“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is a bolder sequel to Tom Holland’s previous Spider-Man movies and it is easy to see why it is still receiving lots of praise up until this day. It is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 93% and a nearly perfect audience score of 98%. The final film in Tom Holland’s first Spider-Man trilogy features returning villains and Spider-Men from both Tobey Maguire’s and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man movies. 

The story focuses heavily on the responsibility and sacrifices that come with being Spider-Man. The issue with the previous two movies in Tom Holland’s trilogy was that their stories had no real weight to them. Peter saw being a superhero as fun and rewarding rather than as a heavy responsibility.

In this movie, Aunt May gives Peter the “with great power, comes great responsibility” speech and he slowly realizes the responsibility he has to protect others. This responsibility becomes clearer to him once Aunt May dies and he knows he must cure Green Goblin rather than kill him for revenge. 

Additionally, once everyone’s memory of Peter Parker being Spider-Man is erased, Peter Parker chooses not to tell MJ and Ned that he is Spider-Man again in order to protect them. This shows that throughout the movie, Peter Parker finally learns that being Spider-Man is all about responsibility and making sacrifices for the better of others. 

Tom Holland delivers a captivating performance as Peter Parker and plays the perfect protagonist that the audience can relate to and root for. As Aunt May slowly dies in his arms, his emotional performance truly makes the audience feel for Peter’s loss. This made his coming-of-age story all the more convincing and powerful. 

Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield deliver great final performances as their respective Peter Parker’s and are the perfect supporting characters. As they share their experiences as Spider-Man with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, they truly feel like older brothers making sure their younger brother doesn’t make the same mistakes they did. They both gave great performances as their Spider-Men without taking away from Tom Holland’s performance. 

As for the villains, Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina deliver the best performance as their Green Goblin and Doc Ock. It’s nostalgic seeing Dafoe play the perfect psychotic villain from his first Spider-Man movie again. Molina also does great in picking up his character from where he left off and showing how his villainous behavior is caused by his tentacles. Once Doc Ock is no longer controlled by the tentacles, Molina does a compelling job at showing the side of his character that truly wants to help others.

Jamie Foxx’s character, Electro, falls a bit flat compared to Green Goblin and Doc Ock, but he still delivers a threatening performance and shows Electro is a force to be reckoned with. Sadly, both Sandman, played by Thomas Haden Church, and Lizard, played by Rhys Ifans, fall flat because of the lack of character development. 

It did not help that both Rhys Ifans and Thomas Haden Church were not able to film on the set of the movie and were only able to provide voice acting. Their bodies were completely computer- generated imagery (CGI) throughout the film and the movie also reused scenes of their characters from previous movies. 

The CGI of both Sandman and Lizard were very detailed and it helped in making their appearances not feel forced. This is especially important considering they were almost completely CGI the entire movie and didn’t appear as their human forms until the end of the movie. 

The best CGI scene in the movie has to go to the “fight” between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. On the other hand, the worst CGI scene in the movie was the introduction of Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man because it is distractingly clear that his body was unnecessarily CGI. 

The cinematography in this film is a huge  improvement from the two previous  films in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy. Scenes were far more impactful and visually exciting. The use of camera angles and the way the camera would flow across a scene made moments much more electrifying. 

From the captivating story to the incredible performances, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is definitely worth the praise it is receiving and it raises expectations for the next Spider-Man film to come.