Spider-Man: Far from Home a fun, breezy European holiday

Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Far from Home. Image courtesy Columbia Pictures.

Spider-Man: Far from Home's biggest success is simply not dropping the ball following one of the biggest movies of all time. It's breezy and funny, pretty well written with an inspired villain for the young webslinger to tangle against. Yet it still feels slightly hollow in comparison to the gravitas of the film preceding it in the Marvel franchise and the excellent Spider-Man movie that came out just six months prior. Good is a fine thing for any movie to be – many movies aspire to meet that expectation – but Far from Home would rather be good than aspire for greatness.

Months after the events of Avengers: End Game, Far from Home shows what has happened to the world following the Hulk's un-snapping (called the blip in this movie). Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is forced to start the school year over again with his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), his crush MJ (Zendaya), Ned's new girlfriend Betty (Angourie Rice), the hunky Brad Davis (Remy Hii), and the disgustingly wealthy Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori). As they travel to Europe on a class trip, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) recruits Peter to fight alongside the peculiar Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) to stop the final Elemental monster from destroying the world. As Peter battles an unknown villain, he grapples with his feelings for MJ, the budding romance between Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), and his doubts that he is qualified to replace Iron Man.

In terms of character development giving Spider-Man an epic case of self doubt makes sense. Despite battling Thanos and traveling through space, Spider-Man hasn't really proven himself against a large-scale villain. He's still just a kid from New York, more accustomed to fighting muggers and thieves and the parents of his crushes instead of world-destroying monsters. Add in the pressure of replacing Iron Man (and to a degree Captain America) and it produces a kid who really just wants to be on vacation and be honest with his crush. Spider-Man's battle is as much against the villains as it is against himself as he searches for his true self, and it's a narrative the film does well to mine to differentiate this Peter Parker from previous iterations.

 

Truth though is a hard thing to find in Far from Home. The film dedicates ample time to exploring the subject both in Peter's dive into his inner truth and the loss of a true reality for people to grab onto. Nothing in this movie is as it seems, and it becomes more and more difficult to parse out the real from the manufactured. As one character references as the film ends, the people will believe what they want them to believe because they control the narrative. Endless points about the modern state of media and the inability to believe the narrators can be tossed right in here, but for the film it's a pretty clever way of building suspense and giving Spider-Man a new sort of villain to fight. This also contrasts nicely to Spider-Man's inherent decency. His first instinct is to believe in sincerity; a villain that takes advantage of that is one capable of rocking Spider-Man's worldview.

The film's psychology is far more interesting than the action sequences. Far from Home doesn't get a lot of traction from the fight scenes with the Elementals, as the choreography is mundane and shot with little craft or care. The villain is a part of the issue on this – the villain isn't much of a fighter – which leaves few if any opportunities for Spider-Man to brawl. This should be the character's specialty, as the webs are designed to bring the fight to him and not as a projectile to launch like Thor's lightning or even Captain America's shield. The film went for big on its action sequences, but exchanging practicality for grandiosity does the character a disservice. The movie would be far more satisfying if Spider-Man could just punch a guy every now and then.

Admittedly the film's greatest failing is one that can't be helped – being released six months after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Far from Home just can't compare to the brilliance of Into the Spider-Verse, and it feels a bit lacking as a film because audiences have already seen a better, more interesting portrayal of this character. The comparison isn't completely off base – Far from Home references and gently mocks the premise for Into the Spider-Verse, which isn't a favorable look for the former film. Far from Home is a little underwhelming, which fits a franchise about trying to live up to expectations. 

 

There's still a lot to like about Far from Home. Portraying MJ as a smart, morbid, awkward teen is a smart reinvention for the character fitting both the actress and the tone of the film. The breezy tone is a nice shift following End Game, a nice treat after the three-hour marathon of the last Avengers movie. Far from Home is the walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth; it's not quite a home run, but it's more than enough to win the game.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

 

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 129 minutes

Genre: Action

tl;dr

What Worked: Humor, Jake Gyllenhaal, Zendaya

What Fell Short: Action Sequences, Length

What To Watch As Well: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming

Homecoming gives Spider-Man a fresh start

Spider-Man (Tom Holland) keeps things together in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Image courtesy Sony.

