REVIEW: 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' is a familiar welcome-back hug
Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Holland star in Spider-Man: Far From Home, directed by Jon Watts.
*contains minor spoilers*
Spider-Man: Far From Home is like cold pizza the day after a rough night; it hits the spot and satisfies, but you regret putting yourself in this position in the first place. So much of Tom Holland’s second solo venture as Spider-Man is tied to Iron Man and Avengers: Endgame that you half-expect another superhero to show up, and it’s oddly weird that no one does. The end result is another competent entry in the MCU, the final chapter in the universe’s Phase 3, but a film that doesn’t stand out on its own.
Set immediately after the Infinity War, Peter Parker (Holland) returns to Queens after being gone for five years, a period the MCU has termed “the blip”. Those who turned to dust, including Peter, resume their lives where they left off, and for him that means returning to high school as a 16-year-old teen. (It’s a clever way for the MCU to not concern itself with filling in the gaps, and to continue its current timeline). Tired of great responsibilities, Peter looks forward to a trip to Europe with his buddies, including best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and love interest MJ (Zendaya).
Their trip is interrupted by Elementals, giant CGI monsters each made of earth, wind, fire and water (unfortunately without an accompanying R&B/soul theme). Nick Fury asks Spider-Man for help, and they’re aided by Mysterio a.k.a. Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), a superhero from an alternate reality, Earth-833. (The home of Spider-UK, for you comic book nerds, and a hint to the final battle set in London.) Spider-Man, once again, has to save the city and balance his superhero responsibilities against his own adolescent urges, which is not so subtle with its “web shooter” jokes, shockingly of which there were more than one.
The key to Far From Home, as it was with Spider-Man: Homecoming, is its villain. Peter’s a very uninteresting character because he can only be making youthful mistakes for so long before it gets boring and infuriating (this is technically the third “Spider-Man 2”), so a lot of this hinges on Gyllenhaal being an interesting villain. Unfortunately, he’s not. Much of it is because of the character’s own origins; in the comics, Mysterio was a jaded illusionist whose motivations were always kind of nebulous (he wanted attention?), but even with a new backstory for the film built-in, it’s still bewildering what exactly his goals really were. Gyllenhaal is great, especially when he’s raging mad, but he’s not given much to say (save one very long exposition disguised as a speech), and the flashbacks are too difficult to understand without, yup, Iron Man’s help.
Zendaya returns as MJ.
Iron Man has made such an imprint on Spider-Man’s DNA that everything in this film is tinged with it, including perhaps-not-so-surprisingly, Mysterio himself. Only footage from the Iron Man films were used, but maybe it would’ve been nice to see Robert Downey Jr. and Gyllenhaal engage each other. It would’ve revealed so much more about their characters and pit two really great actors against one another. But, hey, the contract was up and his time was done, though it proves how vital Downey Jr. still is to the MCU, and in particular to Spider-Man, whom he and Captain America pretty much spawned. (Captain America: Civil War is a romantic drama and Spider-Man is basically their love child).
The fun part, as always with Holland as the generally likeable but kind of whiny teen Peter, is when Peter is interacting with his high school pals. Cut out all the Spider-Man sequences and you’d have a pretty good romantic teen drama, and Zendaya’s stock is at an all-time high now with two excellent turns as MJ and starring in HBO’s much-talked-about Euphoria. It makes the other half of the film, the Spider-Man part, weak in comparison, when ideally it should be its biggest selling point. Mysterio’s illusions were a huge, HUGE highlight, but the Elementals and some of the web sequences lacked imagination and humour, rendering them dull and boring. The final battle? Another CGI extravaganza.
It’s really too bad that this was released so close to the far superior Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which had much similar themes – growing up, filling big shoes, a friend/mentor who is later revealed to be a foe, renewed optimism – but executed it so much better. It’s a little unfair to Far From Home, but the bar has been set very high by both Spider-Verse and Avengers: Infinity War. It does very much succeed, however, in making you interested in Phase 4, which will have the concluding chapter in this trilogy and sequels for Doctor Strange, Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy. Marvel wins again.
Spider-Man: Far From Home gets three stars out of four.
Bold predictions:
It grosses less than Homecoming ($880 million) and settles in around $800-850 million and fourth place this year behind Aladdin.
The Osborns will not make an appearance at any point. Neither will Black Cat.
The X-Men will be introduced in the sequel.
For the second straight time in this trilogy, the villain of the film is featured in the cold open. In the third film, the cold open will feature the formation of the Sinister Six. And it will feature the original Sinister Six.
It was rumoured Doctor Strange would appear in this film. He doesn’t. But he will appear in the next film, in which Spider-Man will (should?) face his greatest physical test (Sinister Six??) but get help from Strange, who shows him alternate dimensions (Miles Morales???). If Benedict Cumberbatch gets six appearances, the upcoming Doctor Strange and Spider-Man sequels will be his fourth and fifth. Reserve the sixth for another possible Avengers 2.0 team-up and it fits.