Well, I have to give it to Marvel Studios. They’ve done it. They’ve finally been able to do what Sony by themselves have failed to do since the dark ages of Tobey Maguire dancing in the streets of the big apple all those years ago. They have managed to make two Spider-Man films (back to back) that are not only financially successful and critically acclaimed…but are also good films that actually seem to understand the Character of Spider-Man, and more importantly his villains. Spider-Man: Far From Home, while not perfect, succeeds in a major way and essentially blasts the doors wide open on phase four of the MCU, while at the same time ensuring its devoted fanbase that there will be a leader on earth going forward, and with Captain America, Tony Stark, and Black Widow all gone...this is extremely important indeed.
Let’s talk about it shall we?
SPOILERS. GO SEE THE FILM. THEN COME BACK.
With Great Power…
Before I talk about the actual film itself, I would like to at least mention Sony and the spectacular job they have done with their Spider-Man properties over the past few years. You see, a few years ago, the character of Spider-Man (as well as Sony) were in quite a bit of a rut. With critics and fans alike absolutely crushing The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with horrendous reviews and scathing Youtube rants, Sony had a particularly prickly decision to make. They could either sell their beloved Marvel properties (most likely back to Marvel Studios), try to reboot the character yet again, or work out a deal with another production company to let them make the movies with Sony’s oversight...which of course ended up being what happened. Now a lot of you may be wondering why Sony decided to keep all the drama and bad press that inevitably would come with the risk of producing films about one of the most beloved characters in all of pop culture? Especially with all of the other products and assets that Sony has under their control. Surely they don’t need Spider-Man to be a mega-profitable company do they?
Well actually no, they don’t. But he would sure help.
Back in 2014 The Hollywood Reporter reported that the character of Spider-Man generated approximately $1.3 Billion in retail sales revenue. Batman came in second with $494 Million, and Superman rolled in at number four with $277 Million. That means that, while Batman and Superman surely have the more recognizable brand, combined they both still get outsold by Spider-Man merchandise. Incredible. Knowing that, I wouldn’t sell the rights to him either.
Now while those numbers were pulled from an article written in 2014 and have most certainly changed quite a bit, the character hasn’t and neither have the massive implications for his monetary success. With good films being made and toys and other merchandise making its way into stores...there is literally billions to be made off of the web-slinger. Yes, that’s billions with a b. I’m going to call it right now. The move by Sony to feed off of the MCU brand to re-establish their image within the comic book community, as well as make enough revenue to fund other projects such as Into the Spider-Verse is perhaps the most brilliant move by any entertainment company over the last decade. Yes it was that smart, and it was that significant.
You see, it seems like Sony actually cares about their Marvel properties unlike Fox, who clearly grew weary of shelling out the cash and effort necessary to continuously make superhero films that are not only good, but have been adapted to fit the ever-changing landscape of the genre. Even with The Amazing Spider-Man films, I felt the passion and effort behind them and noticed the genuine effort by Sony to provide the fans with the definitive Spider-Man experience...even if the ambition didn’t quite match the execution. Sony as a company was willing to accept the fact that while they had been making Spider-Man films for over a decade...there was someone else that could do it better. By making the move to partner with the MCU, everyone won. The fans get to see Peter Parker in the MCU. Sony was able to make their long-awaited Venom film (with a sequel on the way), and with its popularity and financial success (despite less than glorious critical reviews) it seems that his emergence within the MCU is inevitable. Sony is happy, Marvel Studios is happy, and the fans are happy. Hats off to Sony for doing what it took to reinvent their production company and get back on track.
Viva la MCU
While many are calling this film the official “end” of the Infinity saga (Phase 1-3), I see it more as an epilogue...with Endgame being the finale. This movie didn’t really “end” anything anyways and spent most of its time explaining the post-Endgame MCU and where the characters go from there. It also largely deals with how Peter (and the rest of the world) is coping with the loss of Iron Man, and how Peter will respond to the ever-beckoning call to leadership and growth. So while this film does do an adequate job at propelling the MCU into its unknown and murky future...I’m gonna stick to my guns and call it an epilogue rather than an ending.
