Less than 48 hours ago, the second MCU Spider-Man Film was released worldwide to audiences. While the Crawlspace has been both excited and disappointed with the MCU’s handing of the films thus far, does the film accomplish creating the task of moving the MCU forward while creating a great Spider-Man Film?
Simply, yes. This is the best Spidey film since Spider-Man 3.
While it’s been easy to rag on the final Rami-directed film, due to it’s campy at times tone and bloated roster of villains, it’s also had a lot of great moments, such as the early parts of the film such as the scenes early on with Mary Jane and Peter, how the Sandman was created, and how Eddie was introduced. Despite this, there were obvious problems, and they’ve been documented ad-nausem. Secondly, while Amazing Spider-Man 2 wasn’t an improvement over it’s predecessor, Far From Home is a vast improvement over Homecoming… despite the marketing. So let us get into it.
SPOILERS Obviously.
Spider-Man: Far From Home begins with “I will Always Love You”. (Yeah. I groaned too) This is the song that Midtown students chose to commemorate the Avengers who were lost in the battle with Thanos. (Including Cap….?) We then get a News Report from Betty Brant (Hi Josh!) and Jason Ionello. Jason then curses on camera which made Brad groan I’m sure. Basically, everyone who was snapped out of existence was reanimated back to where they were when they disappeared. Betty laments that they had to restart their school year, despite already taking Midterms. This is further discussed when May is running her shelter for displaced individuals who lost their homes during the snap, cleverly sponsored by the Salvation Army. Peter makes an awkward appearance in the iron spider suit, and is typically awkward. Happy shows up to bring a check from Pepper to the shelter and there is some… romantic tension? Reporter begin to mob Peter inquiring if he’s ready to be the next Iron Man. This overwhelms Pete as he just wants to be the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Peter then swings away from the scene, and laments how the world has changed since Endgame.
Peter then begins to pack for his trip, not wanting to take his suit with him, to try and get away from everything. May throws a Banana at Peter, who doesn’t dodge despite his… Peter Tingle. (UGH) Peter and the gang begin their trip, with Ned trying to convince Peter to be a swinging Bachelor while in Europe. Nick Fury has continued to try to reach out to Peter, but is unsuccessful. While on the plane, Peter tries to sit next to Michelle, all the while being thwarted by Brad Davis (Trust me, I looked this guy up too) and Ned’s attempt to try to get Peter next to her. It does work out for Ned though, as Betty and him end up falling in love. (RUN NED. AS FAST AS YOU CAN) While in Venice, not-Hydro-Man attacks with Mysterio intervening. Peter, who left his costume at home, attempts to conceal his Identity by using a masquerade mask, and helps save various civilians. Fury shows up at the hilariously ran-down hotel and knocks out Ned, to finally talk to Peter. Peter then goes with Fury to meet Beck for the first time, and we get the stakes that were proposed by Beck. Basically, Beck says the Elementals were responsible for his world’s demise, and he’s attempting to prevent the same from happening. Peter is reluctant to agree to this, but decides to try and help. Fury then sets him up with a new suit, due to Peter being uneasy with wearing the regular suit which would allow his classmates to put to the two and two together.
A big set piece was the Molten Man Elemental, where Peter and Beck would fight the Molten Blob with Ned and Betty and Michelle in danger.
After Beck seemingly gives his life for the cause, Peter is ready for Beck to take over as THE hero in the MCU, and seemingly, Fury was ready to hand it to him.
Michelle during the battle finds a competent that would prove useful later. Peter, feeling the pressure of the world, passes off the glasses to Beck. The Problem?
Beck is a fake. Just like the comics, Beck is a masterful manipulator and not only manipulates Fury, but Peter as well. Michelle then reveals that she knows Peter is Spidey, and they begin to try to figure out what’s going on, along with Ned. Peter then tries to go to Berlin to meet with Fury when Beck and Company defeat Peter soundly, resulting in him getting smashed by a bullet train, eventually arriving in the Netherlands. Happy arrives with a Quinjet and Peter begins to design his new suit, heading to London, where the final battle would take place. Beck is defeated and that’s that.
THOUGHTS:
Well, first things first. This feels like a Spider-Man Story as opposed to an MCU story starring Spider-Man. The biggest sin that the MCU has done to Spider-Man is that Spider-Man has had to deal with the larger MCU fallout, perhaps more so than anyone else. It’s the biggest problem with the MCU when a game changing event occurs: the fallout seemingly is supposed to be felt in inferior films or Television. Agents of SHIELD had improved vastly over the first season after Winter Soldier but Age of Ultron was a massive let down. Civil War changed the game, but Homecoming had to be a let down due to the fact it was trying to establish Parker’s world. This problem started with Iron Man 2 & 3.
