyone how dangerous messing with reality can be, decides to cast a memory-wiping spell for a teenager because college admissions went badly.

I am sorry, what?

I get that Peter is desperate. I get that Peter is young. I get that Peter is emotional. Peter making a reckless decision makes sense. Peter is a teenager under pressure, and teenagers under pressure do dumb things. That part I can accept.

But Doctor Strange?

No. I cannot accept that nearly as easily.

The movie wants me to believe that Doctor Strange would start casting a dangerous reality-altering spell without fully explaining the rules to Peter first. No sit-down conversation. No warning. No “Peter, once I start this spell, do not interrupt me.” No “maybe call MIT before we rewrite everyone’s memories.” Nothing. He just starts doing it, and then acts annoyed when Peter starts changing the conditions mid-spell.

That is like handing someone a chainsaw, not telling them how it works, and then getting mad when they accidentally cut the garage in half.

And from that point on, the entire movie becomes a snowball of bad decisions. The spell breaks, villains from other universes arrive, and Peter has to deal with the consequences. The basic premise sounds fun. Villains from past Spider-Man movies crossing over into the MCU? Great idea. Seeing Tom Holland’s Peter face characters like Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus? Awesome concept.

But the longer the movie goes on, the more the story feels like it is held together by duct tape, nostalgia, and the hope that you are too excited to ask questions.

And to be fair, the first time I watched it, I was too excited to ask questions.

Now?

I have questions.

A lot of them.

Character Rundown

Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is easily one of the best parts of the movie. I do think this is one of Tom Holland’s strongest performances as Spider-Man, especially once the story gets heavier. The pain, grief, guilt, and loneliness he has to carry in the second half of the movie gives him some of his best material in the MCU. There are moments where you really feel the weight of what Peter is going through, and Tom sells those moments extremely well.

But the writing around Peter is frustrating because the movie keeps forcing him into decisions that feel less like natural character flaws and more like the plot dragging him by the wrist. Peter wanting to save the villains instead of sending them back to die is very Spider-Man. That part fits. Spider-Man is the guy who tries to save everybody, even people who probably do not deserve it. I understand that idea.

The problem is how the movie executes it.

Peter brings multiple dangerous supervillains into Happy Hogan’s apartment and starts trying to cure them there. Not in a secure facility. Not with Doctor Strange helping. Not with any kind of backup plan. Just Happy’s apartment. He has Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius, Max Dillon, Flint Marko, and Curt Connors all gathered together, and somehow everyone is shocked when things go horribly wrong.

Peter’s compassion is believable. Peter’s lack of basic caution is where the movie starts pushing it.

Then there is Doctor Strange, who might be the most frustrating character in the entire movie for me. I do not hate Doctor Strange as a character. I like Doctor Strange. But in this movie, he feels like he has to be written down several intelligence levels just so the plot can exist. This man should absolutely know better than to casually cast a spell that affects the entire world’s memory. The movie even tries to play it like Wong warns him not to do it, and Strange does it anyway.

So not only does Strange make a stupid decision, he makes a stupid decision after being warned.

Wonderful.

And then, to make it even worse, Peter defeats him in the mirror dimension using math. I know some people love that scene, and I get the idea behind it. Peter is smart, Peter uses geometry, and it is a fun way to show his brain winning over Strange’s magic. But I am sorry, I still find it hilarious that Doctor Strange fought Dormammu and Thanos but gets trapped because Peter remembered high school geometry. That is not even a roast. That is literally what happens.

Green Goblin, on the other hand, is fantastic. Willem Dafoe comes back after twenty years and gives the best performance in the movie. It is not even close. Every time he is on screen, the movie suddenly gets better. Norman Osborn feels tragic, unstable, and sympathetic, while Green Goblin feels dangerous, cruel, and completely unpredictable. Dafoe switches between those two sides so well that it almost makes the rest of the movie look weaker by comparison.

