‘Spiderman – No Way Home’ is a film that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko would call such “good shit!”

I’m a WWE geek. Someone who can be sold easily on the idea of dream matches.

When Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s absence was filled by John Cena’s meteoric rise, oft I wondered what if these two ever paired up in the squared circle. It’s a thing with art forms and legions. Fantasy is a license to print money.

I’m as big a Spiderman fan. Not of the comic book legion. But someone who grew around the lore through its video game franchises, films and the MCU, which was fascinating enough to nosedive into the history of Marvel and get a know-how from the origins to present form.

Spiderman No Way Home is built around the salivating prospect of fantasy. It’s a geek’s meme desire finding a life and form. A major chunk of the film’s commercial levitation is decked upon momentum. The impact derived from fan exhilaration.

This is my third draft for the review. The other two had turned into love-letters from a fan overwhelmed by wet dreams and wish-lists coming true. So, I gave this a good 3-day breather for the fanaticism to dry down a bit. Soaking in all the frenzy, I wanted to ask myself, “Is it really that good or is this fan bias?”

Well, there’s good news and a slice of bad.

The bad part is that the film does have a handful of loose ends sucking the steam off the seemingly calculative first half. Good news – the second half more than compensates for the time biding and narrative setting. The first half, again, seems loose but the second chunk is a complete overdrive.

Marvel has an assembly of superheroes. Yet Spiderman connects different. For it’s the teenager’s distance from heroic invulnerability.

Since inception, Spider-Man has lived up to the friendly-neighbourhood adage. But here, is more neighbourhood than friendly. His identity out in public, his image oscillating between the scheming media painting him as a villain and general mass with someone finally to lodge the blame upon for everything going wrong in New York. The aftermath is highly believable, where the youth is either deflected from the truth or besmirched for volunteering by it.

Despite riding on fan service duties, the film manages to engage viewers by laying bare it’s protagonist’s emotional wreckage and naïve socio-political understanding. Peter is not above mere mortals. But as human as the kid in your neighbourhood, yet to be stained by the world’s gruelling and ruthless living foundations.

Loss is sometimes the generator of selflessness. Across all multiverses, Peter has had one common thread tying his worlds. In every timeline, he’s metamorphosed out of grave loss and despair. He didn’t opt for heroism. It came to him the moment he learnt to let go and realised the life is to live for others without expecting a trade-off.

Peter Parker is a superhero not because he can shoot webs and sling across the world. But for he can let go of trauma and breath rather than cling onto it and gasp. With his great powers, shouldering great responsibilities. A dynamic which doesn’t allow room for bitterness, malice and venom.

Which is precisely what makes the recrudescent villains of the Spiderverse so enticing.

William Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Rhys Ifans, Clint Marko find themselves in this new universe thanks to Peter’s guilt trip gone wrong. The overcrowding works here unlike The Amazing Spiderman 2 for that baddies in this film have context and merit to claim. Their aim is not universal domination but dominion over Spiderman himself.

The conjecture is such that the beef between them and Peter is more personal and retribution clad rather than a popularity-muscle flexing contest. It’s their self-esteem that seems to have been wronged by their Spidey and these men intend to hit Peter where it hurts. They want to instil grief, self-pity and doubt in Peter’s heart and turn him rogue. They aspire to antagonise him into an Abyss, that makes him put second thoughts and reconsider if he’s really a wolf in sheep’s clothing, if he did actually sin more than he save, did he ever give it a second thought or even how he’d reciprocate to such a situation in an alternate universe?

Here’s a quick nod to all the antagonists of Spiderman No Way Home. They are the real winners of this film. Especially Molina and Dafoe. The rich material accentuates and magnifies their prowess and glaringly demonstrates how terrific these actors are. Good enough to be The Dark Avengers.

Despite of being a mesh of Spiderman One More Day and Happy Birthday comic series, the film stands its own ground in the parlance of novelty. Callbacks, references and quips aplenty, No Way Home is one of the most satisfying cinematic experiences. It’s like an incomplete childhood fantasy taking shape in the late 30s.

The film laps up all reddit theories, fanatic clamouring and universe warrants but doesn’t deviate from its core. The nectar of this juice is still to put over Spiderman. It’s his journey from a naïve teen to a nihilistic adult. From an Iron Suit to The Classic Suit. A mad-caper by all means that gambles to chart out into melancholic themes in climactic portions and succeeds. All factors and elements are devised to evolve Peter Parker spiritually.

Honorable mentions of Benedict Cumberbatch for an absolutely slobber knocker cameo. And, to Zendaya and Jacob Batalon for such matured performances. Writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have written a film that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko would call such good shit! Jon Watts is a level-headed filmmaker. Doesn’t get ahead of himself, listens to the audience and does as he pleads. A director the superhero genre doesn’t need but deserves.

Oh by the way, John Cena and The Rock did eventually square up against each other. Not once but twice. It happened. And then, the fantasy was over. The hues settled down. The craving was fulfilled. The excitement, gone. That’s the beauty of fantasy warfare, I believe. Leaves you emptier than you were to begin with.

The film’s success is that it hits close to the bone. Peter Parker is indeed your friendly, neighbourhood Spideman.

Look around or within, there’s definitely someone who’s yearning for a Homecoming. Someone who’s so Far From Home that their friends, dear ones and once companions have gradually forgotten that they even existed. Someone who wishes to open up a portal and travel back for a second chance. Someone who’s engrossed in putting up a mask and saving the day that’s at disposal. Someone who knows there’s no point trailing a way back. ‘Coz there’s No. Way. Home.