The best scene in the newest Spider-Man movie takes place at the Statue of Liberty, as the three Spider-men fight Electro, Sandman, and the Lizard. To avoid killing the three villains, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker created serums to cure them. However, they are unwilling to accept and what follows is a well-shot fight scene dancing around the Statue of Liberty.

Spider-Man:No Way Home, directed by Jon Watts, follows the titular character as he deals with the repercussions of 2019’s Far From Home. The 2021 film stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange, Zendaya as Michelle “MJ” Jones, and an ensemble cast of characters from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man duology.

The plot itself was pretty satisfying, and it is apparent that the writers did not use the star-studded cast as an excuse to slack. One of the best scenes in the movie took place at Parker’s high school science lab. Himself, Tobey Maguire’s “Peter Two”, and Andrew Garfield’s “Peter Three” are working on cures for the villains. The dialogue makes call backs to both of the prievious adaptations, as the elder Peter’s reminisced about the deaths of Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn. The two also helped Holland’s Parker deal with Aunt May’s death. The scene captured the escence of the movie; nostalgic, but not to the point of it being a crutch.

The performances in the movie were great; the majority of this praise deserves to go to Willem Dafoe (Norman Osborn/Green Goblin) and Garfield. The former reprised his role after a nearly 20-year hiatus, but this time gap was nearly impossible to identify. The dichotomous nature of Osborn is a tricky aspect to portray on screen, but Dafoe delivered. One scene in particular stands out, where Goblin laughs as he is brutally beaten by Spider-Man. Garfield’s performance was very emotional and totally surprising. When Peter-Two and Peter-Three appeared on screen, it was expected that Maguire’s adaptation would be more prominent due to the success of his trilogy compared to Garfield’s films, but this couldn’t be less true. The webshooter took an older-brother like role with Peter-One, and tied up the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 nicely. When Peter-Three saved MJ in a situation reminiscent of Gwen Stacy’s death, Garfield’s wordless performance was perfect. It served as a good way to end his arc before being sent back to his universe.

Another fantastic aspect of the movie was the cinematography. The scene that followed Parker as he was being chased by Strange was incredible. The way the world was warped and bent was reminiscent of Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Another awesome scene followed the three Spider-Men as they swung around the Statue of Liberty.

Unfortunately, the fight scene that followed was a little underwhelming at first. The inclusion of Curt Connors/Lizard (Rhys Ifans) and Flint Marko/Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) in the movie deserves to be questioned, as their characters had little screen time and were almost entirely inconsequential. The arrival of Max Dillon/Electro (Jamie Foxx) and Doctor Octavius (Alfred Molina) made the scene much more fun to watch and heightened the stakes, ultimately leading to an emotional conclusion of the film.

No Way Home is definitely worth experiencing in theaters with a big crowd, as it can excite both new and old Marvel fans. It sets up a new trilogy for Holland, and wraps up old ones with great performances from Dafoe and Garfield. Nostagically and artistically, the film will go down as one of Marvel’s best.

8/10