The apartment fight between Peter and Goblin is still one of the best scenes in the movie. It is brutal, personal, and genuinely tense. Goblin is not just fighting Peter physically. He is attacking Peter’s worldview. He is trying to prove that Peter’s desire to save people is weakness. That scene works because Goblin is not just another multiverse cameo. He becomes the villain who truly breaks Peter.

Doctor Octopus is also fun, mostly because Alfred Molina is still great in the role. Seeing him again is exciting, and his first fight with Peter on the bridge is one of the better action scenes in the movie. But his story is also weirdly rushed. He starts as a major threat, Peter fixes his inhibitor chip, and then Otto basically becomes a good guy again. It is nice emotionally, especially because it connects back to the tragedy of Spider-Man 2, but it also takes one of the movie’s most iconic villains off the board pretty early.

Electro is where the movie’s rules start becoming a problem. The spell supposedly pulls in people who know Peter Parker is Spider-Man. That is the rule the movie gives us. So why is Electro here? In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Electro does not know Peter Parker is Spider-Man. He knows Spider-Man, obviously, but he does not know the person under the mask is Peter Parker. So by the movie’s own rules, he should not be there.

And yes, I know people can come up with explanations. Maybe he absorbed data. Maybe he somehow figured it out. Maybe the spell was messy. Maybe a wizard did it. But the movie itself does not make that clear, and that matters. When your entire multiverse plot depends on a magical rule, you probably should not immediately break that rule with one of the main villains.

Sandman might annoy me even more because his motivation makes no sense once you actually think about it. Flint Marko wants to go home to his daughter. That is his entire motivation. Peter is trying to send everyone home. So why does Sandman fight Peter in the final battle? Why is he suddenly acting like an obstacle? He should be helping Peter press the button faster. This man should be standing next to Peter yelling, “Come on, let’s wrap this up, I have a daughter to get back to.”

Instead, he joins the big final fight because the movie needs another villain in the action scene.

Lizard is barely a character. I do not even know what else to say. He is there. He growls. He says a few things. He spends part of the movie trapped in a van. If you removed him from the movie, almost nothing changes. He feels less like a character and more like a required checklist item because they needed another villain from the Andrew Garfield movies.

MJ and Ned are still likable, and their chemistry with Peter works. Zendaya and Jacob Batalon do a good job, and I do like the emotional stakes surrounding Peter losing them at the end. But even their college storyline feels like it gets rushed aside once the multiverse plot takes over. The movie begins with Peter’s identity ruining their futures, but after a certain point, that becomes background noise because the movie is too busy bringing in legacy characters.

Aunt May is important here because the movie basically turns her into this Peter’s Uncle Ben figure. I understand what they were going for, and Marisa Tomei is good in the role. Her death scene is emotional, and “with great power, there must also come great responsibility” is clearly meant to be the moment that fully transforms this version of Peter into Spider-Man.

But even here, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, the scene works emotionally. On the other hand, it is wild that it took three solo movies for MCU Peter to get the most basic Spider-Man lesson. It feels like the movie is trying to retroactively say, “Okay, now he is really Spider-Man,” which is both satisfying and kind of frustrating.

Pacing / Episode Flow

The pacing of No Way Home is both one of its strengths and one of its biggest tricks. The movie moves fast. Very fast. It barely gives you time to breathe. On first watch, that works because the movie is constantly throwing something exciting at you. Peter’s identity is revealed, Doctor Strange shows up, the spell goes wrong, Doc Ock appears, Goblin appears, Electro appears, the villains are gathered, the cures begin, everything falls apart, Aunt May dies, Andrew and Tobey show up, and then we are already racing toward the final battle.

It is a lot.

And on opening night, that pacing made the movie feel like an event. There was no dead air. There was always another surprise, another cameo, another emotional moment, another callback, another cheer-worthy scene. It was engineered perfectly for a packed theater audience.

But on rewatch, that same pacing starts feeling like the movie is sprinting away from its own logic problems.

