Spider-Man: Far From Home

Out of the vast array of characters Marvel has at its disposal, Spider-Man is easily their most popular and arguably their most iconic. The web swinger is like the Mickey Mouse to the Marvel universe, is one of Marvel creator Stan Lee’s favorite characters, and has been attached to a total of now three franchises that have helped push forward the comic book space. From the Sam Raimi trilogy that proved comic book films could profitable, the two Marc Webb films that had potential but were petered out by poor studio interference, and his most recent introduction in the MCU, Spider-Man has been in the mainstream for several years now (ironically often with diminishing results after each consecutive film), and their latest film, Spider-Man: Far From Home, was the next one in line. Following the events of ‘’The Snap’’, Peter Parker (played by Tom Holland) is preparing to go on his school trip and hopes to hook up with MJ (played by Zendaya). Trying to distance himself from the Spidey persona for a while, he finds it difficult when Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) comes to him with an elemental threat from another dimension. Along with them came Mysterio (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), a man with mystical powers who escaped another earth after his family was murdered by the new threat fittingly called the Elementals. Peter has to decide whether or not to keep the focus on his real life or his hero life, all the while feeling the pressure that Iron Man left on him now that he’s gone. Once his friends start to get more involved, and it appears that the situation may not be as straightforward as he expected, it will become clear that Spider-Man will never be able to have a normal life. For a Spider-Man movie and even just a Marvel film in general, this one has some noticeable flaws as it lacks weight and that sense of heroism that Spider-Man should be known for, the writing isn’t as fresh or quick, the effects aren’t very good, most of the new characters aren’t memorable, and it throws out many possibilities that could take this franchise in a more risky direction. Spiderman: Homecoming was a good movie; with great acting, very likeable humor, and a great villain, but it still took things a bit too safe to stand on its own feet, and this movie seems to take almost everything good about the first film and dumb it down while also trying to fix problems to the first. Though not an awful film and it did well critically and commercially (even becoming the first Spider-Man film to pass the billion-dollar mark), it doesn’t truly replicate what Spider-Man should stand for.

The story is essentially if the Disney Channel created a Spider Man movie, which is what people claimed Homecoming was like, but it also feels very evident in this film too with all the focus on teens, leaning very heavy on the joke department which can be pretty cheesy and lame, it has all the great looking people in very fancy locations, the awkward looking effects that look of a TV quality, and its uncomfortably safe. Much like Homecoming, the laid-back nature of these films works well in making a humorous atmosphere that makes its character likeable, but nothing about Spider Man feels important enough to stand amongst the other Avengers, and that is a problem when he should be one of their most impactful heroes. The story for this film actually isn’t too bad; as it has the balance between home life and superhero life involved along with (to its credit) more stakes and consequences from the last film that make it feel a little upped, so this could have worked in this environment, but the movie doesn’t have a strong enough conflict to make the casual side feel warranted. The story of Spider Man is goofy and silly, but it still had that weight of ‘’responsibility’’ and made it worthy of being Marvel’s token character. It took risks, it killed characters, it had conflicting dilemmas, while here the dilemma feels like something out of a bad teen comedy. It has a lot of expected teen romance cliches, the dialogue is passable in parts, but it never feels that engaging or memorable, and while the moments that are taken seriously like dealing with Iron Man’s death are decently handled, they feel really out of place in this tone and this set-up. Instead of furthering the story, it feels like it’s taking it as slow as possible in order to build up the side stuff before establishing the important stuff. It feels afraid to tackle anything that has been done before, but with so many changes done to this universe, the film needed a stronger foothold of a first movie in order to ease them in. With that said, the actual story is strangely too fast in nature and rushes through a lot of stuff too quickly. There is a twist in the middle that, while okay at first and makes a lot of sense for comic readers, does go a little too goofy and over-the-top as it continues and leads the film in a direction that isn’t bad and ends really nicely (in a way that can’t be easily ret-conned), but nothing that stand-outish. With all this said, the film is told perfectly fine and the directing by John Watts is also passable, but also a little bland and even behind-the-times.

