Spider-Man: No Way Home Spoiler Review: Andrew Garfield Steals the Show, But the Plot Is Surprisingly Thin

We watched Spider-Man: No Way Home three times, once with a small group, once opening night with a big crowd, and once at a 6am IMAX screening that turned out to be a strange but useful experiment because it showed us which scenes still landed even at that hour. Across all three viewings, the same moments made us tear up every single time, and Andrew Garfield got us every single time.

This matters because so much of the movie's power comes from bringing together elements fans have waited years to see combined, three Spider-Men, multiple villains from different franchises, all in one film. That fan service is genuinely strong, but repeat viewings also exposed problems that got more noticeable each time we watched.

Seeing Willem Dafoe and Tobey Maguire share a frame felt like a psychedelic trip

Watching Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe in the same room as Tom Holland, or Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Holland pointing at each other in that iconic meme moment, was surreal. As we put it, "what a time to be alive man to be able to see all these things come together." When all three Spider-Men swing into frame together and land the classic Spider-Man pose, it made our hearts swell.

The score, Tom Holland's carrying performance, and Zendaya's MJ all impressed us

Not many people talk about this, but we really appreciated the soundtrack, there's no single standout theme, but the collection of sounds complemented the story without overpowering any scene. Tom Holland did a great job carrying a billion dollar franchise as a young actor, which is a lot of pressure to handle well. Zendaya's MJ stood out too, we never connected with MJ in the earlier Tom Holland films, but here her edge and sarcasm gave her actual memorable moments for the first time.

Benedict Cumberbatch and that Doctor Strange trailer made the post-credits scene worth it

We're always happy to spend time with Doctor Strange, and the after credits trailer for the next Doctor Strange film got us so pumped that, as we said, "if nothing else it was worth it for that."

Jamie Foxx's Electro felt like a completely different character than in Amazing Spider-Man 2

Having just rewatched Amazing Spider-Man 2, Jamie Foxx's more bombastic, cool-guy Electro here felt disconnected from the nerdy, specific character he built before. The movie does call it out briefly, but it still felt confusing that landing in a new universe apparently gave him a personality makeover.

Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina were the acting standouts

Willem Dafoe was so good as Green Goblin that we actually liked his performance here more than in the original Spider-Man. Marvel villains are supposed to have layers and be sympathetic while still being villains, and Dafoe played that expectation perfectly. Alfred Molina's switch from villain back to the kind Doc Ock also worked because both characters have that built-in Jekyll and Hyde quality, fighting the forces within themselves, and both actors pulled it off well.

Andrew Garfield's entrance and his rescue of MJ were our favorite moments in the film

The moment Andrew Garfield walks through that portal is the point where the whole movie theater loses it, and it's the moment the film really builds momentum. But our single favorite scene is when he rescues MJ from falling, something he couldn't do for Gwen Stacy. His character carries an emotional vulnerability tied to reliving Gwen's death, even saying in the dialogue, "I've become rageful and I don't want to see you become like me." Watching him hold back tears after finally saving the girl this time still messes with us emotionally just talking about it.

Tobey Maguire's best moment came when he stopped Peter from killing Green Goblin

We liked that Maguire wasn't aged down, it gave weight to the sage older Spider-Man role. Honestly, for a lot of the movie it felt like he was phoning it in, like he was paid a lot of money to show up on set. But the moment he stops Tom Holland from killing Green Goblin carried real power, a mixture of compassion and shame in his expression, like an older brother saying he's been there and doesn't want Peter making the same mistake. Getting stabbed afterward felt unexpected in the moment, though in hindsight, once he was that exposed, it wasn't surprising.

Marisa Tomei's Aunt May death was necessary, even if one line didn't land

Marisa Tomei was solid overall, with one exception, the delivery of a line about Doc Ock being "lost in his mind" felt a little funky to us. But we fought for her character, and when she says her iconic line before dying, our reaction was simply, "no one says that line and lives." That death needed to happen to motivate Tom Holland's Peter Parker to grow, functioning almost like a fixed point that has to happen in every Spider-Man story.