The movie never wants you to sit with anything for too long because if you do, the questions start piling up. Why did Strange cast the spell so carelessly? Why did Peter not call MIT first? Why is Electro here? Why does Sandman turn against Peter? Why is Lizard even part of this story? Why does nobody have a better plan for containing the villains? Why does Venom appear in the post-credit scene if he contributes nothing to the story?

The pacing is entertaining, but it also feels like a magician waving one hand in your face while hiding the mess with the other.

The first act is probably the part I wish the movie explored more. Peter’s identity being exposed should be a massive deal. That could have been an entire movie by itself. Imagine a grounded Spider-Man movie about Peter trying to survive after the world knows who he is. The legal consequences, the public backlash, the media harassment, the danger to his loved ones, the paranoia, the loss of privacy. That is strong material.

But instead, the movie uses it mostly as a setup device to get to the multiverse.

I am not saying the multiverse idea is bad. It is obviously the reason the movie became such a huge event. But part of me still thinks the movie abandons its most interesting original premise too quickly.

Once the villains arrive, the movie becomes a nostalgia machine. And again, that machine is very effective. But it also means the movie starts juggling too many things at once. It has to be a Tom Holland Spider-Man movie, a sequel to Far From Home, a continuation of the Raimi movies, a continuation of the Amazing Spider-Man movies, a multiverse crossover, a Green Goblin story, an Aunt May death story, a Doctor Strange setup, and a soft reset for Peter Parker.

That is a lot of plates spinning at once.

Some of them spin beautifully.

Some of them crash directly into the floor.

Pros ✅️

The entity of the opening of No Way Homez heres the full first 10 min in case theres that 1% of people who haven’t seen this film.

The biggest strength of this movie is the emotional payoff. Even with all my issues, I cannot deny that certain moments still work extremely well. The return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield is still a great moment. It was a once-in-a-generation theater reaction, and even now, outside of the hype, it is still fun seeing all three Spider-Men together. Their chemistry is charming, their conversations are funny, and the movie clearly understands how much these characters mean to people.

Andrew Garfield is especially good here. I think No Way Home did more for Andrew’s Spider-Man reputation than either of his actual solo movies did at the time. He comes in with this sadness and guilt over Gwen’s death, and the movie gives him one of the best redemption moments in the entire franchise when he saves MJ. That scene still works. I do not care how much my opinion has changed on the rest of the movie. Andrew catching MJ and breaking down because he finally saved someone after losing Gwen is beautiful.

That moment is fan service, yes, but it is fan service with emotional purpose. That is the good kind.

Willem Dafoe is another massive pro. I know I already talked about him, but he deserves to be mentioned again because he is that good. Green Goblin feels like the true villain of the movie, even when the plot is technically about the multiverse. He is the one who causes the most damage. He is the one who kills Aunt May. He is the one who pushes Peter to the edge. He is the one who forces Tom Holland’s Peter to confront the darkest version of himself.

Dafoe brings a level of intensity that makes the movie feel dangerous whenever he is around. He is not just here for nostalgia. He actually elevates the movie.

The ending is also fantastic. Peter choosing to make everyone forget him is genuinely tragic. The coffee shop scene with MJ and Ned hurts because Peter realizes they are safer without him. He wants to tell them the truth, but he sees that they have a chance at normal lives, and he lets them go. That is painful in a very Spider-Man way.

Then the final swing happens, and for a moment, the movie gives me exactly what I wanted from MCU Spider-Man all along. Peter is alone. He has no Stark tech. No Avengers safety net. No billionaire resources. No fancy AI suit. Just a homemade costume, a tiny apartment, and New York City. That ending feels like classic Spider-Man in the best way.

If the whole movie had the same strength as its ending, this review would be very different.

Cons ❌️

The biggest problem with No Way Home is that the plot gets weaker the more you think about it. That is not a great quality for a movie to have. Some movies improve on rewatch because you notice details, themes, foreshadowing, and character work you missed the first time. No Way Home is almost the opposite. The first watch is magical because of the surprises. The rewatches make the cracks harder to ignore.

