The first movie in a post-End Game universe is also the last movie featuring an Avenger until likely 2021. How does Spider-Man: Far from Home handle living in the immense shadow of the largest superhero movie of all time? And is this enough to hold us over for the foreseeable future?
Cody: If there's one superhero that I'd pick to usher us into this new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's Spider-Man. My favorite childhood superhero is also arguably the world's favorite superhero, depending on which metric you want to use. At the very least, he is the clear cut top dog on the non-DC side of the fence. This is at least partly because there's so much to relate to in the alter ego of Peter Parker. The other avengers' super selves and regular selves have all melded over time to where the distinction no longer matters. Cap or Steve? Stark or Iron Man? It's all the same difference. In Spider-Man, we get a superhero who battles his responsibility to do good with his understandable desire to just be human. Sometimes this results in infamous swag walks down the sidewalk, but for the most part, it's good theater. Spider-Man's effect on Peter Parker and those close to him has been explored in each of the three series since Sam Raimi's 2002 iteration. So if Spider-Man: Far from Home feels familiar, that's because it is. But is familiar good or just redundant? The backdrop of everything that happened in End Game adds an extra emotional weight to the proceedings. A villain with a modern day evil plot helps as well. In all, this may not have enough punch or grandiose to fulfill us over a long wait for another avenger-centric film, however, it functions well as one long collective exhale after the lengthy build up to and subsequent payoff of End Game.
Roy: How do you follow up End Game? Who would want to follow that? I believe Kevin Fiege knew what he was doing when he chose the Spider-Man sequel for this job. Tom Holland is easily the best Spider-Man we've ever had, and Jake Gylenhall was given an interesting character and did all of the Jake Gylenhall things we have come to expect from him. Was this the cherry on top of the MCU sundae? It's not as easy to answer that question as you might think. I'm not trying to punish Marvel for being good, great even. But this is their what, 26th movie in the MCU? They keep doing the same thing every summer, namely giving us a movie in the B+ - A- range with the occasional A+ sprinkled in. This was a B+. Fun time. Good movie. But at what point does your kid hand you one more B+ and your response is, "Oh hey, good job." That's where I'm at with this. It was well done. I like the characters. It's a good movie. But it didn't bring anything special to the table. But is that really a problem? Has Marvel just completely blown our expectations out of proportion by being too good at their job?
Cody: It's part they've broken our expectations and part stakes. Anything after the universe-is-at-stake level of End Game was going to feel a little flat. It's a testament to the chops over at Marvel Studios that Far from Home is as good as it is. They leaned into being able to still successfully portray these actors as high school kids and turned this thing into a full blown teen movie, with Tom Holland starring as the awkward geek who can't quite work up the courage to make a move on his crush. It was smart to capitalize on that while they still can. In trademark Marvel style, they injected moments of levity and humor expertly throughout. So yea, I guess solid B+ is probably where we land here. Maybe it's good that we're getting a little breather before the next Marvel blockbuster. Let's reset those expectations and get back to B+ feeling like it's better than just a good job.
Cody: This movie is going to be a really interesting one to re-watch going in knowing that everything is an illusion. I 100% knew Mysterio was going to break bad, but I also 0% expected him to be a disgruntled Stark Industries employee using drones to create the illusion of him as a superhero. Just writing that down seems far fetched, but it turned out to be a brilliantly fresh take on a villain. They definitely missed an opportunity to have Mysterio create his own Instagram page to increase his clout. It would have been the absolute cherry on top of this ultra modern evil plan. I wonder if Marvel will ever go back to the multi-verse theory, especially now that they've introduced converging timelines after all the meddling in End Game (also the literal multi-verse in Into the Spider-Verse). Superheroes have always been a little nerdy, but man, we could be headed for next level geek. Comic-Con was when again?
Roy: Like, two.... three? weeks ago.... I love being told what I am gong to nerd out over for the next few years. Except that Phase 4 looks just ok with zero mention of our boy Peter Parker. It appears that Marvel is giving us a pallet cleanser before Phase 5 which will likely see the return of Spidey as well as other heroes that Disney now has their hands on...
Spidey representing how we feel about Far From Home |
Roy: How do you follow up End Game? Who would want to follow that? I believe Kevin Fiege knew what he was doing when he chose the Spider-Man sequel for this job. Tom Holland is easily the best Spider-Man we've ever had, and Jake Gylenhall was given an interesting character and did all of the Jake Gylenhall things we have come to expect from him. Was this the cherry on top of the MCU sundae? It's not as easy to answer that question as you might think. I'm not trying to punish Marvel for being good, great even. But this is their what, 26th movie in the MCU? They keep doing the same thing every summer, namely giving us a movie in the B+ - A- range with the occasional A+ sprinkled in. This was a B+. Fun time. Good movie. But at what point does your kid hand you one more B+ and your response is, "Oh hey, good job." That's where I'm at with this. It was well done. I like the characters. It's a good movie. But it didn't bring anything special to the table. But is that really a problem? Has Marvel just completely blown our expectations out of proportion by being too good at their job?
Cody: It's part they've broken our expectations and part stakes. Anything after the universe-is-at-stake level of End Game was going to feel a little flat. It's a testament to the chops over at Marvel Studios that Far from Home is as good as it is. They leaned into being able to still successfully portray these actors as high school kids and turned this thing into a full blown teen movie, with Tom Holland starring as the awkward geek who can't quite work up the courage to make a move on his crush. It was smart to capitalize on that while they still can. In trademark Marvel style, they injected moments of levity and humor expertly throughout. So yea, I guess solid B+ is probably where we land here. Maybe it's good that we're getting a little breather before the next Marvel blockbuster. Let's reset those expectations and get back to B+ feeling like it's better than just a good job.
Spoilers will now be discussed. It's a Spider-Man movie, so you know, there's some swinging, and web-slinging, and a few other things as well....
Roy: I really liked what Gylenhall did with his character. You like him at first and have no reason not to buy into the multi-verse hook they have been feeding us in the trailers for months. You know he ends up the baddie, you just aren't sure how it's going to happen. When he flips the switch and reveals he's always been bad, but was pretending to be from another universe just so he can use his new tech to fool the world into allowing him to become the next Iron Man... well that was just good writing, and better acting. Mysterio was basically just an amusing jerk who bullied all of his friends. He found others who felt like they got the shaft, just as he had, and built on that foundation. He made us think the world was facing a major end-scenario threat. Which made us feel at home in the Marvel universe. When he pulled the carpet out from underneath us it was a nice change of pace.
Felt cute, might save Prague later, I don't know #Avengers #WhoMe #JustDoingMyJob #StayHumble |
Roy: Like, two.... three? weeks ago.... I love being told what I am gong to nerd out over for the next few years. Except that Phase 4 looks just ok with zero mention of our boy Peter Parker. It appears that Marvel is giving us a pallet cleanser before Phase 5 which will likely see the return of Spidey as well as other heroes that Disney now has their hands on...