My original score for this movie when I saw it in theatres was an A-, and that was before the news was announced that Spider-Man was being pulled from the MCU. After that news went viral, I thought back to how good Far from Home really was. Cause this is not the first time a planned trilogy has been cancelled that I really really wanted to see; best examples are M. Night Shayamalan’s planned Airbender franchise (I’m the only one I know who actually enjoyed that movie), or the Percy Jackson movie series, or the most recent live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies or the Kick-Ass movies. I then realized, if Far from Home is the last we’ll see of Tom Holland in the cinematic universe, it was worthy. And now that he’s back in (for now…) I realized that this movie is actually a lot better than I initially thought!
Long story short, this manages to be just on the same level as Spider-Man 2 and Into the Spiderverse. Now, no one else in my family has seen this yet, and only my sister and I have seen Avengers: Endgame. Even my uncle who loves movies as much as I do and superheroes much more hasn’t seen it yet. But at this point we’ve reached a crescendo where it’s completely required to have seen Endgame first before this film. Because the first minute of Far From Home spoils all the twists, turns, and tragedies of Endgame, and if you’re spoiled through them, chances are you’ll hate on this movie as a result, which wouldn’t be fair to a very badass Spider-Man entry. One Spider-Man himself won’t ever recover from…
Spider-Man: Far from Home is being treated as a dessert, or air freshener after the humongous heap of amazement that was Endgame. Makes sense, considering this takes place in a school field trip, for everyone to try to get themselves back on track after an event that changed everyone’s lives on the entire planet. People have changed, grown up, and have made numerous jokes at the school about their bizarre circumstances, as well as a Getty-Images photo of candles to reminisce about those that didn’t survive the Infinity War and Endgame. Anyway, Peter Parker has a new crush, after Liz had to move away, and who other than a new crush named MJ? And this MJ is no Kirsten Dunst, the same way Flash is not a bully this time; she’s her own new thing, someone who hates sunshine and rainbows and loves goth and proper partying. The hiccup is, apart from the usual can’t-talk-to-girls we saw of Parker in Homecoming, MJ seems semi-interested in Brad Davis (no, not the guy who played Billy Hayes in Midnight Express) a kid who literally grew up overnight and is totally different from how everyone remembers him. But that’ll have to be on hold when Nick Fury finally stops trying to contact Parker, who’s attempted to ghost him so he can just have his nice trip through Europe, and visits him personally with a tranq gun. Something big is about to happen, and despite the successful killing of three strange element demons at the hands of a seemingly new Avenger, this next one that’s perceived to come is the strongest of them all.
One of the main conflicts is the usual power-and-responsibility shtick, but Marvel always knows how to twist shtick into think. (That’s really hard to say.) Peter is now an Avenger, and the Avengers are now trying to recover and figure out what they’re to do now, giving him a bit of a possible spotlight for runner-up Avenger leader, but he’s not even finished high school yet. Besides, he doesn’t always mind going for the big boys, but he mostly wants a normal life balanced out with his saving of the neighbourhoods. He doesn’t feel up for any more responsibility when all he wants is to talk to his new crush. As someone who constantly juggles projects and sets deadlines for himself, I wished I could share my frustrations with Peter.
The movie’s also seriously smart with its script. Marvel’s screenwriters are the top of the chain. I’ll never be able to write “Initiating strike!” “…Initiating what now?” in a future book, and I hate that. The humour in these films almost never fails to tickle us until we’re feeling that same Peter tingle.
Now, I liked Spider-Man: Homecoming well enough, but it’s still one of my least favourite Marvel films, and that’s primarily because the secret identity plot-line felt overly familiar at this point, and Iron Man’s appearances in the film were completely condescending and arrogant. Tony Stark ends up scolding Parker for things that weren’t his fault and when it was over, there was so much more I felt there could’ve been. Far From Home now shoves all the responsibility onto Parker, but it focuses more on the quite brilliant action sequences, especially at the hands of Mysterio, a guy who my uncle gushes about because of how cool, and, well, mysterious he was in the comic books.
One little flaw. We hear everyone, or at least anyone that immediately comes to Parker’s mind before Nick menacingly says “Don’t invoke her name” when he says Captain Marvel (breath in) is busy. It’s a little tiring at this point in the MCU to dismiss the other possibilities of recurring characters just with the snap of a finger, as if the story is in some sort of hurry that it isn’t. There’s also a side relationship that does something unfavourable for a quick laugh at the end, and I also felt this movie could’ve waited a little longer for its release, letting us exhale a bit, cause by the end, while it was exciting, I felt it established a plethora of brand new conflicts when we’re still trying to wrap our heads around Endgame. But these are minor in the grand scheme of how epic of a kick-starter this film really is for the fourth chapter of the sensational Marvel Cinematic Universe. I can’t wait to see this movie again with my uncle; that is, once he sees Endgame first.
William J. McGinn 