Perhaps that is why it was important to try to establish the world post-Blip. Peter Parker feels the literal weight of the world upon him, due to the larger world around him. This isn’t a Peter Parker thing historically, largely due to his loner status, but Peter just wanting to make his world smaller does feel like a Peter thing to do. His struggle with his feeling of responsibilities is a fundamental part of the mythos. This is a guy who threw his costume in the trash. It makes sense that the world is expecting him to fill the void of Tony.
But the crux of the film is when Happy basically says: Even Tony couldn’t live up to Tony. And that’s the point: Spider-Man, moving forward is that heart. In an MCU where Tony was the heart, the absence of that heart is what the world would feel. For 11 years the MCU has been built off the Avengers, and for the first time, there is uncertainty surrounding it. Even when Civil War occurred, they were still out there fighting the good fight. Now, Peter feels like he’s got to replace Tony. But the reality is that Peter has to be his own man. That’s the story Far From Home tells. Between creating his new suit, realizing his mistakes, adding new and exciting features, it all builds up to Beck.
Speaking of Beck, how good is Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio? I mean, he’s crafty and authentic, he’s smarmy when the threat is revealed, and it’s a master stroke of how they brought back actors from various films to tie it all in. Seriously, I was blown away with the use of continuity, something you don’t see in film but see in comics all the time. I know, I know, it’s going to bother some that Tony Stark is responsible for the initial creation of Mysterio, much how Oscorp was in the ASM Franchise. But it makes sense. What? Would’ve been better if it’d be Roxxon? Justin Hammer? Come on. Visually, Mysterio is perfect. Lifting straight from the comics in the scenes that he’s attacking Parker, from the multiple Mysterio’s, to the grave (which is a pro and a con), to how he used Fury to his advantage.
Sam Jackson is just awesome as Fury. As a Fury Fan (both him and the Hasselhoff version) I always love seeing Fury.
Holland shines once again as Spider-Man. The way he is overwhelmed with the responsibilities of being Spider-Man and still being a 16 year old ring true and still hold up. I love how he owns the physical demands of the role, and effortlessly feels like he’s the right guy in the suit. This Spidey is fluid, and nimble. Kudos to his hard work.
Zendaya has Michelle is much improved here. She seems much kinder, and less of a meanie the way she was in Homecoming. She’s still awkward, and frankly, it fits with how they’ve both been portrayed. For Peter, this is his second Relationship…. maybe ever? Liz was a cheerleader, confident, vibrant. Michelle, is just a tomboy who is trying to figure herself out. She much more feminine in this film and I feel that some of the criticisms of the previous film were sort of addressed here. It’s welcome. But. It feels a bit sudden doesn’t it? That’s probably my biggest problem with how the tone shifted. On one hand, you could say that she likes Peter even back in Homecoming but doesn’t really know how to express herself, so she kinda bullies Peter… but then she’s still awkward. It’s perhaps the weakest part of the film in my eyes. I do like she figured out Peter was Spider-Man. That helped… and I did enjoy the ending with them swinging. Though, I already know that is a con of Brad’s due to the ending being spoiled in the trailers.
Okay, I suppose I have to address the BIG surprise at the end. J. Jonah Jamerson, played by J.K. Simmons as an Alex Jones-type who suddenly has a hard on for Spider-Man is a master stroke. They even used a similar font and background to Jones. It makes sense that in this world, Jonah would be a skeptic of how Stark and Company ran the world, and how he would believe a lie such as what Beck was spewing. I want more of this. This made me want to see more of Jonah vs. Peter. And yeah, him outing Peter to the world? Big shocker. But Jonah being in the MCU feels right. Jonah was sorely missing in the world of Spider-Man and New York at large. It’s a welcome addition, and there wasn’t ever a need to recast.
(Though I’d like to have seen more hair on his head.) I also liked the Fury reveal that he was a Skrull. It make much more sense on how Fury acted throughout the movie. While most of it was in Character, there were a couple of things that were off… and it also raised a lot of future questions in the larger MCU.
My larger point is: This felt like a Spider-Man Movie, and less like a MCU Movie Starring Spider-Man. Which is perhaps the biggest complaint I’ve had with the franchise. Now, that the deal has been extended, we will see more films coming out soon. Holland is a good Spidey. I just hope we get a new director. His comments afterwards give me great pause.
There more to list, so why not use the old’ Pro/Con from the Podcast?
PROS:
-Holland
-Aunt May doing something useful
-Mysterio
-Jonah!
-Fury
-Happy Hogan isn’t that big a deal.
-Weight of the World of Peter
-Web Wings!
-Depth to Flash being a jerk
– Morrie Bench Reference
– Peter’s Intellect, including creating a suit for the situation
– Use of continuity of previous films.