The ending, where Peter erases himself from MJ and Ned's memories, hit us every time

Director Jon Watts lingered on Holland's expression as he decides not to tell MJ he's leaving her memory, choosing the ultimate sacrifice to protect the people he loves. The turning point is when MJ pulls back her hair to show a healing wound and says the very on-the-nose line, "it doesn't hurt anymore," reminding Peter how fragile the people around him really are.

The villain dungeon scenes and the Lizard's odd dialogue slowed the film down

On first viewing, the momentum dipped once the villains got locked in the sanctum's dungeon area. There are still gorgeous wide shots, like Spider-Man traveling the power lines to see Electro, but that section drags. The Lizard's dialogue felt out of character and shoehorned in for jokes, and the apartment scene where the heroes try to figure out the cure felt long and frustrating on first watch, even though the spider-sense moment that follows picks things right back up.

The Doctor Strange mirror dimension fight was one of our favorite scenes in the film

Watching Doctor Strange pull Spider-Man into the mirror dimension, with everything turning on itself and Spider-Man's arms moving on their own, looked fantastic. That whole sequence over the Grand Canyon felt like a preview of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and it's part of why the post-credits trailer excited us so much for that next film.

Once you notice it, the actual plot is very thin

Strip away the spectacle and the story boils down to a three step structure: try to cure the villains, that fails, bring in the other Spider-Men, then the final fight. While the heroes spend time bonding and cracking jokes, there's no explanation for what the villains are doing all that time, no news reports of chaos, nothing. If these villains have so much power, why are they just living their best life instead of causing havoc? We also wondered why Green Goblin didn't show up until the end of the final battle, seemingly just hiding the whole time.

The final fight's choreography got confusing despite strong emotional stakes

We sometimes lost track of which Spider-Man was flying around during the climax. Specific beats, like Peter Parker flipping Green Goblin down in a fiery move, lacked the physical momentum to make the move believable, even though other audiences responded well to it. We later read that Willem Dafoe, at 66, wanted to do his own stunts, which explains why those fight scenes felt so visceral. Still, compared to other Marvel projects with the resources to shoot action clearly, the rapid cutting sometimes made hits look like they landed when they may not have. Emotionally the fight worked for us anyway, even if structurally it wasn't great.

Will No Way Home hold up for viewers without nostalgia for Maguire and Garfield?

We think the Amazing Spider-Man movies might actually be more entertaining for kids watching cold twenty years from now than No Way Home will be, because this film leans so heavily on nostalgia for the previous franchises. If you strip that history out, moments like Garfield's entrance lose their charge, since there's no built-in reason to cheer. A friend who hasn't followed the MCU or Spider-Man closely is about to watch this for the first time, and we're genuinely curious how differently she'll experience it.

Sandman and the Lizard felt underdeveloped compared to Doc Ock and Green Goblin

Outside of Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina, we never really connected with the other villains. Electro got funny lines but little depth. Sandman's turn to full villainy didn't track, he'd said he just wanted to go home to his daughter, yet after Green Goblin's monologue about being gods who don't have to give up their power, he apparently falls in line without any real discussion shown. Electro also swings back to the villains' side late in the film without any pushback, which felt inconsistent after seemingly turning good. Focusing the emotional weight on Doc Ock and Green Goblin's redemption arcs was probably the right call, but it left the other villains feeling like cannon fodder, with the Lizard in particular showing so little motivation that even the leaves caught in the sanctum had more personality. We also thought Sandman had the least convincing visual effects in the film, looking more janky than expected given how well the sand effects worked in the original trilogy.

The Venom post-credits scene and Ned's summoning powers left us scratching our heads

We still don't fully understand how Ned's powers actually pulled the other Spider-Men into this universe, or how Tom Hardy's Venom post-credits scene works, why he showed up or why he disappeared. None of it made logical sense to us, but honestly, it didn't matter, we just wanted these characters there. That confusion carried straight into our excitement for the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer, which we're now looking forward to even more than we were looking forward to No Way Home itself, especially once evil Doctor Strange appeared onscreen.

Do you think No Way Home will hold up for viewers who have no nostalgia for Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man movies?