(reviewed by our guest critic: The Movie Knight) When Marvel was finally able to bring Spider-Man into the MCU they used the teenaged years Spidey. In the Avengers movies, they really were able to capture his essence, but his solo adventures have been a different story…
It’s been eight months since the events of Endgame and Tony Stark’s funeral took place. Life, for the most part, has returned to normal. Peter (Tom Holland) his trying his best to live up to Iron Man’s memory, but for now he is just looking forward to his upcoming high school European trip. He’s especially looking forward to having more time to get closer to the girl he likes, MJ (Zendaya). However, the life of a superhero is never easy and when elemental creatures from another dimension start showing up, Nick Fury recruits the webslinger to team up with a new hero, Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) to try to stop them before they can destroy the world.
Spider-Man came to Marvel Studios in 2016, and this will be his fifth appearance. He has only had two directors, the Russo Brothers for his Avengers stories and Jon Watts for his two solo adventures. In addition, there are different writers involved and you can see a difference. The action and humor are much more present when the siblings are behind the camera. Watts is by no means a rookie director, but he’s never tackled films of this scale before. That was a big problem on the two Amazing Spider-Man movies. Marc Webb was an Indie film maker who got thrown in the deep end of the pool and he really couldn’t swim. That franchise ended after only two outings.
However, the director has learned a lot since he made Homecoming and the action is a lot better. This time the battles are against Elementals, that in a way represent classic villains Hydro Man and Molten Man. It is also an odd twist that Spidey is teaming up with Mysterio to fight these creatures when he is one of his oldest foes in the comics.
Some of the best scenes in the movies are when Tom Holland is Peter Parker instead of his alter ego. He has a girl that he likes but becomes a bundle of nerves when he tries talking to her. There are a lot of awkward teenage moments that I am sure plenty of us have gone through. The scenes between him and MJ really stand out. He is also still morning the loss of Tony Stark and many people are looking to him to be the next Iron Man, a burden that weighs down on him heavily. The more human aspect of this tale is what helps separate it and makes it special.
Diversity is the one element that really separated this new series from other superhero tales. The character was first created in the early 1960s and even though the hero was based out of Queens, almost every supporting character was white. In Far From Home Peter’s best friend Ned Leeds is Filipino, MJ is part African American even Flash Thompson, a chief rival of Peter’s in the comics, is of Guatemalan decent. While some fans may not like these casting choices, that is THEIR problem. It is a welcome aspect to these movies.
One of the weaker points is the writing. The studio brought in two of the writers from Homecoming, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers and it feels like they just want to ignore what has come before and write their own movie, damn continuity. There were some glaring example last time and they continue here, even with simple stuff like Peter’s age. It is revealed he is 16, but the last adventure took place two years prior, plus the extra eight months previously mentioned. How do you mess that up? Also, the great one liners Spider-Man is known for were present in the Avenger movies, but barely make an appearance here. As a fan, it just feels like a slap in the face.
It’s doubtful if the creative team behind the story will get replaced since the movie is a guaranteed hit. Hero and Villain could be locked in a two-hour battle playing checkers and it would still make at least $300 million domestic. Fans are going to be hungry for another Spider-Man as soon as possible and while this movie can be described as “Better than the last one,” you would hope that the studio will be striving for higher praise next time.
3 Tiaras