CONS:
– Calling Michelle MJ. She’s Michelle. Ugh. (Salt in wound was when she wore Red Hair IRL!)
-“I Will Always Love You”
– Ned and Betty breaking up… for reasons?
– United Airline’s Flashbacks….
– Tony Stark Glasses
– Stark Stuff being shoved down from the trailers, which makes up 10 whole minutes of the film.
At the end of the day, Far From Home wasn’t perfect. But with a great villain, great set pieces, good action and humor, (I laughed at the bumbling teachers) a good Cast, and storytelling that continues to evolve and grow, just like a teenager in 2019 would grow into, I’m looking forward to what’s next. Be sure to check out the Podcast when Brad gives it a C, I give it a B+, and we argue without Berryman around.
GRADE: B+
Until Next Time Webeads,
Excelsior
Zach
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All the Michelle stuff just felt like the movie was *telling* us that Peter and Michelle should be together instead of *showing* us. Peter spent 99% of Homecoming being attracted to Liz. Michelle’s interactions with him in that movie, except for the very end, are almost antagonistic – there is no romantic chemistry. It’s only in that final team meeting that she shows any sort of friendship towards him. And suddenly at the start of this movie, Peter loves her – where did this come from? Yes, I know, the MCU is calling her MJ so we are supposed to want them together, but Peter’s feelings for her come out of nowhere.
Got back not too long ago. Your thoughts reflect a lot of my own on things.
One thing I keep thinking about , and that I’d ask you and the panel for whenever you guys do the podcast, is could you remove EDITH from the plot and still be fine? I feel like you could. I was actually confused at first as to what they did for him since he was already shown using drones. Was it just way more drones with more weapons? I suppose the main thing is that it serves to give Peter a failure for him to feel bad about with turning over the glasses.
My absolute favorite sequences were Mysterio playing mind games with Peter and then Peter getting through it all in the end with his Spider Sense (I wish they’d have him decide on that name for it).
Peter making his new suit was great too and honestly what I had thought they could have done way back when he was introduced with Stark providing the suit. I always thought if they had shown that Tony had just turned Peter loose in his workshop to re-design his suit with better tech being provided could have partially addressed some of the issues with how everything provided to Peter was through Tony.
The stuff with Michelle was weird since I hadn’t gotten the impression either that they were that far along and to have it all offscreen felt off too.
I’m curious how they’ll go about with the end, but as others have indicated it could end up wasted. I feel like you could disprove it by outing that Beck was a fake the whole time, but even then now that it’s out there it won’t be hard for people to connect the dots. It feels like a thing so far with Peter that he’s actually kind of bad about really keeping his identity down tight.
The skrull twist actually made sense to me since I actually did find the way Fury acted odd at points. The main one was how he was so blase about Peter not wearing his mask around Beck. The real Fury would have been more paranoid about it all I thought.
I liked the movie even though it wasn’t my Spider-Man. It’s its own thing. The high school stuff really got on my nerves a few times, but I liked how Mysterio was handled. I give it 4 “MAXIMUM SPIDERS” from the Marvel vs. Capcom video game series out of 5!
@Evan – Don’t get me wrong – I loved Jake in the role of pre-reveal Mysterio, and his relationship with Peter was awesome. “Don’t ever be ashamed of being the smartest one in the room.” – I silently cheered at that line, because it’s something that Peter needed to hear and know. And Beck played his pre-reveal role flawlessly. And I also loved all of the illusions Spidey was subjected too (although the zombie-Tony was a bit too much).
@Hornacek — I have to say, though I’m probably in the minority, that it wasn’t until Mysterio’s true background and intentions were revealed that I actually started to like Jake Gyllenhaal in the role. But maybe as part of his manipulation he was supposed to be “wooden” and even bland in a way, so as to appear more stereotypically heroic. But you’re right — The reveal to those familiar with the comic history was as predictable as that of Palpatine in The Phantom Menace. But having Mysterio present himself as a hero — necessary though it may have been — was done well, though, I think. Incidentally, my favorite part in the entire movie was when Peter “saw through” Beck’s illusion by trusting his spider-sense (even if not given that name). I think I even cheered in the theater.
@Evan – Yeah, once they revealed that Beck from was from this Earth, and was a former Stark employee, I was thinking “Wait, how do they now know he’s from here? The first thing they would have done after hearing his story to confirm (or disprove) it would have been to Google him. The least they could have done was, when Beck was introducing his team, have another person be the one who “wiped any mention of my name from all technological records”.