I gotta admit....choosing to release this film so soon after the explosive release of Endgame was a super ballsy move by Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. I’m still not convinced it was the best route to go, but it certainly fit with the character and the overarching narrative being set up for the MCU’s version of Peter Parker. I guess we should have seen this coming, but it seems as if Mr. Parker himself will carry the torch forward into this dark night we are calling phase 4 of the MCU. Where we had Tony Stark and Steve Rogers for the first three phases, we now have Peter and what we can only assume will be either T’Challa or Steven Strange (or Both). Although Far From Home made it seem like Peter would be the next Iron Man, I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that might be a bit of an exaggeration used for emotional impact within the film. I think the more likely scenario is that we get some version of Iron Lad, or Ironheart on screen (i.e. Shuri)...who would literally and visually carry the torch of Ironman forward while Peter carries the responsibility that comes with that title (being the leader/ambassador to earth/Avengers). Taking Happy’s No one can replace Tony speech near the end of the film into account, I think that was the gist of what Marvel was trying to get across to audiences. No, Peter won’t be the next Iron Man...but he will be the first Spider-Man and in a roundabout way they have established the “With great power comes great responsibility” trope that is synonymous with the character of Peter Parker.
The Good: Spider-Man & Mysterio
I’m going to keep the rest of this review simple and break it up into two parts. The good and the bad. Yes this movie was really really good, but like every other movie...it’s not perfect and as a comic book fan, I have some gripes about the way some things were handled. Nothing major of course, but as always...I gotta keep it real.
The good parts about this film are basically anything that takes place when Peter is donning the suit..and this is probably the most important thing to get right all things considered. If he is in full Spider-Man getup...chances are it’s probably one of the best parts of the film. The one thing this Marvel/Sony team really knows how to do is nail the actual character of Spider-Man. From his looks, to his actions, even down to his mannerisms and the way he walks and talks they really have nailed it, and Tom Holland does a really good job at selling himself...in the suit. We will talk about the parts where he isn’t wearing the suit a bit later. Peter dons four different Spidey suits throughout the duration of this film and all of them look gorgeous. Speaking of suits, there was a scene near the end of the film where Peter is having his “Tony Stark” moment on the Jet and is going through all the possible different suit combinations, and I thought this was absolutely brilliant. One of the coolest things about Spider-Man as a superhero is all of the different suits he has worn throughout his comic-book runs, and I think this is an absolutely ingenious way of introducing a way to bring those suits into the MCU and actually having them serve a practical purpose. Plus it looks and performs like a 3D printer, and I love 3D printers...so bonus points. Again, Marvel/Sony really seem to understand what makes the character of Spider-Man tick (while he’s wearing the suit anyways) and have honed in on these things.
Another part of the movie that not only was extremely well done but was a huge upgrade over the first film was the action. The action in this film is incredible, and my favorite sequence by far is the first fight between Spider-Man and mysterio (more on the sneaky magician later). I think the special effects, stunts, and acting were all impeccable during the action sequences and it leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. One of the things that separates Spider-Man from any other hero is the way he moves during combat due to his spider-sense, and while the “Peter Tingle” was absent throughout most of the film, I think they did an outstanding job of portraying the tight but slender movements of Spider-Man while fighting. I have been adamant in saying that I think of all the heroes to adapt to live-action, Spider-Man is perhaps the hardest of them all because of how fast he has to react to everything. It can be done...and it has been done about as well as can be in this film. While I think the character of Spider-Man (in terms of action) is better suited for animation (like in Into the Spider-Verse), we have certainly come a long way from good ol’ Toby dodging daggers in a house fire, and that’s for dang sure.
The story itself was both good and bad so it’ll appear in both sections. The story was good when it dealt with the character of Spider-Man, but not so much when it dealt with the character of Peter Parker...more on that later. However, the story (and largely the film as a whole) was at its best when dealing with the character of Mysterio. Wow did Marvel/Sony do an incredible job at not only adapting this character to the big screen...but doing it in a way that fit and makes sense within the MCU. Making him a disgruntled ex-employee of Tony Stark not only fit the Spider-Man/Peter Parker’s story like a glove, but it also fit into the linear timeline of the MCU as well. It was just brilliant. I can’t say enough about it. The way Tony’s legacy already takes shape in this film is something to behold, and while I wish they focused a little more on Peter’s development without having to lean on Tony too much....they certainly made it work in a major way by tying every aspect of the story back to his legacy. Like Tony said himself: “Even In Death I’m The Hero” (E.D.I.T.H).
Speaking of Mysterio, let’s talk about him.
