It is finally here! The biggest movie of the year, as the record breaking post-pandemic movie release, Spider-Man: No Way Home was always going to be hyped simply for being a Spider-Man film. In the year leading up to this film’s release, there was a lot of rampant speculation about the plot, cameo appearances, and how this film would affect the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)…and Spider-man…going forward.

So let’s swing into this non-spoiler review, and see if Spider-Man: No Way Home was worth the hype.

The plot, as shown in the trailer, takes place immediately following the end of Spider-Man: Far from Home with Spider-Man’s secret identity outed by J. Jonah Jameson and doctored footage of Mysterio’s attack on London to make it look like Spider-Man murdered Mysterio.

Now with his secret exposed, Peter Parker’s life and those of the people closest to him begins to unravel. Peter approaches Doctor Stephen Strange to see if he can use magic to make everyone forget that he is Spider-Man, but Peter’s constant alterations to the spell result in it instead bringing various people from across the multiverse, all who know Peter is Spider-Man, to the MCU, including villains from previous Spider-Man films.

Despite the air of secrecy surrounding the movie’s release, the plot truly is that simple. The main Spider-Man cast we’ve come to know step back into their roles very well, with Tom Holland possibly giving his best performance as Spider-Man thus far.

Benedict Cumberbatch is good as always as Doctor Strange and his role is important in setting up future events in the MCU since his movie comes out next. That said, Strange does get sidelined for most of Act 2 and Act 3, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have much of a film since he is demonstrably the most powerful character in the film.

The highlight of the film is no doubt our multiversal visitors. The previous villains step back into their roles very well with Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Thomas Haden Church, and Rhys Ifans feeling like they never stopped playing Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman and the Lizard respectively.

Jaime Foxx gets some redemption for his lackluster performance as Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and ends up being one of the best characters in the movie, even if it does feel like him playing himself but with electric powers.

The action sequences, a must in a Spider-Man movie, are excellent and every villain gets to show off some of the impressive abilities they have. The Spider-Man versus Doc Ock fight as seen in the trailers is very impressive and demonstrates why Doc Ock is, visually and from a choreography perspective, one of the best villains to pit Spider-Man’s unique abilities against.

The film is also marinated in fan service, something that mostly works, but I felt was more often a wink-wink, nudge-nudge to the audience.

The film also does take a bit of slow start, but once it gets going, it doesn’t really stop.

Now the elephant in the room…is there an important, highly anticipated appearance in this movie?

Well I’m sad to say that Tom Holland’s brother, Harry Holland, had his cameo appearance removed from the final cut of the movie.

I know. You’re disappointed, but we can make it through this together.

Jokes aside, this was a really good film, if you love Spider-Man or the MCU, then you should watch this flick.

I also really enjoyed where this film ends up by the time the credits roll and think it will leave this character in an interesting place moving forward.

As far as Spider-Man films go, this one is vying with a few for third place behind Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Make no mistake, this is a must-see.

Spider-Man: No Way Home gets a 9/10.