YNOT at the Movies

In a tight red-and-blue bodysuit with two big eyes, his one hand sticking out into the air, another hand touching the ground to support a squatting body—that's probably the image in your mind when you hear the name Spider-man. But unless you are a die-hard fan of Marvel comic books and their adaptations, you probably won't remember much about what happened in any of the other dozen Spider-man movies. Yet, as if the plot is so crucial for the director Jon Watts's latest Spider-man installment "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (USA 2021 | 150 min.), there was a clip pleading for "no spoilers" from the film's actors at the beginning of the press screening I attended.

Yes, we all hate spoilers (and I won't give any as always), but the truth is that this film won't be any different from the others in terms of its plot—you won't remember much about it by the time the next superhero movie comes out. Instead, what you might be surprised by in this movie is not its plot, but how emotional, funny, and touching it sometimes is. That's rare for a superhero movie that is expected to be an exposition of mindless fights, of which there are certainly plenty during the two and a half hours running time in this movie.

At the beginning of the film, the TV anchor J. Jonah Jameson reveals to the public the identity of Spider-man—he is a high school senior named Peter Parker (Tom Holland), who lives with his aunt May Parker (Marisa Tomei) in New York City. Spider-man has been blamed for a lot of destruction around the city, even though Peter is trying to do good deeds and fence off the enemies.

Peter has high hopes for admission to MIT with his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and their best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon). But because of Peter's Spider-man identity and their friends' association with him, none of them are considered by MIT. In order to get another chance at admission, Peter asks his friend Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help.

Doctor Strange claims that he can put on a spell to erase people's memories about Peter's Spider-man identity. So he moves around his arms like a witch and generates a glowing and floating spectrum. Well, that spell works, but not as expected—it brings in many villains from the Multiverse, including the multi-armed Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), the angry Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), the destructive Electro (Jamie Foxx), the sad looking Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), the clumsy The Lizard (Rhys Ifans), among many others.

Being a good-hearted 17-year-old trying to save the world, Peter has to make a tough decision in order to fend off all these creatures from the Multiverse.

As a superhero film, this movie is no exception from spectacular computer generated images of fighting and explosions. While it can be exciting at times, there is nothing original in that regard in this new episode of the endless battles among the super beings. If any of the visuals feel new to you, you probably have not seen enough films adapted from Marvel comics.

But when these characters are not fighting, the movie becomes much more interesting, funny, and sometimes even quite sentimental with a music score as the catalyst for making your eyes moist. Tom Holland is terrific as the likable protagonist who does not just possess supernatural ability, but is also genuinely sensitive and saintly good in his heart. It's remarkable that for such a surreal character, Tom Holland is able to make it both convincing and touching. That's perhaps the biggest surprise from watching this film.

"Spider-Man: No Way Home" opens on Friday, December 17, 2021.