Like I mentioned before, the MCU seems to nail the look and casting of every hero and villain they adapt, and Mysterio is probably the best example of this, as literally everything about the character of Mysterio is perfect. From his fish-bowl helmet, all the way down to his backstory, they really did an amazing job at adapting the character to the MCU while still keeping faithful to his comic-book counterpart. Actually this is probably the most comic-book accurate villain we have gotten so far in the MCU except for maybe Loki...and probably the most well-written since the god of mischief as well. Seriously, I tried to think of a way they could have done Mysterio better, and I literally couldn’t think of one. It was that good. The casting was also great, as Jake is the perfect choice for a devious, back-stabbing, two-faced illusionist who could fool anyone...even Peter Parker. If you’ve ever seen the film Nightcrawler, it’s not hard to see why Marvel went with him for the role.
It should also be noted that they threw in a reference to the classic all-green mysterio suit that he wears in the comics, which I thought was super cool (this can be seen in the “info dump” scene in the bar when he reveals his illusion), also recent concept art has revealed the original vision for the look of Mysterio, and I’ve got to say...thank god they didn’t go with that design in favor of the one in the film. It looks cool, but the one we got was so much cooler and so much more comic-accurate. I think they would have gotten a lot of flack from the comic-reading audience, so I’m glad they took a more traditional approach. One final remark I want to make about Mysterio is the incredibly clever way they tied his fishbowl helmet into the movie and the tech of the MCU. I’ve already talked about the brilliance of weaving E.D.I.T.H into the main plot of the film, but integrating so intimately into the villain’s plan and his powers/abilities/suit was absolutely incredible. Hats off to the entire creative team behind the design, casting, and implementation of Mysterio. They literally could not have done a better job, and have given us the definitive on-screen adaptation of Mysterio.
Fun Fact: Jake almost replaced Toby for Spider-Man 2 after Toby almost dropped out due to contract arguments and a back issue.
Some final notches in the “good’ column of this film are related to the cast:
Yet again, Marvel pulls together a great cast that not only all turn in incredible individual performances, but all work together amazingly well to hold this film together. They way the students interact with the teachers is spot on (and quite hilarious), and while I am still under the impression that Ned is a terrible friend to Peter, I think their friendship plays off well enough in the film to be convincing as well as keeping the plot moving forward.
Although I haven’t been a fan of Zendaya in the role of MJ thus far...she really surprised me in this one. By the end of the film, I really found myself warming up to her and her unique take on the iconic character.
The Bad: Peter Parker
Now I wanna keep this part brief. No, the film wasn’t bad by ANY stretch of the imagination. It was an incredible film, that did an amazing job with Peter Parker while he was in the suit. When it came to Peter outside of the suit, however, it wasn’t nearly as good and fell flat in many areas.
Of all the things that this movie did right, I guess the biggest thing they missed out on was the human aspect of Spider-Man/Peter Parker. Spider-Man has always been immensely popular among comic-book readers because he is so relatable and his story so tragic. People love Spider-Man because, throughout all his struggles (and boy does he go through the ringer) he still pushes onward and fights for what is right. His villains, although sometimes successful in their advances towards Spider-Man and his loved ones, always fall flat because the love and humanity of Peter always shines through, and knows how to tell a joke...even in his darkest days. Hell, even in the comics Peter blames his insatiable sense of humour on the fact that his life is so tragic and depressing. He claims to use his light-heartedness to combat the darkness, and that always gave such an unbreakable sense of humanity to the character in my opinion. This is the only thing missing from this movie.
In fact, now that I think about it, this is the only movie that doesn’t show Peter’s exceptional capacity for good and his humanity. Yes there were some scenes, like the one on Happy’s plane, where we see glimpses of it, but even these scenes largely fell flat for me. I think Tom is a great actor, so I would have to place the blame for this on the writing. I just don’t think these writers had a good grasp on Peter Parker and what the role of Spider-Man really means to him. If you go back and look at the all the Spider-Man films made thus far, you’ll notice that the best ones always have high amounts of emotional depth and humanity within its characters. Even The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s version of Peter Parker had more heart than the one we see in this film. Hell, I even teared up during my initial viewing of TASM2. No such emotions were felt while watching Homecoming and the closest I came to tears were moments when Tony was being discussed.
