My Review of Spider-Man: No Way Home

By: Laila Ali

The newest movie of the Spider-Man trilogy, No Way Home, has been breaking multiple records ever since its release on December 17, 2021. On January 13, it passed James Cameron’s Titanic in box office sales. With all the hype, it seems like the movie is definitely worth the watch, but there are some plot holes that need to be discussed. 

The movie starts out with Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man (Tom Holland), receiving his rejection letter from MIT, his dream college. This was due to the fact that Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), the main villain from Far From Home, exposed Parker as being Spiderman to the entire world, who at the time had seen him as public enemy #1. Now what happens from this point on is one of the main issues I have with the movie. Instead of being rational or maybe even applying to another college, he ran straight to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and asked him to use a spell so he could somehow be accepted into MIT. After the events in Avengers: Endgame the infinity stone now longer exists, so Strange had to use another spell called “the Runes of Kauf-Kaul,” which would wipe everyone’s memory of Peter Parker being Spiderman.

Now this scene was a bit rushed, because Doctor Strange didn’t really argue with Peter, or even explain the spell thoroughly for him, he just went along with it. As Strange casted the spell, Peter interrupted him multiple times so he could exclude his friends and family from the spell. 

“You changed my spell. You don’t do that! I told you, and that is why! This spell was completely out of control. If I hadn’t shut it down, something catastrophic could’ve happened.” The last part of this quote didn’t age well, because Doctor Strange and Peter unknowingly invited villains from the multiverse into their own. This all could’ve been avoided, seeing as Peter could’ve easily said something like “I wish everyone would forget that Mysterio existed,” or “I wish everyone would forget that Mysterio exposed my identity.” 

Also, once Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) met all of the villains from the multiverse, she pushed Peter into helping them, which was completely unnecessary because again, they weren’t from his universe. Eventually a battle arose between the Green Goblin and Spider-Man, which ended up killing May, who got caught in the crossfire. This scene was sad, because at this point, Peter had lost both of his parental figures, but at the same time it was hard to feel bad for May because in a way, she brought this on herself.

Overall, the movie was worth watching, and the way that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men were introduced was extremely memorable.