I said before the movie was out, that if anyone was going to handle the emotional impact of Tony Stark’s death, it was Tom Holland. He can act and the guy can really pull on your emotional strings and drag your sorry ass into tears. Yet Spider-Man: Far From Home takes the easy way out. It tries to avoid the emotions and diverts us away from sadness with a more humour filled approach. Can’t say I’m mad about it but I’m not exactly thrilled either.
Spoilers ahead.
It’s hard to say this but my rating for Spider-Man: Far From Home is strongly guided by my love for both Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal. They are great, the press tour delivered us some amazing videos and memes, plus Gyllenhaal entered into an entertaining Instagram mode. In other words, the social media presence was glorious all on its own. But the higher rating does not mean I’m not fully aware of the problems Marvel faces with these supporting movies. Weak writing.
Make no mistake, this is not the only Marvel movie that has fallen into the said trap of putting the emphasis more on the comedy/action that the drama. And it probably won’t be the last. But what bothers me the most is the time jump right in the beginning. As I said, starting off this review, Tom Holland would have been perfect to deliver hardcore crying scenes after Tony Starks death. A heartbreaking scene of him falling into aunt May’s arms, crying, feeling utterly alone, breaking down after the funeral? Holland would have nailed it. Yet, they opted out for a half comedic montage.
Bitch, please! You’ve been to space.
– Nick Fury
That being said, I’m still a huge fan of Spider-Man and I think the third act of Far From Home really brought it all together nicely. The set up was good, the CGI was brilliant, and there were various well made action scenes throughout the movie that deserve a nod. I thought Holland was great and you can see he has fun with the role when it allows him to. Gyllenhaal had fun too, maybe even a tad bit too much, as some of his scenes felt a little frizzy.
Although, again, it’s more to do with writing than anything. Chris McKenna wrote the first Spider-Man and Ant-Man and The Wasp, which explains a few things. He is good with humour, but he lacks a little with everything else. The balance was simply off. Even when Mysterio was trying to be all profound and deep, it felt too light. I’m not saying the humour should have been less present, I’m simply stating that there should have been more depth thrown into emotional scenes.
Spider-Man: Homecoming had one of my favourite villains in the MCU. No joke, I though the Vulture had a good backstory, he was given a solid reasoning for his actions and it all made sense. Mysterio, who is the villain in this, also gets a pretty okay backstory. I do wish it was more fleshed out and the setup of him being a good guy was more natural? Like, you could tell, from the very beginning, that he was going to be the villain. Movie goers are smart people, we will not fall for simple tricks and there should have been more done to divert our attention away from the twist.
The world needs the next Iron Man.
– Peter Parker
Writing all this, it makes it seem as if I disliked Far From Home. I didn’t. Like I said, the third act was amazing, showing off how skilled Spider-Man is. The virtual reality aspect, fucking awesome! Just because it would make so much sense for somebody to use this in a created universe like that. I loved how aunt May was portrayed, rather supportive than overprotective. Enjoyed the jokes, the accidental drone activation, the teenage angst of Peter Parker trying to tell MJ his true feelings. The end credit scenes were great too, even though they overpowered the actual plot of the movie a little.
All in all, I had fun! Tom Holland is still my Spider-Man, Jake Gyllenhaal’s beard appreciation is still going strong and Marisa Tomei, holy cow, that woman turns 55 this year! Hot aunt May was a great decision just because even I had to remind myself not to gaze at Tomei like a hormonal man.
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The movie was too fluffy for me too, this huge thing happened in Endgame and basically all of this was put aside from comedy. I did love the moment when Happy looked at Peter and was reminded of Tony
That scene in that jet was probably the only real emotional moment connecting the movie to Endgame. Maybe the timing of the filming meant they had to keep things hidden and secret? I mean, we all know Tom has spoiled things. 😀 That being said, I feel like every Marvel movie following Endgame would have had a problem. Especially since they were so close together. But yeah, fluffy.. I was in the mood for fluffy luckily.
You’re so, so right. I gave it the same rating as you and my judgement was probably clouded by my love for Gyllenhaal, but when I find myself talking to friends and family about it now I find myself nit picking at things that annoyed me.
Exactly, I feel like the more you think about it, the more you find ways to tare it down. But at the same time, you don’t want to because I feel like everyone involved tried to do their best but just failed to see the actual point. That even tho this YA Spidey is fun, it’s okay to give us a darker movie with heavier emotions.