Phase 4 of the MCU has, thus far, been defined by wild experimentation. Between the shirking of genre conventions found in movies like Shang-Chi and Eternals and the adoption of serialized storytelling in the Disney+ TV shows, Marvel Studios' focus on reinventing their own proverbial wheel is obvious--and, thus far, the payoffs of these attempts have ranged everywhere from great to forgettable, with points earned at every corner for the studio's willingness to just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. So it should surprise no one to learn that Spider-Man: No Way Home, the newest entry in Phase 4 and the final major MCU release of a jam-packed 2021, exemplifies that methodology to an absolute T.

The good news is, however, that the things that do wind up sticking actually work. No Way Home may be a busy, sometimes frantically overcrowded experiment in flexing the (sometimes uncomfortable) IP reach of a media monopoly, but even at its most egregious, it never stops going for the emotionally honest choices. And while it can sometimes be hard to separate the blatant nostalgia bait from the meat and potatoes of the narrative, the story and the characters do wind up shining through to spectacular effect.