Spider-Man: Far From Home (Film Review)

LOOK OUT! HERE COME SOME MAJOR SPOILERS!!!

Here's a funny story.  I go to the theaters to see Spider-Man: Far From Home with my wife.  When there, we head to the concession stand to get refreshments, yet because we were late, I run back to our theater worried I might miss the film’s opening.  I get into the theater and hear Vacation by the Go-Gos playing as the film suddenly opens with Spider-Man swinging across New York with MJ in hand.  I quickly plopped into my seat as events start happening like crazy—Mysterio is dead, Spider-Man is framed, J. Jonah Jameson makes his MCU debut, and Spider-Man is publicly revealed to be Peter Parker.  It’s a lot to take in, and as the credits start rolling and the theater lights come on, I laugh thinking the film is pulling some elaborate Andy Kaufman-like trick and will soon come back on with “one week ago” to reveal how events got to said point…only they don’t, and it quickly dawns on me what has happened.

I’ve walked into the wrong theater and just spoiled Far From Home’s ending for myself.

Well if you can’t laugh at your mistakes, you’re going to be miserable.  So I had a good laugh at the situation, told my wife (who was far more concerned about me being spoiled bless her soul), and went into the right theater to see how events got to such crazy end credits.

Spider-Man: Far From Home has an almost meta sense to it, with the in-universe events paralleling real people’s discussions about the film.  Far From Home is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to take place in the post “Infinity Saga” era.  A lot of questions have come about regarding the MCU’s future direction, one of them being who will become the MCU’s next figurehead now that Robert Downey Jr. has left the series.  Many are looking towards Spider-Man to be the next Iron Man—who better to take up the position than Marvel’s most iconic character played by the best version of Peter Parker put to film?  Tom Holland is a delight as Spider-Man—he’s charming, quirky, and humorous, yet can also be solemn, valiant, and poignant.  Holland has the acting chops and emotional potency to play both the everyday teenager and the superhero.  With Marvel’s most iconic character being played by a talented young actor with a multi-picture deal (that may most likely be extended), everything is looking up for Holland to become the MCU’s new flagship—yet can he ultimately succeed in filling such big shoes?

Amusingly enough (yet most likely not coincidental), Far From Home asks the very same question.  In a post-Infinity War world, where the entire universe is trying to put itself back together after Thanos’ snap (now called “the Blip”), everyone is looking for someone to look up to—a person who can take the pedestal of Iron Man (who has been, rightfully, glorified as Earth’s savior) as the next Avenger’s leader.  Much of the media sees Spider-Man as that person, yet a still grieving Peter Parker isn’t ready for such great responsibility—only wanting to go on vacation, act like a teenager, and confess his feelings to his sudden love interest MJ (Zendaya).  

Far From Home shares multiple similarities with the most recent MCU film I just reviewed Iron Man 2 (in addition to Iron Man to an extent).  Similar to Iron Man 2, Far From Home acts as a segue into the next step of the franchise.  It sets up/hints at future events, focuses on its lead character’s weaknesses and features Nick Fury trying to groom said lead into a proper Avenger.  There is a focus on conversation and dialogue, a lack of action within the first two-thirds, and a lot of fluff and filler.  Now, these comparisons may give the impression of a negative review, given my lukewarm feelings towards Iron Man 2, yet despite their similarities, Far From Home does several aspects far better.

For example, Far From Home has a much better villain than Iron Man 2's all too forgettable foes.  Anyone familiar with the comics, or the cartoons, or just general Spider-Man lore, will see Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) being the film’s true villain coming a mile away.  The film does shake up Mysterio's lore, however, incorporating him into Tony Stark's past in a very clever way that utilizes past MCU plot points that went nowhere.   The shakeup even retroactively improves upon Iron Man by making that random scientist Obadiah Stane yells at an actual character (just as Homecoming retroactively improves Iron Man 2 with young Peter).  Then there's the final twist that pays homage to Mysterio’s first comic book appearance and sets up for a whole can of worms Peter will have to face—giving Mysterio a much larger impact even after death.

