REVIEW: SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME
Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these movie review things, so let’s see if I can do this without coming off TOO fanboy, and be a little more unbiased and critical if need be.
Spider-Man: Far From Home was the latest movie about our resident webhead, as well as the first movie post-Endgame. The movie picks up 8 months after “The Blip”, as they would call it (seriously, that’s ONE critique I have…”The BLIP”. I THINK the writers could’ve come up with something BETTER than that). We see our Friendly Neighborhood Spidey doing public appearances for his Aunt May for a community benefit. Now, before I go any further---I have ALWAYS been one of those proponents for having Aunt May IN the loop in regards to knowing Peter is Spider-Man. As much as I love the old Spidey stories, the fact that he made 5000 excuses to Aunt May about his whereabouts or injuries after he took a beating in battle, got to be a little stale. So, for Aunt May to not only be aware of Peter’s dual life, but be SUPPORTIVE of it…kudos in MY book. Also, I’ve been VERY pleased with Marisa Tomei’s casting. She’s not coming off like some old maid, and for modern times…May SHOULD be a woman who can still bat an eye---which is apparent by the sudden relationship we get between her and Happy. I wasn’t sure about that at first, but the comical aspect of it warmed me up to it….and eventually, their differences as to WHERE that relationship is going at the END of the movie is just wonderful humor that a Spidey movie needs….aside from the comical mishaps of our hero himself.
Dragging our intrepid hero abroad is also something I quite enjoyed. While Peter would much PREFER to be JUST a “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”, the story is good in the fact that we get different locals, which gives Spidey a chance to use his powers in a way we’ve not seen, in countries where he gets bigger exposure. As much as he’s been treated LIKE an Avenger (and, in a sense, IS one), he’s never felt he’s EARNED that right. Throughout this movie, it seems like Peter is escaping from the responsibility of filling the shoes that Tony Stark left. His relationship with Tony, and Tony’s faith in him (especially entrusting him with the EDITH glasses), weighs heavily on his conscience. He knows he’s not Iron Man, and doesn’t think he can become the next Iron Man. It’s only AFTER getting his ass handed to him by Mysterio, and eventually having a heart to heart with Happy, whereas he has to TELL Peter that he’ll NEVER be Iron Man, it frees Peter up to fully embrace his role in the post Iron Man world. Fury’s pressure for him to live up to his obligations as a superhero didn’t help much during this movie. Despite having been in space, he still is only 15 years old, and felt it was rather unfair of Fury to place all these expectations of saving the day square upon Peter’s shoulders. Kids can crack under pressure. Peter was no different. That’s why I’m glad Happy was there to settle Peter down, and shoot straight with him, much like someone ELSE would have---the unmentioned Uncle Ben. If it’s ONE disappointment I have with these first two Spidey movies, is that Uncle Ben is kind of a bastardized term to use. Now, I don’t want to have to re-live Ben Parker’s death again, and we can WELL see that May has gotten on with living life, we never HEAR his name mentioned…as if they’re AFRAID to. And while we KNOW the motivations as to WHY Peter goes on as Spider-Man, it would STILL be nice to have had Ben referenced my name in SOME manner---not just on the suitcase Peter takes to Europe. But all in all….Happy DOES fill that role rather nicely. I enjoy the relationship they have with each other.