Now I understand that the main argument for why this could be, is that the movie played as an epilogue to Endgame, and with so much to discuss and wrap up...there wasn’t much room to focus on Peter as a person. That’s okay I guess, and while it’s a rational explanation for why the emotional depth wasn’t there, it still doesn’t make those parts of the film well-written or more emotionally impactful. In addition, the amount of jokes that were crammed into the two-hour duration of this film was absolutely insane. Now I agree that Spider-Man films should be, for the most part, light and funny...as this is an accurate reflection of the character the film revolves around. However, there were just too many in my opinion. So many, in fact, that it actually interfered with any emotion that they actually tried to convey in certain scenes. Now this problem isn’t exclusive to this film, as it’s been a running problem for Marvel Films ever since the smashing success of the first Guardians of the Galaxy. Ever since that film, it seems like Marvel has trying to cram too many jokes into their films, and while I enjoy most of them...there should be a time and place for them that doesn’t ruin any sort of emotional depth they try to convey. For a perfect example of how to balance the seriousness and humor of a Marvel film, you have to look no further than any of the projects that the Russo brothers have worked on. Those two have nailed the perfect balance of seriousness, emotional depth, and humor within their films.
Perfectly balanced. As all things should be.
One more thing that I wanna throw into the “bad” column is yet another Peter Parker gripe. Keep the dang mask on will ya? Seriously. I lost count of how many times Spider-Man took off his mask while in the Spider-Man suit. Look, I get it Tom. You’re a dashing handsome young man who wants to be recognized for the work you’ve put in portraying the famed web-slinger...but that’s why you also play Peter Parker! There is absolutely no reason for him to keep taking off that mask while in the suit. No reason. Now if you wanna see your own sexy face while in the suit, then fine...but at least have it make sense like the previous Spider-Man films where he gets blasted in the face by a grenade, or gets hit by a 40-ton sand-hammer. In either of those cases, I would expect his mask to come off...and at that point we can see your face. But to just keep taking off the mask while in the suit takes me out of the film. It really does.
The End Credits and Secret Invasion??
Okay...we gotta talk about those end credits scenes. They were perhaps the biggest and most consequential ones since the Thanos reveal at the end of the first Avengers film. They were both absolutely massive.
GET ME PICTURES OF SPIDER-MAN
The first end credits scene was a 2-minute rollercoaster of emotions as right off the bat, we see the glorious face of JK Simmons playing none other than A balding J Jonah Jameson!! Holy crap. When I saw this, I immediately got flashbacks of the good ol’ Sam Raimi days when I had no responsibilities other than watching those films for the 600th time. I almost wept tears of joy...but those theoretical tears of joy quickly turned to tears of anger and panic as we learn that Mysterio did indeed have one more trick up his sleeve. Not only did he frame Spider-Man for his murder...but he framed Spider-Man for the whole thing AND REVEALED HIS IDENTITY TO THE WORLD. WTF.
Now I didn’t quite know what to think of this when I first saw it. I was temporarily put in shock...and to be quite honest, I still am pretty surprised that not only did Marvel Studios/Sony have the balls to even think about pulling something like this off, but that they actually went through with it. Now I don’t have any issue with Mysterio framing Spider-Man for his crimes...actually I love it. Not only does that elevate an already-great villain up to mythic status, but it falls directly in line with perhaps Mysterio’s most popular comic book appearance where he ran around New-York framing Spider-Man for various crimes while pretending to save the day. It was a nice nod to the comics and brings his story full circle…however...the decision to have him reveal Spider-Man’s true identity was a head-scratcher.
Now I’m not upset that the world knows who spider-man is. That has already happened in the comics (In Civil War to be precise). I am upset about the nonchalant way that Marvel Studios went about it. I have always felt that Marvel was too relaxed about Peter’s identity, and it was even worse in this film with multiple characters calling him out and seemingly figuring it out for themselves (as well as him taking off his dang mask every two seconds). That is just not in line with the comics, and although some may claim that it’s a realistic take...these movies aren’t really supposed to be grounded in reality. That has always been Marvel’s brand. I think it’s disrespectful to the original character...but I was ready to accept it by the end of the film. This reveal, however, takes it to a whole new level. While I disagree with the way they went about revealing his identity to the world (I wish it had been more dramatic and/or emotional with some sense of weight and meaning behind the decision), I certainly understand the motivation to do it. Now they don’t have to worry about keeping his identity a secret from the world (as well as having it make sense), and Tom can run around mask-less all he wants. Like I said...I don’t really agree with it, but perhaps I can accept it as long as it plays out the right way going forward. At this point, I trust Marvel to make the right creative decisions in regards to their film universe, and I guess we will just have to wait and see how this plays out and wait until the true motivations behind this reveal are uncovered. Until then, I’ll remain a tad bit salty.
