After the events of "Avengers: Endgame", the world tries to get back to as much of a semblance of normalcy as one can expect in the Marvel universe. As such, the students of Midtown High School's science club are off on a trip to Europe. Peter Parker (Tom Holland), trying to find some kind of escape from the crushing pressure of being "the next Iron Man," eagerly leaps at the chance to not only take a well-deserved vacation, but to confess his feelings for MJ (Zendaya). As the old Parker Luck would have it, giant elemental monsters arrive to complicate matters. It's up to Spider-Man and the strange new hero Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) to save the world.
Spider-Man: Far From Home, like the titular character himself, has big shoes to fill. Avengers: Endgame is a tough act to follow with its grand finale feel, visual spectacle, emotional payoffs, and obscenely high blockbuster profits. The world is looking for its next great hero, the standard bearer, someone who will be the hero they need. It's a relatable sentiment given the state of the world and how depressing and morose it can be. Everywhere we look, our institutions are failing to live up to the lofty ideals set forth by their progenitors. Childhood heroes are found out to be charlatans or to be just as heartbreakingly human as the rest of us. There's a very real fear that no one can measure up to the high standards our heroes put forth and the very idea of trying sets us all up for failure. The theme of failing to live up to lofty expectations runs throughout this movie with the subtlety of literally being hit by a train. Unfortunately, Spider-Man: Far From Home far from sticks the landing in terms of a good follow-up to Endgame and as a Spider-Man movie on its own.
There are a lot of unnecessary plot elements that make this story a, for lack of a better term, tangled mess. For instance, there is a subplot featuring a relationship between Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and Betty Brant (Angourie Rice) which is there to give Ned some flat comedic moments and by the end is literally dropped, having had no bearing on the overall story whatsoever. You could have not even mentioned it with a few writing tweaks and it would add just as much. Also, without giving too much away, the inclusion of certain characters only makes sense when it comes to a post-credits scene that, I think, is supposed to set up the next arc of movies. But, just like Ned and Betty's whirlwind romance, it's completely superfluous in the grand scheme of things and ends up just being fanservice for the sake of fanservice. There's also a rival for MJ's affections, but it's dropped like a bad habit halfway through the movie and the character's involvement is rendered pointless after a dopey, overly complicated scene with a drone, Stark tech glasses and "wacky Parker hijinks."
I had a feeling that the storytellers here didn't really know what kind of Peter Parker they want to make a story out of. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter showcases multiple instances of intelligence, ingenuity and inventiveness despite his inexperience. He's able to create his own web fluid via chemistry sets and using high school engineer labs to investigate alien technology. In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter is more or less Tony Stark's superhero heir apparent. Almost everything he has is just handed down to him. Spider-Man in the comics, even when he asks for help on something, is a do-it-yourself kind of person, despite being in way over his head. Either Peter is the average kid from Queens who happens to be Tony Stark's chosen successor, or he's a science whiz who has resources he either borrowed or was gifted from Tony.
The comedic parts that don't come from the occasional one-liner from Ned or Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury come from what's basically referred to in the comics as "The old Parker Luck." A series of events conspire in such a way to make Spider-Man/Peter's life much more complicated, contrived, or comedic than it needs to be. Though, the way they chose to showcase said bad fortune here and come off as cheap and flat. One example is a scene when Peter is trying to stop a bell tower from falling and bangs his head on said bell within at least twice in an almost Buster Keaton-style, accompanied by a comedic GONG sound. The comedy should come from Peter's wisecracks as Spider-Man, which he doesn't do even once. Most of the supposed laughs come from "LOL so awkward because teenagers, amirite?"
There's a lot of repetition and over-tread territory. Peter is given something from Tony, he does something or something happens to cause him to lose it or give it up, and by the end Peter has to save the day his own way with his own ingenuity and cleverness. The catalyst of the story centers around a retconned connection with Tony and either an oversight on his part or a mistake he didn't know he'd made. Though I do find the continuity a bit more wisely used in this movie than a simple "What if thieves scavenged alien technology for heists" in Homecoming.
Speaking of Iron Man, his spectre looms large over not just the plot, but the entire movie. Almost every meaningful conversation from the villain rant to Peter's near countless mope-sessions almost all involve Tony at some point. I understand the loss may be fresh, and it would take time to heal from losing not only a mentor, but a father figure. But I was under the impression that this story was more about Spider-Man than it was about Tony Stark, as well as having to deal with the unintended fallout of someone else's life. It relegates Spider-Man to an afterthought in his own movie. It even opens with a tribute to the fallen Avengers from Endgame, but especially Tony. While it does seem hilariously on-brand at first, it gets tedious as the movie goes on.
Despite the objections cited above, Tom Holland is still a likable and charming lead and it's easy to want to root for him as Peter when the world comes crashing down around him. His relationship with Zendaya's plucky MJ makes for some of the sweeter moments that, to be honest, deserved a better film to take place in. Jake Gyllenhaal gives a perfect performance as Mysterio, a special effects wizard and brilliant hologram designer whose sense of entitlement and easily bruised ego lend themselves to a villain who can play a part pretty well up until things start unraveling. The cast all do a good job with the material they're presented and Samuel L Jackson at this point can play Nick Fury in his sleep.
One final note is that the fight scenes with Spider-Man and Mysterio are the highlights of the film by far. It's like a video game cutscene mixed with an acid trip but it provides some of the most interesting visuals in the film, like a gang of Spider-Man pummeling our hero, a zombified Iron Man crawling out of a grave, among others. But as interesting as the fights were and despite a game performance by Gyllenhaal and Holland, Spider-Man: Far From Home is decent enough, but far from perfect.
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