Speaking of the relationships, I know that the MJ in the MCU has been met with a mixed bag. It’s not a knock on Zendaya….at least not from ME, anyway, but the hardcore fans were hoping for a Mary Jane Watson. Homecoming gave us Liz Allan, and I wonder if they’re going to introduce Gwen Stacy. If they DO introduce Gwen, I BET it’ll be Spider-Gwen, and we’ll miss out on the MJ-Peter-Gwen love triangle that captivated fans during Spidey’s height in the Sixties. We knew that in this movie, the relationship would progress, and we find out that MJ is just as much a socially awkward misfit as much as Peter is. For as much sass as she has thrown his way, we find out that she’s just as much terrible at personal relationships as Peter has been outside of May, Happy, and Ned. I like Ned and Peter’s friendship. It’s got a classic Stan & Ollie kind of feel to it, but the roles reversed. And giving Ned Betty Brant as a girlfriend…at least for this summer trip…was a nice nod to the comics, where Ned Leeds and Betty Brant got married. Betty is another ex of Peter’s who doesn’t have any romantic entanglements with our hero. It’s a sacrifice I understand had to be made, but at least she got some more of a role in this movie instead of just being “Student # something” in the film. Flash Thompson comes off as phony cool, and I did particularly enjoy Peter having a rival for MJ’s affections. But in the end, I feel the chemistry between Zendaya and Tom Holland, and they have pretty good timing with each other. My big disappointment was that Peter was too quick to cough up his Spider-Man life to her, even though we ALL knew she had a pretty damn good idea from Homecoming. I just wanted to actually catch him in the act, so-to-speak, of him in costume sans mask. That way, there’s that moment where he’s GOT to come up with a logical explanation for how he looks. But, with the movie pressed for time, and a need to keep the plot moving, it worked out the way it did, and allowed MJ to be brought into Mysterio’s plot.
Speaking of our villain---I was BEYOND impressed with Jake Gyllenhall’s performance. He was WONDERFUL as Quentin Beck/Mysterio---a disgruntled former Stark employee who had his tech “stolen” by Tony. That’s a good twist on the comic version’s original origin, who’d been a special effects man who got in trouble, and was seeking revenge. He had laid out quite a brilliant plot, using OTHER disgruntled Stark employees like William (Peter Billingsley from the first Iron Man film), and they make Tony look somewhat like a douche in this film (which, yes, we know, Tony was a HUGE douche a lot of the time, but still rose to the occasion). He worked his magic to fool Fury, Anita Hill, AND Peter into thinking he was a guy from “another universe”. Now, that ALONE, folks, when he mentions “Earth 616” is the designation of THE regular Marvel Universe, that all our beloved heroes live on. It’s a nice Easter Egg drop that we have, because I’m pretty sure that will play a BIG part down the road. But I did like how they wove Beck’s story and brought it to light as the movie progressed. Every single ONE of us KNEW he was the villain…but we were led to believe he was the GOOD GUY at first. I was curious HOW they were going to finally REVEAL his sinister plot, and I felt it was well done. What was ALSO nice about Beck is how he played on the fears and perceptions of the public, very reminiscent of how the media tends to operate today. Using technology to fool the public by having them imagine something that feels real, but isn’t, stokes their fears, and allows him to come in and “save the day”, thus using his own form of propaganda to curry favor with the people, then turn around and USE that favor to conduct his own devious plan of world domination. The issue of another disgruntled man having been screwed over by the superhero public, much like the Vulture in Homecoming seems to be a recurring theme in these Spidey movies. Honestly…I really hope it DOESN’T become a central plot point---that will get old fast.
The use of the elementals are a throwback to several old Spidey villans: Hydro Man (of which his name, Morris Bench, was used), Molten Man, and the Sandman are all referenced (though I don’t remember an air elemental, but I guess three had to do, because that’s all I remember). I felt the CGI for the water elemental was well done, but a little more work I felt needed to be done on the fire and earth elemental. Maybe that’s just me.
