The first reactions to one of the year’s most highly anticipated big-screen ventures, Spider-Man: No Way Home, are in and things are looking very promising. The Marvel sequel currently stands at 100% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, with many praising No Way Home as the best installment in Tom Holland’s tenure as the iconic web-slinger. We begin then with Alonso Duralde of TheWrap...
“The most superheroic feat on display might be the film's ability to keep human-sized emotions and relationships front and center even as the very fabric of time and space twists itself into knots.”
Deadline’s Pete Hammond continues the applause, describing Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon as “a priceless trio,” before teasing the arrival of “the various villains and “others” who pop in and out make this pure movie fun of the highest order. Fans will be in heaven,” he says, before concluding:
“This film will make a billion, and it deserves to. Franchise movies, Marvel Movies, Comic Book Movies – you name it – just don’t get much better than this.”
Amelia Emberwing from IGN heaped overwhelming praise on Spider-Man: No Way Home, commending the movie’s ability to balance the emotional arcs with the multiversal madness. While she did take some issue with ongoing superhero tropes, it sounds like there is more than enough quality to overcome the inherent shortcomings.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home hits all the right notes as the MCU's latest entry. Its impact on the universe as a whole, as well as the overall emotional beats, all feel earned. Stellar performances meet what feels like a Saturday morning cartoon rife with all the devastating punches we've come to expect from this sneaky universe. Though it struggles with some tired superhero tropes, everything else about it will leave fans grinning ear-to-ear.”
Slashfilm’s Hoai-Tran Bui did take some issue with Spider-Man: No Way Home and how the various puzzle pieces have been put together, describing the movie as “clunky,” before adding that “fan service doesn't necessarily need to be a bad thing, especially when it services a larger thematic purpose: grappling with Spider-Man's legacy.” Mae Abdulbaki from Screen Rant though found a lot to love about No Way Home saying, “No Way Home is Spider-Man's most intriguing & fun story yet. Though the multiverse looms large, the film's thoughtful in its focus on Peter's journey.”
Variety’s Peter Debruge meanwhile found Spider-Man: No Way Home to not only be a worthy conclusion-of-sorts to the Marvel Spider-Man franchise but the last two decades of Spider-Man movies as a whole. Does this, at last, confirm what has been long suspected?
“The movie can be ungainly at times, and it’s much too committed to setting up even more craziness to play out in upcoming Marvel product (these aren’t standalone films so much as overloaded episodes, after all), but it provides enough resolution for the past two decades of Spider-Man adventures that audiences who’ve tuned out along the way will be rewarded for giving this one a shot.”
Finally, Eric Eisenberg from CinemaBlend adored Marvel’s latest adventure, even going so far as to praise Spider-Man: No Way Home as one of the MCU’s best outings. It certainly sounds like, despite the hype, Spider-Man: No Way Home will be well, well worth the price of admission.
“Jon Watts' blockbuster is the movie that audiences are presently mentally preparing themselves for, and one of the greatest Marvel adventures to date.”
Directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, and Marisa Tomei, Spider-Man: No Way Home is scheduled to be released on December 17, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.