One of the things that makes Spider-Man: Homecoming fun and worthwhile is the direction Marvel took eponymous character. Or, rather, the direction they didn’t take in what is, technically, a reboot for a flailing franchise. Instead of going back to the beginning and rehashing the origin story, this movie is about the growing pains the character suffers after discovering his powers but not quite learning how to control them either. Homecoming is proof that watching a hero fail repeatedly can be more interesting than watching them succeed.

Shifting focus away from a retreaded origin story makes a lot of sense. Practically speaking the Spider-Man origin story is well-covered territory in comics, cartoons and movie theaters (this marks the fifth Spidey flick in the last 15 years). Marvel – taking over the creative work from Sony – banked on the character being known enough to make a reboot redundant, and the result is a movie focused less on how Peter Parker (now played by Tom Holland) became Spider-Man and more on the aforementioned trials and errors he endures to become a hero. Unlike in previous iterations in which the follies are glossed over, this mid-teen Spider-Man spends most of the movie crashing into walls and rooftops and succeeding because of his wits but in spite of his inherent clumsiness. Even his big battle with Adrian Toomes/the Vulture (Michael Keaton) is won by Spidey's ability to find moderate competence. This isn't necessarily new ground for a superhero movie, but it is a refreshing break from the strict formula Marvel and D. C. have followed in recent years.

Homecoming is refreshing, light summer flick of a movie. A fair portion of the story takes place in and around Parker's high school and involve the foibles of his best friend (Jacob Batalon), crush (Laura Harrier), rival (Tony Revolori) and constant observer Michelle (Zendaya). The setting is smart for a movie about Spider-Man, as his high school misadventures are often overshadowed by dangerous opponents and the fact that previous actors to receive radioactive spider bites are far too old for high school (Holland at least looks the part). Homecoming follows the same path as the better Marvel movies by blending the superhero genre with something else, in this case the classic John Hughes movie. What that provides is a balance for the life of a superhero against the inherent drama of being a teenager, with the obligations of homework, detention, and constant supervision by his protective Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) getting in the way of the superhero responsibilities.

In a universe populated by gods and aliens and green monsters rocking purple pants, everything in Homecoming is refreshingly human. The closest thing to a super powered being this movie has is Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), whose powers are based on his relentless drive and inability to just stop tinkering with the things around him. He's also sort of a villain in this movie because of his incessant meddling, or at least the impetus for the start of the Vulture's career as a villain. One of the common traits for these Marvel movies is the consequences of heroism, or at least what happens when Tony Stark messes up and the effect his failures have on the world around him. Stark's business pursuits nearly cost Toomes his livelihood, directing a person who is at heart a working class fellow to turn to crime to support his family. His grand plan does not entail destroying the world or taking over the universe; he just wants his family to live in a nice house and to keep his friends employed, at least until the life of crime inevitably corrupts his sense of morality. One scene in particular reveals how conflicted Toomes is as a person, understanding the good his enemy has done but still willing to kill if it means keeping his family safe. That combination, along with a great performance by Keaton, makes him the perfect starter villain for an inexperienced Spider-Man.

Homecoming’s main downer are a few false notes it hits in the third act. They’re rooted in the one cliché it couldn't avoid; the hero's moments of self doubt that require deep existential pondering. It would have been more interesting if the movie was willing to step around that trap, but as is Homecoming remains refreshingly enjoyable and an excellent restart for Spider-Man.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 133 minutes

Genre: Action

Ask Away

Target audience: Viewers who continue to follow everything happening in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Take the whole family?: This is a tamer PG-13 movie, so bringing the kids along to watch it won't be too rough on them.

Theater or Netflix?: It's big enough effects wise to justify a theater experience.

Is there an end credit scene?: There sure is, and it is my favorite MCU one thus far. It's worth sticking around for because it pays off a recurring joke and hits the tone of the movie itself. Nothing groundbreaking is revealed, although it serves as a pretty great capper to a very good movie.

Watch this as well?: This movie falls just a few steps short of besting Spider-Man 2, one of the great superhero movies. The first Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst is worth a watch, as are a few of the cartoons that have come out. I'm partial to the Spider-Man animated series from mid 1990s; that, plus X-Men, made for a pretty solid Saturday morning