Doctor Strange’s decision to cast the spell is still one of the biggest issues. It is not just a small character mistake. It is the foundation of the entire movie. If Strange acts like a responsible adult for five minutes, the movie does not happen. That is a problem.

Electro being there breaks the movie’s own stated rule. Sandman’s final battle motivation makes no sense. Lizard barely matters. Venom showing up in the post-credit scene just to leave a piece of symbiote behind feels like setup for a future movie rather than something that belongs naturally in this one.

The villains also are not really a team. People talked about this movie like it was finally giving us a live-action Sinister Six, but it really does not. There are technically enough villains floating around, but they do not function like a proper team. Norman is the only one who feels like a true main villain. Electro wants power. Sandman wants to go home. Lizard wants lizard things, I guess. Doc Ock gets redeemed. Venom is not even in the actual movie.

This is not the Sinister Six.

This is Norman Osborn dragging a group project across the finish line while everyone else forgot what the assignment was.

The movie also relies heavily on nostalgia. I know some people hate when that criticism gets thrown around, but in this case, I think it is fair. So much of the movie’s impact depends on your relationship with older Spider-Man movies. If you grew up with Tobey, Andrew, Dafoe, Molina, and those older films, No Way Home hits harder. But if you remove the nostalgia, the actual story is much messier.

And that is where my opinion changed.

I did not stop loving Spider-Man.

I did not stop liking Tobey or Andrew.

I did not stop appreciating Willem Dafoe.

I just stopped letting the excitement hide the problems.

Final Thoughts

Spider-Man: No Way Home is one of the strangest movies for me to revisit because my opinion has changed so much. Back in 2021, I thought this movie was incredible. I thought it was one of the best Spider-Man movies ever made. I thought it was a near-perfect celebration of Spider-Man cinema.

Now, I think it is a messy movie with some incredible moments.

That is the best way I can describe it.

The moments are great. Some of them are genuinely fantastic. Andrew saving MJ, Goblin’s apartment fight, Aunt May’s death, the three Spider-Men talking, the final goodbye, and the final swing are all memorable. Those scenes are the reason the movie still has value to me.

But the actual story connecting those moments together is not nearly as strong as I once thought. It is filled with questionable decisions, broken rules, underused villains, rushed developments, and plot conveniences. The movie is at its best when it is dealing with emotion, legacy, and character. It is at its weakest when it has to explain why anything is happening.

And that is the frustrating part.

Because I still want to love this movie.

There is a version of No Way Home in my head that is still amazing. The version I saw opening night. The version surrounded by cheers, gasps, and applause. The version where I was too busy being happy to notice the problems.

But that version does not really exist anymore.

Now when I watch it, I still enjoy pieces of it, but I cannot ignore how messy the full movie is. It is a nostalgia-fueled roller coaster, and like a lot of roller coasters, it is thrilling in the moment. But once you step off and think about how the ride was built, you start noticing a few missing bolts.

Rating

I am giving Spider-Man: No Way Home a 4/10.

I know that probably sounds harsh considering how much I still praise certain scenes, but this is one of those movies where the individual highlights are much stronger than the full story. The emotional moments still work. The performances still work. The final swing still works. But the plot does not hold up enough for me anymore.

This is not a movie I hate.

It is a movie I used to love and now feel disappointed by.

And honestly, that might be worse.

Spoiler Warning

From this point onward, we are diving into full spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

If you somehow have not seen this movie yet, first of all, I am impressed. Avoiding spoilers for this movie in the year of our lord whatever year it is now should qualify you for witness protection.

But seriously, full spoilers ahead.

Spoilers

The big emotional selling point of this movie is obviously the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, and I am not going to pretend that did not work on me. It absolutely did. Seeing Andrew walk through that portal was amazing. Seeing Tobey walk through right after was even crazier. The theater reaction was one of the loudest I have ever heard.

