Spider-Man: Far From Home

Spider-Man: Far From Home is directed once again by Jon Watts, and is the 23rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and conclusion to their official “Phase 3.” After the events of Infinity War and Endgame, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and his friends go on a European vacation, taking a break from the superhero gig. However, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has other plans, as Quentin Beck aka Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) asks for help taking on these elemental monsters that need the help of a friendly neighborhood hero.

I made no secret when I said I was not a fan of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and I stand by that. The script by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (for the most part, since it had SIX writers total) was an absolute mess that tried to satisfy all these different criteria, but all it ended up doing was make me hate most of these characters and the dialogue they shared. The only two people who felt consistent were Robert Downey Jr. returning as Tony Stark and Michael Keaton as the Vulture, the latter because he was the only character this film brought. Not to mention, I thought the action and camera work kind of sucked, and there wasn’t really any weight to the fight scenes. Comparing this film to the rest of the MCU, or even previous Spider-Man movies, this felt like a huge step backwards. And that’s not to say I don’t like Tom Holland, because I agree he is awesome as Spidey...when he’s directed by the Russo Brothers

A sequel was inevitable (no pun intended), and there was good news and bad news to it: the bad news was that Jon Watts and Amy Pascal would return to direct and produce, but the good news was that Daley and Goldstein did not; so the entire script was left to Chris McKenna and Eric Sommers. Coming out a couple months after Endgame though, especially after what transpires if you haven’t seen it, was a bit infuriating, because that kind of tells me “oh, Spider-Man comes back...guess I won’t worry about him.” It felt like Marvel was repeating the same move they did with the Ant-Man movies, where they’re fine, but could have benefitted from NOT coming after an Avengers film; or heck, one of the reasons The Incredible Hulk didn’t succeed as well, was because it was released too close to Iron Man for anyone to truly care. I could even argue how in my mind, Homecoming had the same fate, coming after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, which was a much more exciting film if you ask me.

Despite my naggings, I went in hoping to see, not a great film, but at least a decent flick to cap off this phase; while I will admit this was a big step up from Homecoming, having an enjoyable third act, as well as the first post-credits scene, Spider-Man: Far From Home is unfortunately the second time the web-slinger’s second solo adventure in the MCU falls flat. The comedy isn’t as annoyingly pushed as it was in the previous film, but now it comes off as low energy and not really jokes at all. The only joke I laughed at was when Happy confessed he loves Aunt May.

One of the biggest problems I’ve been hearing about most of the MCU, since Age of Ultron, was how there was a lack of director creativity; hearing about the stories that Joss Whedon and especially Edgar Wright had told, with how Disney and Marvel have been screwing them over for a bigger project, has tainted my feelings toward the studio. This movie is guilty of feeling just as generic as Ant-Man and Captain Marvel, where it doesn’t feel like someone was actually passionate about this, and was just making this for a pay-check. Even in the action scenes, aside from that climax in London, felt like the same web slings we saw Peter do prior in Homecoming.

While I wasn’t as annoyed by them, I still couldn’t care about the supporting cast: the teachers (Martin Starr and J. B. Smooth), Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), Flash Thompson (Tony Revelori, Dope and The Grand Budapest Hotel), Betty Brant (Angourie Rice, The Nice Guys) May and Happy (Marisa Tomei and Jon Favreau), even Nick Fury and Maria Hill; they don’t really have much to do in the film, except either be saved when the time comes or show up when most convenient. The only one who I felt improved a bit was M.J. (Zendaya). There’s more of her and Tom Holland working off of each other, and that was nice to see some chemistry build between those two; what I don’t get is why she was called Michelle Jones in the last film, which by the way, no one calls her by that in this film.

The big upside I can give is the hero and villain; Tom Holland is still great as Spider-Man. Despite being younger, Holland has had plenty of time for his Peter to truly evolve, not only from the perspective of an up and coming hero, but as someone who came back from the dead, you get why he would want a break from the ordeal; he’s as smart and traumatized as Tony, and as trapped in this hero cycle as Cap was. The absence of Tony has also put a lot of weight on his shoulders, since he was the one he entrusted to becoming an Avenger, and hopefully carrying the torch he passed him; since the events of Endgame, Peter has had to make that difficult choice between his own size of heroics or take on the rest of the world as he is.

Interesting fact: Gyllenhaal was actually going to replace Tobey Maguire for Spider-Man 2, nearly breaking his back working on Seabiscuit. Not only that, but Mysterio was planned for Sam Raimi’s now-cancelled Spider-Man 4, and was going to be played by Bruce Campbell, bring his cameos in those films full circle. Still, Gyllenhall nails it out of the park and truly sells the con-man schtick nicely; much like the Scarecrow to Batman, Mysterio to Spider-Man brings the distorted reality. I just wish the script didn’t act like we didn’t know who or what kind of character Mysterio was; especially with the marketing barely mentioning it.

Not to give away the post & end credits scenes, but I would say the first one is the only one you’d need to see; I was reading articles about how it was the most risque ending since the first Iron Man, and now I completely understand why. However, the second one doesn’t really show what we don’t already know; part of me was hoping it would be about a live-action Spider-Verse like Holland was asking about, but all I felt was that clip of Hawkeye in the rain: “Don’t give me hope.”

While an improvement from the last one, Spider-Man: Far From Home is yet another studio manufactured product from Marvel that’s just dull. Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal are great, but they only truly shine in the third act; the comedy is dull, the action is okay at best, but the story is so cliche and predictable, that it’s hard to even talk about. 

Rating: C-