The MCU is a rollercoaster of quality. Some movies are genuine masterpieces that deserve all of the attention and praise they receive, while others are generic schlock most people forget about five minutes after the movie ended. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” could have been that. The MCU Spider-Man movies really split Spider-Man fans on how good they are. Despite the disaster that could have come out of such an ambitious project, this movie has proved that the MCU’s Spider-Man can keep up with, and even surpass, the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies that defined what a superhero movie could be.

Note: This will be a mainly spoiler-free review; I will only talk about things shown in the trailers.

The story of “No Way Home” takes place right after the events of “Far From Home,” where Mysterio reveals Peter Parker’s secret identity to the world. With his superhero and normal life now interconnected, his life and the lives of his loved ones are now forever changed.
However, Peter reasons he can ask Doctor Strange for help. Trying to just wish his problems away doesn’t work, however, and familiar enemies from Spider-Man’s rogues gallery are now emerging, leaving Peter to deal with the consequences of his decision.
Any fans of the comic book will recognize this plotline as being very similar to the “One More Day” comic book, but this movie diverges in many ways. The obvious way is in the return of villains from past Spider-Man movies. Alfred Molina returns as Doctor Octopus, and he does a great job in the role. It was amazing seeing my favorite Spider-Man villain return in a great showing.
Jamie Foxx got more screen time as Electro than I was expecting, and he got to do a much better job this time around when compared to his original incarnation in the Amazing Spider-Man 2. The Lizard and Sandman were the biggest disappointments in the movie. They had the actual actors return to perform voice overs, but reused old footage for any scene that wasn’t CGI lizard or bad looking sand person.
However, the best actor in the whole film has to be William Dafoe returning for Green Goblin. He plays both a broken man in an unknown world and a psychopathic supervillain so well, he is a genuinely frightening villain and a tragic character at the same time. Dafoe carries the same energy he did nearly 20 years ago, carried by the fact that he refused to not do his own stunts; he put his all into this movie and it shows.
Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, and Benedict Cumberbatch return to their normal MCU roles, and they all put on a great show as always.
The plot of “No Way Home” is one of the best Spider-Man plots in years. It’s not quite on the same level of the masterpiece that is Sony’s Spider-Man on the PS4, but it feels like a story straight out of the comic books, with Peter making an easy decision to make all of his problems go away. But this ends up backfiring on him, and he learns a lesson on responsibility. This also feels like the most Spider-Man the MCU’s Spider-Man has ever felt; he doesn’t take the easy way out when given the option to the second time, and risks everything to try and save the villains from other universes. This has genuine consequences, but he sticks to his guns and attempts to save them even after they betrayed him. This is something that is so Peter Parker and Spider-Man, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me this came straight out of the comics.
That’s the point of Spider-Man and superheroes, to be heroes, to save people, no matter what they may have done; it was genuinely heartwarming to see a superhero act like a true hero. That’s the point of Spider-Man, to inspire and show us we can all be heroes.

Spoiler Review:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T2ZbYIJiahHr0JT8o95N4fNClzn2QPA0orYHPr-S4Oo/edit