Spider-Man. It’s been a chapter defined by
Holland’s wholesome charm. He’s a pleasant,
if somewhat vanilla Spider-Man, who has
sometimes seemed most suited to the role
offscreen, as student to Robert Downey Jr.
and in his genial, goofy media appearances.
But Holland’s earnest, easy manner has
also lightened the sometimes heavy load
of Marvel movies, and his mostly winning
albeit easily forgotten Spider-Man films
have been refreshingly unencumbered by
the larger franchise’s exposition-leaden,
interconnected apparatus.
“No Way Home” picks up precisely where
2019 ́s “Far From Home” left off: Outside New
York’s Penn Station, where Jake Gyllenhaal’s
Mysterio revealed Peter Parker’s identity
just before perishing. The new notoriety
brings news helicopters hovering over
Peter’s apartment and disrupts his previously
clandestine relationship with girlfriend MJ
(Zendaya) and best pal Ned (Jacob Batalon).
They are on the cusp of getting into MIT
(Paula Newsome is especially good as a
college admissions officer), but Mysterio
has made Peter a divisive figure. Our stay
in Midtown High School, where Peter is
mobbed, is brief — too brief, considering the
teaching staff includes JB Smoove, Hannibal
Buress and Martin Starr.
Wanting his old anonymity back, Peter turns
to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange,
who summons an amnesia spell that goes
awry. Instead of wiping the memory of those
who know Spider-Man’s secret, it conjures
villains from Spider-mans past, opening
portals between parallel universes —