Though many of the characters have been revamped, they can still exhibit a very upbeat charm to them that keeps the audience engaged. Most of this comes from the acting which is mostly done very well from everyone. Tom Holland is still a very good Peter Parker; he captures that excitable energy of being a child as a superhero yet can still handle the serious moments very well too. Zendaya also does a good job; despite her character having no similarities to the ‘’Mary Jane’’ character aside from the name, this new direction does provide for a decently entertaining character (even if it’s not Mary Jane, they probably should’ve just made her a completely new character), the two have decent chemistry and a new romantic interest is a good way to spark some difference from the other versions. Nick Fury doesn’t do much in the film and may come across as a lot dumber than usual, but there is a reason for that come the end of the film, so it seems fine enough if a little pointless in the grand scheme of things. The supporting cast does fine like Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, and Jacob Batalon but feel very relegated to the side, lacking any real relevance in the overall plot other than filling out time and spouting some dumb jokes, and they are really where the overly comedic energy can become a little grating at times, especially Tony Revolori as Flash, who really seems to be a waste of an idea in general, and J. B. Smoove and Martin Starr as the two teachers who feel like they were dropped right out of a lame sit-com. The villain is unfortunately where things really go downhill for the movie, as despite Mysterio being a pretty popular Spider-Man villain, he’s really weak and generic here. His plan feels like a trade-over from the Iron Man franchise (even down to the exact same motivation and delivery except this time it’s in Spider-Man’s film), his plan is generic, his motivation makes no sense and is even pretty pathetic and whiny, and the way he does said plan brings up a lot of unanswered questions later on in the film. He has no personality, Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting is over-the-top and obnoxious (he just can’t handle being the lead in anything) and despite having a cool look and being responsible for a really cool trippy sequence during the latter half of the film that feels like a sequence ripped straight from the comic, he’s pretty forgettable overall. Despite being a sequel, it doesn’t feel like anything progressed since the first movie. Besides the secondary elements like the love story, the characters haven’t developed as characters, Spiderman is very likeable, but not made interesting because many elements of what makes him interesting has been either written out completely or not given enough attention.

The effects for this movie aren’t very good looking, many of which seem lesser than the later Raimi feels released years before (which is honestly a sad testament to the effects industry nowadays within the MCU). But with that said, there is enough energy in the action scenes, nice enough camera work from Matthew J. Llyod, and fun visuals (whether realistic looking or not) to mask the fakeness and appreciate the spectacle regardless (like previously mentioned, that hallucination sequence might not look realistic, but its very pleasing and creative from a visual standpoint). Most of the elemental monsters have that overly fake look to them as well, but there is a reveal during the movie that gives a reasoning for it. The climax is also appropriately frantic and features that classic Spider-Man style of heroism that closes off the movie in a fun way, even if the villain’s plan makes no sense. The writing doesn’t seem to work as well as it did in the first movie even though it does still contain Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers from the last film.  The jokes weren’t written well and could be a little basic in nature, but the actors were good enough to pull them off, whereas here even the actors can’t save a lot of moments that just seem to lack that needed Marvel chuckle. These two were connected to movies like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Lego Batman Movie, films that take a lot of mileage from their humor and goofy sensibilities, but not only do they not work as well as they did previously (with Homecoming arguably being assisted by the various other writers involved), but they also don’t seem to be able to handle the more serious topics of Spider-Man without the help of the source material.

Spider Man: Far From Home is by no means a terrible movie. It provides the template for a Spider-Man story well enough and within the MCU, seeing the famous web-crawler go through these beats with likeable actors and a humble atmosphere is nice, but when one of if not the most famous Marvel character is relegated to the back of comedic-centred movies for the MCU, that underwhelming feeling is very evident. The story doesn’t progress far enough to be interesting; the writing isn’t as strong on both a comedic or a serious level, the villain is really weak, and the franchise feels like it’s going at a snail’s pace. Aside for the great charm and passion from the actors and an occasional fun visual and action scene, this movie is nothing out of the ordinary. Though everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood Spider Man will always exist in the hearts of many, the direction these films are going in is making less and less Spidey sense.