Bitch Please You’ve Been to Space
Now the second post-credits scene was just as significant as the first, as we find out that the Nick Fury we have seen throughout the film is not actually Nick Fury...but a Skrull agent posing as Nick (The one we see in Captain Marvel). Now they also mentioned that there are Skrull Sleeper agents all over earth, and one cannot help but recognize the significance of these reveals. First, it all but confirms the MCU’s plan for an eventual Secret Invasion storyline, but there is one major hole in that theory.
The skrulls are good.
Now making the skrulls good guys in Captain Marvel was something I was absolutely furious about (although I did quite enjoy the film). In the comics, the Skrulls are perhaps the most devious, ruthless, and evil of all the alien races that the heroes come into contact with, and making them good in the movies goes directly against everything established in the comics. However, once I actually got to thinking about this, I realized that only a few of the Skrull refugees were shown to be good...and we still don’t know if we can even trust them. For all we know, they are just pretending to be good so they could become good friends with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury in order to get all the intel and resources at their fingertips. If they were to indeed go that route, and reveal the Skrulls to be double-agents this whole time prepping earth for the “Secret Invasion”...I think that could end up being one of the great twists in modern cinematic storytelling. Especially if they continue to build them up as good guys.
The other route they could take would be to keep the established Skrulls good which is, in the grand scheme of things, just a small rogue group of refugees who grew fond of earth and its inhabitants. Eventually, they would bring the real skrull army, headed up by the Super-Skrull who are, in fact, as evil as they are in the comics. They would proceed to fight and kill the good skrulls and activate the sleeper agents on earth, causing a massive event worthy of the Avengers Assembling once again. Either way, the Skrulls need to be revealed to be evil. It’s absolutely essential. If they try to do a secret invasion story arc where the skrulls are good guys, it would completely ruin it. For me at least.
Anyways, it is also revealed that the real Nick is somewhere in space on what we can only assume is a either a huge Kree (or skrull) ship. This plays further into the secret wars story arc, and it’s anyone’s guess what Nick is actually doing up there, but I have a few theories.
Nick could be there helping Captain Marvel with her various space-cleaning duties while, at the same time, setting up and establishing the organization known as S.W.O.R.D which is essentially S.H.I.E.L.D but in space. Their job is to protect the earth from interstellar threats, while SHIELD is busy protecting earth from its own inhabitants. I think this is probably the most likely reason he is up there...as Captain Marvel will essentially be taking over the role of Captain America, and with most of the major threats coming from space, the secretive organization will need to eventually go spaceborn, so to speak.
Nick is up there because the Kree-Skrull war is still raging on in full-effect, and Captain Marvel needs his genius insight and war-planning. This, I think, is also likely, but it’s not nearly as cool as theory number 1...which would prove to be much more impactful for the MCU down the line. Samuel L. Jackson isn’t getting any younger...it’s time to establish S.W.O.R.D.
This post credit scene also poses the question of how long Nick has actually been gone from earth. How long has he been up in space? When did he leave? When will he come back? Was that even Nick at Tony’s funeral? There are so many of these questions that I’m sure will be answered soon enough, but the potential implications behind Nick being absent from earth are huge. It also means that Spider-Man is very much alone on earth, as almost every hero is absent along with Nick Fury. That means that right now...Spider-Man is earth’s only real protector (Besides Black Panther, but who knows where he is right now) and he’s kind of dealing with his own problems right now (per the first end-credits sequence). This leaves earth extremely vulnerable.
Extremely Vulnerable.
Does it Deserve an “A”?
Spider-Man: Far From Home while extremely entertaining film with great action, an amazingly well-written villain, and spectacular visuals, falls flat in certain areas...especially those pertaining to Peter Parker and his human side. Nevertheless, it succeeds in what it sets out to do...which is provide a satisfying epilogue for Avengers: Endgame, while tying together the first three phases of the MCU together with a neat little bow. While Marvel/Sony certainly haven’t produced the ultimate quintessential Spider-Man film yet, they have done a remarkably good job with their first two entries into the Spider-Verse, and I can only see it going up from here. Perhaps the next film will take place when Peter is a little older and perhaps more emotionally invested in his friendships and his fresh relationship with Mary Jane. Only time will tell. As for the grade I am giving this film...after much thought and deliberation I am prepared to award this film with a grade of….
Drum roll please…..
B+
A great film, but not perfect.
I absolutely adore this world that Marvel/Sony are building up for Peter, and I can’t wait to see what is in store for the web-slinger, as well as the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Until then…..
-SAF