By Shane J Alliew
Kolkata, Jan 9, 2022: Running at 148 minutes and produced at a budget of US$200 million, Spider-Man: No Way Home, is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.
In Far From Home, the identity of Spider-Man (Tom Holland) has been exposed, where everyone now knows him to be Peter Parker, which the teenager seeks to obliviate from the memories of one and all, well, not all – at least not from those who matter to him – MJ (Zendaya), Ned (Jacob Batalon), Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). It is this confused state of affairs which causes him to corrupt the spell being cast by Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) who apparently thinks he has been able to contain it, before he sends Parker off.
Well, the corrupted spell opens portals from other universes and lo and behold who do we have to contend with? Dr Octavius, Norman Osborn (Green Goblin), Curt Connors (the Lizard), Max Dillon (Electro) and Flint Marko (the Sandman).
Wow, five anti-heroes, against one teenaged protagonist? I am almost reminded of the famous question of Gabbar, when he asks, ‘Kitne aadmi the’? (How many men were there?). But wait, here’s the surprise package that comes along. How could you only have the anti-heroes pop in for a visit and engage in a moral dilemma session – yeah, there could be a cure that Parker hits upon, which could make them not be antagonists in their multiverse. But will all of them associate with the idea floated?
Along with our evil friends also pop in two other spider-men – yippee, the more the merrier! Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire. So now we have Spidey One, Spidey Two and Spidey Three – all with one mission to change the course of History, whilst our Doctor Strange has been trapped by our current Spidey in a time lapse of his own, and he is indeed not very pleased about the same.
The end of course is obvious – the good versus battle and the good must not only win but also alter the course of history and ensure that all the open seams are stitched in order- – well, it does come at a cost – I will leave that out for you to find out – yes I am recommending that you go and treat yourself to the film.
Rating: 4/5