Spider-Man: No Way Home - Great, despite (too) many characters

One thing first: You won 't read any spoilers in this movie review. You'll only read info that's known from the trailers that have already been released.

It's been two years since Deadline dropped the bomb: Spider-Man, no more. At least not in the MCU. The film studios Marvel and Sony, who actually wanted to share the Spider-Man film rights, are too at odds.

Not only a shock for fans, but also for lead actor Tom Holland. The then 23-year-old grabbed a phone and asked Disney chief Bob Iger directly to the receiver. This, he says, impressed Iger so much that he instructed his studio bosses to return to the negotiating table with Sony and find a solution. For the sake of millions of sad fans - and their wallets.

Spider-Man remained in the MCU. Mostly because Sony got to cut themselves an even bigger piece of the pie. Us fans can't care. After all, we're getting the conclusion to a trilogy that began in 2017 with a little "homecoming" story and now ends with an impending multiversal catastrophe.

Here's the deal

The cat's out of the bag: Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is Spider-Man - and the whole world knows it. Worse, it thinks he's the villain who tried to pull off an attack in London. Him and not Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), the real evil mastermind.

Peter's life has been a living hell ever since. That's why he turns to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). The plan: a spell to make the whole world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. But the spell goes awry. The multiverse breaks open. Suddenly, humans are attacked by a man with metal tentacles. A madman in a green goblin suit is making the city unsafe. And somewhere, a man made of pure electricity is materializing. What the heck is going on?

The figures that appear are people from other realities. It soon becomes clear that getting them back to where they came from is the least of their problems.

Can they really do that?

I can't say more because spoilers lurk everywhere. This threatens to degenerate my movie review into an uninspiring "the movie has a beginning, middle, and end." I'll give it a shot anyway.

First, let's talk about fears. For example, that "No Way Home" would become more fan service than movie. After all, the concept of the multiverse is as exciting as it is dangerous: all the characters can be anywhere. Marvel's MCU has been doing that for a long time. But the multiverse takes it to the extreme (no, you haven't seen all the characters in the trailers by a long shot): What if Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) from Sam Raimi's 2002 "Spider-Man" suddenly appears as an MCU antagonist? It saves Marvel from having to introduce a new character. More time for action and bombast. Nostalgia acts as a glue to hold the whole structure together. But then don't they forget to tell a story as well?

In fact, "No Way Home" stumbles here and there. At first, the old new characters are incredibly fun. Does fan service always. It's like a loyalty reward for comic book nerds who enjoy every little comic detail. But then I take off my nerd glasses and realize: all the characters from past movies are great. But they slow down the flow of the story. Especially in the middle part. Less would have been more. Sony's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse did a much better job of that.

Yes, they can!

Still, "No Way Home" gets its act together. The action is too good. Too sizzling the humor, which rarely makes Marvel's mistake of not knowing when to stop in favor of a serious moment. And at the latest when Doctor Strange completely suspends the laws of the seemingly possible in his mirror dimensions, my fan heart does somersaults and runs naked across the meadow in drunken euphoria.

Besides that, director Jon Watts is smart enough to resist the temptation to distract too much from the main character of his story. That is and remains Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. And Tom Holland plays him really well. That's also because of the script, which gives Spider-Man formidable problems. Problems that test the character, that lead him to the precipice. So it's Parker who has the important character moments, who goes through the significant developments.

And who has to face the consequences for his actions.

Except for this one thing

It's said consequences that make "No Way Home" much more adult in tone than the two MCU Spider-Man movies before it. I like that. Especially because there are some risks Marvel does take - to put it as vaguely as possible. They give the story the gravitas it needs, which Marvel movies lack from time to time. The feeling that it's not merely being said that the fate of the universe is at stake, but that I actually feel that way.

On the other hand, character actors like Alfred Molina, Willem Dafoe and... can't say... remain a bit pale in return. Despite digital and incredibly impressive makeovers. You've got greats in the film that other studios would kill for, and yet most are just there to make the audience cheer happily for once. Except at the end. At the end, there... Oh, here we go again, on the subject of spoilers.

Something did bother me. The music. Or rather, its secondary importance. Back in the days of Danny Elfman in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" and its sequel, I dedicated a separate playlist to the film's score. James Horner's "The Amazing Spider-Man" tied right in. And Michael Giacchino's music for "Homecoming" and "Far From Home" is, in my opinion, some of the best the MCU has to offer musically.

Giacchino's music to "No Way Home" falls completely flat in parts. It just doesn't want to stick. Yet the opportunities would have been huge. Giacchino could have reached into his own, Elfman's, and Horner's pool of past films. Yes, he had to! He does, according to the credits. But I rarely really heard it. At most, as a small, brief hint. Sure, for most viewers this is less important. For me as a film music aficionado, who listens to 10 seconds of film music and can tell exactly from which film, which scene and whose pen it originates, this is very disturbing.

Conclusion: A wonderfully overloaded ending

What remains is a conclusion with a lot of fan service, which means well, especially in the middle part. But where I feared worse, a Spider-Man movie came out that has the confidence to be much more adult than its two predecessors. And then when... crap, I'm - not - allowed - to - spoil! So the movie has a beginning, middle and end. For more, just go to the movies. Preferably quickly.

The internet will be significantly less restrained than I am.

You can see "Spider-Man: No Way Home" in theaters starting December 15. Running time: 148 minutes.