@Hornacek — I did kind of wonder why Nick Fury didn’t run the name Quentin Beck through records of some kind and see that he was a former Stark employee. Then I thought perhaps he did, but maybe he just dismissed it because, after all, this was an “alternate” Beck. And then, later, I thought, “Oh, he was Talos the whole time. Okay.” *shrug*
This film was one of the best examples of being a comic book fan putting you 2-3 steps ahead of the plot. As soon as Mysterio showed up and was a hero, I *knew* that he would eventually turn into a villain and that all of the elementals would turn out to be illusions. I never thought “Well, maybe they’ve changed Mysterio’s character for the MCU.” Don’t get me wrong – I thought this was done very well, Jake (too hard to spell his last name) was great, and they never had any winking hints that something was wrong with Mysterio’s “hero” performance before the reveal. I’m not saying this was a fault of the movie, not sure what they could have done to get around this issue – maybe introduce him as a completely new character with a different suit, and then when the reveal happens have him say “My name is really Quentin Beck” – something like (SPOILER) John Harrison in Star Trek Into Darkness really being Khan (although that didn’t fool too many people either).
@Zach
no no no the review was well written even if I disagree with part of it. I meant I hated the movie
@ Al…. the review?
@ Franz I forgot ITSV. But I was mainly discussing live action.
@ Honasec we will know more once we get the slate of films.
I’m hoping this is the start of something.
Best Spidey film since Spider-Man 3? Into the Spider-Verse begs to differ on that one. Now if you meant live action, then I agree. It was far better (almost said superior but couldn’t bring myself to pun, even unintentionally, to that dross) than either of the ASM movies and HC.
Gyllenhaal was excellent as Mysterio, although I wasn’t sure about his change to having a huge support team, but in the context of this universe it was fine. The whole EDITH thing seemed a bit forced; Mysterio was already enacting his plans before he knew who “Fury” would give the glasses to. It worked out well for the movie though and I’m hoping he’s not really dead (I wish they’d stop killing off the big bads in the MCU) and can come back in a future installment (EDITH here again? 😉 ).
Holland, likewise was good. I like him as Peter/Spider-Man far more than Garfield (although to be fair I didn’t dislike Garfield, I just disliked what Webb did with the character).
Zendaya was good. As her own character she’s good, but let’s not call her MJ
Pros:
Gyllenhaal
Fight scenes were good
Use of (and final trust in) the Spider-Sense
JJJ Baby!!!! (but yes, more hair would have been nice)
Cons
Too much High School musical romance
Not set in New York
Uncle Ben replaced by TS which doesn’t work
Still feels like a reskinned Miles Morales story
MJ/not MJ
The first end credits scene – as Hornacek said, we won’t get to see the fall out on this and I’m not sure I like the direction it takes us. Feels like further cheapening of Peter’s character and mantra of responsibility. We saw what happened when he unmasked in Civil War.
As a Summer movie starring Night Monkey I enjoyed it. Hit all the right buttons for a superhero flick. As a Spider-Man film it’s still off. I guess I’ll never get used to the MCU rendition but at least I have good comics now.
Overall: Better than I hoped but still not a Peter Parker Spider-Man film.
Hated this
While I loved the mid-credits scene and its implications, the more I thought about it the more I think we won’t get what we out of this. I was reminded of the “Aunt May finds out” ending of Homecoming. That was a great “twist” ending, and it left me wanting more i.e. I wanted to see the conversation between Peter and May where they discuss this. Of course, the way the MCU movies are, I quickly realized we would never see that (unless there was a flashback or a reference to that conversation in FFH, which we didn’t get) because by the time we got another Spider-Man movie Peter had already gone through IW, EG, the 5-year “blip” – that conversation was way in the past by this film. And that’s what I think will happen with this outing of his identity. By the time we get the next SM film, it’ll be 1 (?) year later (Wikipedia says it will take place with Peter as a senior) and his new status quo will be that his identity has been publicly known since FFH and that’s just the way his life is, and we’ll never see the instant ramification of that reveal. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.
While the post-credits scene is a great twist, how much does it really change what we just saw? Were Skrull Fury and Hill acting out of character? I didn’t think so. And there’s a YouTube video asking if Fury was a Skrull for only this film, or longer? Could he have been replaced AFTER Captain Marvel (in the 90s), and the Fury we’ve seen all this time was Talos? This video showed Fury in CM telling Carol “I can’t eat toast if it’s cut diagonally”, and then a scene in Avengers AoU with Fury at Clint’s farm where he’s making himself a sandwich AND CUTTING IT DIAGONALLY!!!!! Yes, it’s not toast, and it’s probably nothing, but I wonder where “Fury in SPACE” will lead to. I’m not sure how much it matters for this film.
I got whiplash from that “I Will Always Love You” video. I laughed when they showed Tony Stark, then felt sad when they showed Cap, and felt REALLY sad when they showed Black Widow, but then they showed Tony again and I wondered “Does the film want us to laugh here? Don’t they know that most viewers will feel bad when reminded that BW died?”