Spider-man: Far From Home

I think the conversation around this movie is going to be kind of interesting. Civil War and Spider-man: Homecoming were really good introductions to Spider-man joining the MCU universe and I think the thing that they're capitalizing on is a new phenomena that Spider-man is now apart of a larger MCU universe and that opens up a lot of stories you can go with that.

But on the other hand, Far From Home kind of cements the fact that Spider-man, as he stands right now, isn't your friendly neighborhood Spider-man. He's your friend Avenger. While I don't think it ruins the movie, I just think there's a pretty interesting cultural conversation on the direction of the Spider-man franchise moving forward, especially after this film.

Side note: The plot of this movie is pretty contingent on the audience having seen Avengers: Endgame. I figure everyone has seen  Endgame at this point who cares, but in case you haven't, some stuff might get spoiled, but its stuff that was in the trailers so I can't be the only one who is spoiling this.

Far From Home is a really great post Endgame story as it follows Peter Park (played again by Tom Holland) as he returns home after the Snap (or the Blip?) and he's getting back into the swing of high school, while also dealing with the loss of his mentor Tony Stark.

Peter is feeling overwhelmed by the experience he just had as well as people wondering if he's taking over as the new Iron Man in this post Avengers world where Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow (and Vision but who really cares) are gone. So he is looking forward to his class vacation to Europe where he believes he can get close to MJ (played by Zendaya) who he has developed feelings for.

The movie starts off as another high school "coming of age" story where Peter wants to focus on his friends and his high school experience. And right at the point where it's about to get boring, superhero duties come to get him as Nick Fury (played again by Samuel L. Jackson) disrupts Peter's vacation to tell him that there is a new threat that they need his help fighting.

This threat takes the form of giant monsters called Elementals that fight with the power of the elements. And Nick Fury and Spider-man are informed of their threat from a new superhero claiming to be from another dimension by the name of Quentin Beck or Mysterio (played by Jake Gyllenhal).

I think that's a good summary of things because I want to keep the spoilers out of it. I think the marketing for this movie was pretty well done because if you're a Spider-man fan, you might question the nature of Mysterio in this movie. And even if you think you know where this movie is going, there are still twists and turns that makes it pretty damn enjoyable. And if you aren't as familiar, I'll challenge you to go in without doing any research because the movie is just fun and Spider-man and Mysterio's relationship is pretty damn fun overall.

I think everyone did a pretty good job in this film that it was just a fun, unique Spider-man adventure.

Tom Holland returns as Spider-man and I want to caveat this next section by saying, I really like Tom Holland as Peter Parker.

He's smart, he's nerdy, and he's every bit lovable that he was in the previous movies he's been in. My one beef with him is that Tom Holland is falling into the same trap that Andrew Garfield was in in that Peter Parker is just too hot. Seriously, there are far too many scenes where you can see that Tom Holland has worked out immensely for this role, he's got this hair that is amazing, and he is just charming. So much that it's kind of hard to believe that this is the nerdy Peter Parker we know from the comics. I know that they kind of addressed this in Homecoming, how he's in a really smart school and there's a new definition of bullying and nerdism in 2019, but it's still kind of weird.

I'll talk a little bit more in the spoilers review but the truth is, his appearance doesn't take away from the fact that he's still a really great Spider-man. I care about this kid and while he's not the straight up nerd we've come to expect from other Spider-man properties, he's relatable. I'm 27 years old and I identify with this kid as a very fallible superhero balancing life and this life. And that's the big Spider-man theme that they absolutely nailed in this movie, that tug and pull leading to Spider-man being a pretty every man hero.

Jake Gyllenhall is another great standout in the movie. Him and Tom Holland have some great moments in the film and the whole concept of Mysterio is really, REALLY well done in this movie.

I liked how the movie played with the potential multiverse elements of this film and what people's reactions are in the real world to a new superhero like Mysterio. This movie really felt like a post-Endgame film because, like the scene from the trailers, you start to feel the impact that movie had on the structure of the Avengers. Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow (pretty key members of the original team we know and love) are gone. Hulk was never an Avenger that came to save the day like Spider-man. Thor's off world a lot of the time, Captain Marvel is off world, Dr. Strange doesn't have that save the world feeling to him. And then as you think about it more, you wonder who else is left? For as many heroes that show up at the end of Endgame, how many are the type that Nick Fury could call upon to solve an issue like Spider-man can? Who is he gonna call? Ant-man?

I thought that was a really interesting concept and it brought a lot to this movie.

The high school environment is pretty fun for the majority of the movie. It brings a lot of the comedy in the film. I do feel like the comedy was really heavy handed in this film and fell back to some of the same Marvel conventions of inserting comedic moments in what should be serious moments, which is always a negative for me.

But I really like Peter's classmates again and they do bring some fun drama for Peter to navigate around, especially including some funny applications of his Spider-man powers in the middle of it without letting anybody see.

I liked Zendaya as a variant of Mary Jane in this movie more than Homecoming. I mentioned in my Spoilers review of Homecoming that my issue with MJ was more on the fact that character-wise, this isn't Mary Jane. My issue was not that Mary Jane was played by a black actor, but that Marvel didn't really own the fact that they're doing something different with the character. MJ is a totally different tenor of a character than Mary Jane was in the comics and Homecoming had this bad Easter Egg way of implementing that change. Far From Home approaches the character better. They more own the fact that this is a new take on the Mary Jane character and they're doing something different and I applaud Marvel for taking that ownership more because I thought MJ was better in this film. Now I think they could do more, and she's still an inconsequential part of Peter Parker's character, but there's inklings that they're getting on a better track, especially near the end. Again, not great, but better. Also, I find Zendaya charming, and I think they give her more to do in this film.

The last thing I want to talk about is something that I think we sometimes take for granted with films like this, and that's the action.

It's a given that Marvel movies are going to have good action, it's kind of a staple of Superhero movies now. But something I think I really appreciated about this movie was the unique and creative ways they utilized Spider-man particular powers.

I had a lot of moments in this film where I was just smiling because of the action and visuals used that reminded me of the comics/other Spider-man properties.

A great example is the Spider-man game on the PS4. The really fun thing about that game is that the combos and actions make you feel like these are unique powers in contrast to someone who is super strong. I think a great thing about this movie (and I don't remember if they did it in Homecoming) was just feeling the weight of the action. Spider-man sets himself apart because he's a high school kid with not much of a clue of what he's doing who is given incredible powers, but incredible responsibility. The action is set up in a way where he knows what he's doing, but you feel the tension still and he's just mortal enough to have a sense of dread. On top of the fact that I was feeling personally connected to the struggle Peter faces in this movie, I really enjoyed the implementation of Spider-man in this sequel.

It's a little bit weird that this is the 3rd Spider-man 2 we've had in close to twenty years. I have only seen this one once, but right now I place it as the middle Spider-man 2. Not as good as the Raimi sequel, but still better than Amazing Spider-man 2.

I feel like the full impact of this movie can't be explained without going into spoilers so this is kind of a two parter with the rest to be explained in the spoiler review.

But for those who haven't seen it yet. Far From Home is a fun film. I think they did a good job and took some risks with this one. Some of them worked, some of them didn't, and some of them still need to develop as the new MCU/Sony deal continues (question mark?). If you're a fan of the MCU, this will be another one you'll want to check out for sure. If you're a hardcore Spider-man fan, there will definitely be things in this movie that you'll like, but there might be some things that might throw you off a little bit. It's definitely a different take on Spider-man and I'm interested to see if they stick the landing of this alternate take.

But those are my thoughts on Spider-man: Far From Home. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!