The film is full of fun to exciting Marvel references such as Hydro-Man, the Marvel Zombies and even a possible nod to the Fantastic Four (make it happen MCU, redeem their poor film experiences).  By far the most exciting reference is the return of J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, who originally played the role in the Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and is so ideal as the role that the MCU wisely opted to just have him reprise the character.  Simmons cameo appearance certainly helped fill the void of no more Stan Lee cameos, a sad fact that really helps emphasize the end of an era.

I do have some issues though with Far From Home.  For one, the teenager interactions are subpar.  I was cautious towards the character of MJ and while she is decently utilized here, her relationship with Peter feels hollow, rushed, and jarring.  Looking back at Homecoming, while MJ certainly showed some curious interest in Peter, Peter barely interacted with her, and when he did it was brief and often meant for laughs.  His sudden, puppy love interest in her feels sprung out of nowhere.  What’s worse is their interactions are few and far in-between throughout the first two-thirds.  The real kicker, however, is how irrelevant MJ is to the overall story aside from Peter wanting to confess.  She has a single, plot-relevant action in picking up a projector that reveals Mysterio’s true colors, and that’s it.  If I’m comparing Spider-Man to Iron Man than MJ is a far cry from Pepper Potts who is as much, if not more, a collaborating major supporting character to Tony as she is a love interest.  The MCU’s past has shown that a superhero’s love interest has to be useful and/or connected to the overarching storyline beyond romance or else they are going to become irrelevant and eventually disappear from the franchise—and I’d hate to see MJ become the next Jane Foster.

The rest of the teens and teachers are primarily there for comedic relief and while funny, they too come across as flat and lacking in any potent chemistry with Peter.  The two true genuinely compelling relationships Peter has is with Mysterio as his pseudo mentor and then personal enemy and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) who is possibly the best person to replace Tony as Peter’s voice of reason and moral support.  There’s a really sweet scene where Happy watches Peter designing his next suit, looking reminiscent of his former boss (Happy even puts on ACDC’s Back in Black, which Peter hilariously mistakes as Led Zeppelin).  Happy even takes over Tony’s hots for Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), another character that should really have more personal scenes with Peter yet doesn’t.  Oh, and they completely skim over May's grasping of Peter's secret identity from the end of Homecoming, jumping right to the point where she's completely supportive of his dangerous lifestyle.

The film’s action in the first half is sparse and makes the film feel somewhat sluggish within the array of supporting character’s comedic fluff and screwball comedy situations (there is a surprisingly noteworthy amount of sex jokes through the film).  The action does pick up in the second half (similar to Iron Man 2), with an awesome usage of Mysterio’s illusion technology—that goes full-on Spider-Verse for a time—and an impressive final battle where Peter fully utilizes his Spider S̶e̶n̶s̶e̶ Tingle (an ability Far From Home finally notes Peter has not fully developed yet, explaining why he gets surprised hit so many times in Homecoming).  I originally have a big issue with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) here, who had a lot of idiot ball moments including putting Peter's friends in major harm's way just to blackmail him into helping out, yet that issue disappeared as soon as the end post-credits sequence occurred—wiping away the flaw in a rather intriguing way that builds up anticipation and curiosity as to where the MCU is going and what's going to happen.

Spider-Man Far From Home had a lot of pressure on it as not only the next step for one the most ambitious series of all time but also the next Spider-Man film after one of the most ambitious, creatively innovative Spider-Man films ever made.  No one expected Far From Home to out ambition Infinity War, nor surpass Into the Spider-Verse, and indeed it doesn't.  The film serves its purpose successfully as the next step of the MCU, setting up future storylines, hinting at events to come, and further developing its lead hero while also giving him new problems to face.  Far From Home is a good film albeit one with flaws.  It is fun, sweet, entertaining, and has me curious to see where the MCU will be going.