Review: Well, You Won’t Hate Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home
What a time to be a Spider-fan. Within the scope of a single year, we’ve gotten the best Spider-Man movie ever, the best Spider-Man video game ever, and the biggest crossover superhero movie ever made, with an emotional climax that hinged on... the reemergence of Spider-Man.
It’s that last movie, Avengers: Endgame, that offers the best explanation for the curiously insubstantial Spider-Man: Far From Home, which is designed to be a cheerful crowd-pleaser and not much else. The last few Marvel movies have put Peter Parker through the wringer. Who could blame him for leaving the Spider-Man suit in the closet and going on a well-deserved vacation?
The problem, as anyone who has sat through a relative’s endless slideshow can attest, is that watching someone else’s vacation just isn’t that interesting. Far From Home almost openly acknowledges its triviality in the greater scope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, building the spine of its story on a world that doesn’t quite know how to move on without Iron Man. If Endgame was a massive feast designed to sate the appetites of fans who had seen 21 movies to prepare for it, Far From Home is the digestif: Sweet, nutrition-free, and—when considered in the context of the whole meal—forgettable.
The most interesting thing about Far From Home is the setting, which answers a few lingering questions about the aftereffect of Endgame. It’s essentially a reverse Leftovers: How would the world change if billions of dead people suddenly reappeared on the Earth? Far From Home isn’t really interested in exploring this question all that seriously, but we hear some interesting stories about people reappearing in apartments that had since been rented to other families, and Peter Parker’s high school is awkwardly divided between students that disappeared and students that didn’t.
But even more than the reemergence of billions of people, Far From Home is interested in a world without Iron Man. Tony Stark is dead, but his ghost lingers over the movie: In classroom drawings and murals that loom over cities, in a cheesy-sounding documentary about his life and work, and in a tender, generous parting gift he leaves for Peter Parker.
That last bit is intended to cement Parker as his protege, but it just ends up freaking the kid out. After dabbling in superheroism—and having a fairly disastrous time—all Parker really wants to do is go on a class trip to Europe and confess his crush to MJ (on top of the Eiffel Tower, natch). But shortly into the trip, Parker discovers, inevitably, that abandoning life as a superhero isn’t so easy. Nick Fury shows up in his hotel room and asks for help defeating a group of monstrous weather-giants called the Elementals, who have been popping up all over Europe.
Like Spider-Man: Homecoming’s extended trip to Washington, D.C., Far From Home attempts to shake up the New York City-based web-slinger’s formula by staging its action scenes in cities like Venice, Prague, and London. The problem is that Marvel’s house style—collapsing buildings and beams of energy, basically—doesn’t really allow for the kind of geographical specificity that can benefit from a European travelogue. Apart from a winningly trippy sequence at the center of the movie, which feels like a close cousin to Doctor Strange’s more interesting scenes, this movie might as well take place at the airport from Captain America: Civil War.
But as a whole, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been better at delivering great characters than delivering great action. On that score, Far From Home largely echoes—but never exceeds—what returning director Jon Watts already accomplished in Homecoming. The fresh-faced, squeaky-voiced Holland remains an ideal avatar for Peter Parker, balancing teenage gawkiness with bone-deep goodness. Zendaya’s deadpan, impossible-to-read MJ is still a smart counterpoint to Holland’s earnestness, and the awkwardness of their romance is more interesting than anything Holland gets to do in the Spider-Man suit. Most of the teens from Homecoming return, and all of them get at least one good scene or line.
And then there’s the new guy. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Quentin Beck, a.k.a. Mysterio, a newly emerged superhero who aims to pick up where Tony Stark left off. Filled with doubts about his ability to live up to Stark’s legacy, Parker finds a sympathetic ear and a new mentor in Mysterio, who cuts an eccentric-but-dashing figure as he flies around slicing up the Elementals like… well, like a much-needed Iron Man surrogate.
That’s as much as I can say about the story—but that doesn’t mean Spider-Man: Far From Home holds any real surprises. Spider-fans will predict exactly where Far From Home is going, and general audiences shouldn’t have much trouble either.
In the end, Far From Home’s non stop barrage of jokes ends up being much more memorable than the story—which is probably for the best, since the jokes are also much better. More than any other Spider-Man movie ever released, Far From Home is gossamer-thin, with a narrative that barely even pretends the villains pose a serious threat. And coming at the end of such a densely interconnected string of movies, it’s striking how much Far From Home stands on its own. If you’re invested in the grander tapestry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, literally everything "important" that happens in Far From Home happens after the credits roll. (There are a few deep-cut callbacks throughout that are designed to make fans smile.)
And while I appreciate Marvel’s willingness to put out a movie that can stand on its own, I wish it was for something more interesting than Far From Home, which doesn’t have a single scene that can even approach the best part of Homecoming. You can’t get too frustrated with a movie this cheery and good-natured. But at 23 movies and counting—with no end in sight—it’s probably time to start raising the bar for what constitutes a good Marvel movie. In a world with an Into the Spider-Verse, it’s not enough for a Spider-Man movie to be "better than The Amazing Spider-Man 2." In a world with a Black Panther, it’s not enough for a Marvel blockbuster to be "better than Thor: The Dark World." You’re not going to hate Far From Home, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that this Phase Three epilogue could have aimed a little higher and been a lot better.
Originally Appeared on GQ