The confrontation between Spidey and Mysterio, where Mysterio used his bag of tricks to make Spidey hallucinate and have to fight essentially blind was a nice throwback to their epic battles. I was disappointed, though, that Beck had to die at the end of this one. I was hoping that he’d stick around, so that way we’d get a Sinister Six team up, and that’s another thing that I was disappointed in. Had to sacrifice the villain in order to save the day. Not always happy about that. But in the first end credits scene, we see that Beck had one final card to play, and it sets up the next Spidey movie, where we’re obviously going to have to see Peter as a fugitive. The edited video clip puts our hero in a bad spot, and with the Daily Bugle (now being more like an Enquirer rag than a legitimate paper), riding on Beck’s coattails, I feel it’s going to bring in another great Spidey villain in Kraven the Hunter. Hats off to Marvel Studios for giving us what we demanded: JK Simmons returning to the role as J. Jonah Jameson. NO ONE can play that role like he can. That was a true highlight for me. Now, the SECOND post credits scene, we see that Fury and Hill were actually Talos and his wife…the Skrulls from Captain Marvel. We find out Fury’s running around the universe with them and Carol Danvers, apparently. What THIS development means…I wonder if it will relate to a possible big screen version of the Kree/Skrull War? I feel that will be a central plot in a Captain Marvel sequel. My other question is THIS, though: What will MJ, May, Happy, and Ned be able to do, and how much danger will at least THREE of them be in now that Beck has not only made Spidey into Public Enemy #1, but outing him as Peter Parker as well? Will this bring in ANY of the other Avengers, and will Fury and Hill even be of any help? All we can do now is wait.
Some other little tidbits to throw at you:
--Spidey’s various suits throughout the movie are from various aspects of the comics/games/movies. We know the Spider-Armor from Endgame, the Black stealth suit from SHIELD is a nod to his “Noir” outfit from Into The Spiderverse, and the red/black combo with the white spider on the back is a nod to the Spider-Man video game.
--Flash Thompson is STILL Spidey’s #1 fan, and always has been, despite thinking Peter Parker is just a huge dork.
--Ned and Betty’s relationship here was short in the movie---a summer fling. Their actual marriage wasn’t any better, considering he was jealous of Peter…oh, and he was outed as the Hobgoblin (which, in actuality, he was just a patsy to take the fall by the REAL Hobgoblin—Roderick Kingsley).
--MJ finding out Peter’s secret ID. For years, Peter had lied to his face about his dual ID to her AND his other friends and May. Her finding out here is a throwback to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #257, when she flat out dropped the bombshell on him that she’s known THE WHOLE TIME. This was further expanded in the graphic novel PARALLEL LIVES.
--When on the Stark jet, Peter is making a new Spidey suit, and it’s another throwback to when he used a machine to make a new suit while on the Battleworld during SECRET WARS. That was his all black costume (which we all know what THAT ended up being). It’s also a bit of a throwback to Tony working on the Mark II suit in his workshop in the first Iron Man movie. Also…the use of AC/DC here…yet another throwback to Tony.
--During the final battle scene, where Happy leads MJ, Ned, Betty, and Flash into the Tower of London, if you look close enough, you’ll see a suit of armor that looks a lot like the costume of another Marvel Avenger, the Black Knight.
--J. Jonah Jameson as a Alex Jones type of journalist---having JK back playing to role—priceless.
--Mysterio referring to the world HE came from as “Earth 833”, is the Earth for the Ultimate Universe. 616 is the designated home of the original Marvel Universe.
Overall, I did enjoy the movie, and got some feels from it. Was disappointed that we didn’t get the REAL Fury until the 2nd credits scene (since, in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, he was a mentor to Spidey, and Spidey was pretty much inducted into SHIELD), and wasn’t happy that Beck died of a self- inflicted gunshot wound, because I wanted him to stick around for a Sinister Six bout with our webslinger down the road, but it wasn’t meant to be. I liked Peter and MJ’s awkwardness with each other, but eventually getting together…even though that’s still going to be awkward, now that he’s been outed. The movie moved at a nice pace, had little, if no, real dead spots, so it didn’t suffer any real drag moments. Any non-superhero moments we well used, and in the case of Peter, comical moments. Dug the soundtrack, which gave us The Jam, AC/DC, Whitney Houston, The Ramones, and so forth. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do for the 3rd installment, and how long a wait we will have. Marvel wanted to take a breath a little bit, before diving into the next phase with this “new world” they have, so digest this one now…see it a couple more times, buy it on DVD when it comes out, because it could be a year or two before we get anything new from the MCU.
