Director: Jon Watts
Notable Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict
Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina,
Marisa Tomei, Benedict Wong, Rhys Ifans, Thomas Haden Church, JK Simmons
The final of four Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films in
2021 just happens to be one of the safest ones. In a year filled with giant
question marks around new heroes like Shang-Chi and Eternals or
the long-awaited, and still very mediocre, Black Widow, Spider-Man: No
Way Home seemed like the one that audiences could devour with the most
ease. It was a hero in his third solo film of the franchise, one with a deep
history in pop culture, and audiences were craving a bit of comfort food in the
wake of a new wave of pandemic after a long and tumultuous year.
Marvel understood the need and so did Sony, considering it
was a cooperative effort between the two studios in the most obvious ways
possible.
The box office numbers reflect this choice as audiences
still repeatedly flock to theaters to see this third Spider-Man solo
flick. It’s not shocking. That’s what No Way Home is built to be
as a film. It’s pure crowd-pleasing popcorn material through and through,
almost to a fault. Nonetheless, through its dynamic action and charming
performances, it’s hard not to love Spider-Man: No Way Home to some
degree even if its reliance on nostalgia overpowers so much of its run-time and
material.