About 3 months after the Endgame, and before it even leaves theaters, the Marvel Cinematic Universe returns to the big screens with Spider-Man: Far From Home the second solo Tom Holland Spider-man film. With the cumulative weight of the MCU behind it, a surprising inter media conglomerate business arrangement, and the pretense of commercial art, Far From Home has many different masters to serve. Amazingly, Far From Home manages to pull most of it off serving as a prime example of what makes the MCU work, telling a good Spider-man story, and being solid teen comedy abroad.
Be warned, there are some very light spoilers discussed in this article.
Far From Home is technically the end of Marvel Phase 3 and the whole “Infinity Saga,” it is an epilogue or chance to catch your breath in the way Iron Man 3 and Ant-Man were after their respective Avenger movies. Only this time the weight of continuity is turned up to 11 with it being the first film that takes place after the 5 year skip in Endgame and the sudden reappearance of half of all life in the universe. How it handles that bit of context, known as “The Blip,” is a great example of what makes continuity work within the MCU and something the Big Two could really learn from. The film handles all that business in roughly the first five minutes, and proceeds to move on with itself and get to the movie and telling its story. Knowing or seeing the events of the MCU in a Wikipedia like distillation are not what draws people to these films or what matters, the characters are. Continuity in the MCU works because it is emphasized and understood through the emotional journeys of our heroes not abstract markers of what happened. What makes the events of Endgame and The Blip work for Far From Home is how it is the driver of the emotional narrative of everything in this film, everyone is trying to deal with the consequences of those actions and a world without an Iron Man. Images of Tony Stark and his suit haunt Peter throughout his summer science trip through Europe.
That baggage is what is eating away at Peter Parker as he and the rest of his class, who all pretty much blipped away, go on a European vacation. At first the idea of taking the friendly neighborhood Spider-man out of the neighborhood sounded like a bad idea, especially after the first film did a wonderful job setting up and giving the MCU a street level type movie for a change. In execution it turns out to be a good choice. Emotionally this science vacation gives Peter a chance to be normal and maybe talk with MJ longer than a single sentence that she will bitingly throw back at him. Functionally it gives director Jon Watts and screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers a chance to expand on the best part of Homecoming: the cast. Structurally it lets the movie be an easy going road film that jumps from location to location and never get bogged down by flat comedy or bland action sequences.
Homecoming was overall fine and left me wanting more of Peter’s schoolmates, the trip to D.C. and overall teen movie bend to the film was a breath of genre fresh air. The schoolmates are now the core cast of this film and while not everyone gets more screen time the ones that do are better for it. Jacob Batalon returns as Ned, and while he continues to be Peter’s comedic side kick also gets a sub plot of his own about what happens when you put a group of teenagers in close proximity to one another for extended periods of time. Tony Revolori is the modern Flash Thompson, Watts and the writes provide Revolori enough screen time to get in some creative jabs and hint at a surprisingly vulnerable side. Zendaya continues to have just excellent chemistry with Tom Holland along with pitch perfect ironic humor and delivery. In case you were hoping for this one to walk it back, she is for all intents and purposes that MJ. And if you’re still hung up by the fact that Peter’s classmates don’t look like the way Ditko drew them you’re missing the point of these films. The world never really looked that way in the first place, Tom Holland certainly doesn’t look like Ditko’s version, and the actors everyone involved have brought the spirit of those characters into the contemporary moment and made it work.
Continued belowWith the addition of J. B. Smoove and returning Martin Starr as the hapless school chaperones Far From Home has a cast that makes for one of the most consistently funny and varied films in the MCU. There are a few moments of over banter and quipping, but when it comes to actual comedy spots this movie is hilarious and entertaining.
A normal European vacation would be hard enough for Peter to survive. Things take a turn for the worse when Nick Fury hijacks the whole thing to press gang Spider-man into helping him combat a growing threat. Quentin Beck, a mysterious individual claiming to be from Earth-833, needs Spider-man’s help in dealing with these elemental monsters (they appear to be homages to villains like Hydro-Man and Molten Man.) Forcing Peter to chose between being the hero he instinctively acts like and the normalcy he craves after Endgame. At the very least it gives Peter a new pair of patriarchal authority figures to work through his feelings of loss with in the form of Cool Uncle Beck and perturbed Step Dad Nick Fury. I wouldn’t consider Far From Home an all-time great Spidey or MCU feature, it’s certainly very good, but there is an ability by all involved to tell Spider-man stories without wanting to retread old storylines that is most enjoyable. The story of Spider-man is an eternal story of power and responsibility and this is a very good twist of that yarn that fits the MCU and this version of Peter Parker as tight as his spidey suit.
I don’t want to give too much away in regards to Beck, even if anyone with an inkling of Spidey knowledge or the internet could see a certain twist coming. That twist, doesn’t really matter for starters. The casting of Jake Gyllenhaal (a former potential Spider-man) and how they realize Mysterio really does. Far From Home approaches a surprisingly amount of reflexivity that practically turns it into the MCU equivalent of Singin’ in the Rain after a while (sadly Tom Holland doesn’t do a song and dance number.) How Watts and the writers use that reflexivity to comment on both the state of a post-Endgame MCU, the genre, and our present moment is one of the most intriguing things about this film.
As is the case with these movies there is a disconnect from the work Watts clearly did and the second unit stuff that the Marvel Machine takes care of. The disconnect isn’t any more egregious than others films, but after a string of strong directorial films it feels more noticeable. To the films credit this is probably the best realization of Spider-man action on film. The kinds of action the film works with in the finale is a nice change of pace that lets everyone see what Spider-man action looks like and how that differentiates him from other characters. It isn’t too dissimilar from Ant-Man and the delightful implementation of chase sequences and action without violence. Some of the shots still have that weightless computer model feel, but overall with a good sound system they past muster.
After Endgame I wasn’t all that enthusiastic about Spider-Man: Far From Home. Funny what three months and a series of poor supposed-to-be blockbusters can do to you. At worse this is a fine and enjoyable film to see in the July heat, but it also has some real moments and implications for the genre and the MCU as these things continue.