And the movie does a pretty good job using them once they arrive. I like that Tobey feels older, calmer, and more at peace. I like that Andrew feels more wounded and self-conscious, still carrying the pain of losing Gwen. I like that Tom’s Peter is the angry one in this situation, because he is the one who just suffered the fresh loss. Their dynamic works because they are not just three identical Spider-Men. They are three versions of Peter Parker at different emotional stages.

The rooftop scene is one of the better scenes in the movie because it lets all three of them connect through grief. Tobey lost Uncle Ben. Andrew lost Gwen. Tom lost Aunt May. That is the kind of multiverse storytelling I actually like because it is not just “hey, remember this?” It is using the different versions of the character to reflect on what makes Spider-Man Spider-Man.

But the villain side of the movie is where things get messy.

Norman works. Norman absolutely works. Green Goblin being the one who kills Aunt May and pushes Peter into wanting revenge is the strongest villain material in the film. The final fight between Tom’s Peter and Goblin has real emotional weight because Peter is not just trying to stop him. Peter wants to kill him. That is a huge moment for this version of Spider-Man.

Tobey stopping Tom from killing Goblin is also a great moment. It is quiet, but it says everything. Tobey does not need a speech. He just looks at Tom because he knows exactly what that choice would do to him. That is a strong use of Tobey’s Spider-Man.

But the rest of the villains are much weaker.

Doc Ock gets redeemed early and becomes more of an ally than a villain. That is fine emotionally, but it means one of the biggest villains is removed from the threat side of the story. Electro is mostly there because Jamie Foxx is fun, but his motivation is basically that he likes having power. Sandman is the most confusing because he wants to go home, yet fights the people trying to send him home. Lizard is just there because apparently the movie needed someone to be the fifth villain.

And Venom?

Venom is the funniest part of this whole thing because he is not even part of the movie. He gets pulled into the MCU, gets drunk at a bar, learns about superheroes, leaves, and drops some symbiote goo behind. That is not a character. That is a post-credit delivery service.

So when people call this the live-action Sinister Six, I have to laugh.

This is not the Sinister Six.

This is Norman, Electro, confused Sandman, truck Lizard, redeemed Otto, and Venom’s leftover slime.

Truly the Avengers of bad planning.

Aunt May’s death is still emotional, and I do think Tom Holland performs that scene very well. But I also think the movie uses May’s death to finally give this Peter the traditional Spider-Man lesson, and that still feels strange to me. After three solo movies, this is the moment where he fully learns “great responsibility.” It works emotionally, but structurally it makes the previous movies feel like an extended origin story that took way too long to get to the point.

The memory spell ending is strong, even if the spell logic still gives me a headache. Peter choosing to erase himself from everyone’s lives is a true Spider-Man sacrifice. That is the kind of painful ending Spider-Man stories are built on. He saves the world, but loses his personal life. He does the right thing, and the reward is loneliness.

That final apartment scene is honestly one of the best things the MCU has done with Spider-Man. Peter has nothing. No family. No friends. No Avengers. No Stark tech. No one who remembers him. He makes his own suit and swings into the city alone. That is the Spider-Man setup I wanted from the beginning.

And maybe that is the biggest irony of No Way Home.

The last five minutes are great because they finally turn MCU Peter into the version of Spider-Man I wanted to see.

I just wish the movie around those five minutes was stronger.

Because when I strip away the nostalgia, the cheers, the surprise cameos, and the opening night excitement, I am left with a movie that still has powerful moments, but does not fully work as a story.

And that is why my opinion changed so much.

I do not hate No Way Home.

I just no longer think it is great.

I think it is a messy nostalgia event with some excellent scenes, some wonderful performances, and a plot that collapses if you stare at it too long.

In other words?

Nostalgia really is one hell of a drug.

Also heres the trailer for Brand New Day.