While there's plenty to love about Spider-Man: Far From Home, no movie is perfect.
For every great, powerful moment the film delivers, there must also come a responsibility
to acknowledge where the film came up short.
Spoilers ahead.
While Homecoming introduced the world to Zendaya's MJ, Far From Home brings her and Tom Holland's
Peter Parker together romantically, and it's a delight.
The two young actors are able to capture the awkward, budding romance between the two high
schoolers with natural chemistry.
It's a sweet, engaging relationship that holds down the film as Spider-Man battles illusions,
responsibilities, and his grief over Tony Stark's death.
This version of MJ's a bit more sarcastic than previous Spider-Man love interests in
movies and animated shows, but the core of the character shines through beautifully.
Meanwhile, Holland is as great as ever, playing a Peter distinct from both Tobey Maguire and
Andrew Garfield's conceptions of the character while remaining as recognizably Spider-Man
as ever.
While the underlying subtext of Far From Home is pretty clearly about Peter learning that…
"With great power comes great responsibility."
...the actual way the film connects different parts of Peter's life is a lot less focused.
Peter wants to rely on Mysterio because Tony Stark's death has put a lot of pressure on
him, but why?
The first film was about Peter learning to be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and
turning down a spot with the Avengers, so the immediate turnaround in the very next
solo sequel feels weird.
Even with that, Peter's desire for a vacation is pretty relatable it's not like he's letting
a robber run off with money, he's just pretty understandably relieved that a seemingly magic-using
superhero from another earth is willing to take down elemental super-demons.
That's not exactly something that's in Spidey's wheelhouse to begin with, so the idea that
he's somehow failing to live up to his potential rings false.
It's been a long time coming, but we finally got to see classic Spidey villain Mysterio
on the big screen.
The illusionist who uses movie magic to trick and manipulate Spider-Man has seemed like
a perfect fit for Spidey's cinematic adventures.
Surprisingly, though, we've never gotten a proper adaptation.
A planned Spider-Man 4 by Sam Raimi was once rumored to have Bruce Campbell attached to
play the bowl-headed supervillain in a quick cameo, but Far From Home gives the character
the screen time that he's always deserved.
Even better, Jake Gyllenhaal is phenomenal as the tricky supervillain, functioning as
a sort of director and project lead for a group of talented ex-employees with a grudge
against Tony Stark.
Anyone who saw Nightcrawler would know that Gyllenhaal has the chops to play a truly unsettling
villain, and his casting as Mysterio is a delight.
It's a great performance as a great villain.
Considering how much of Homecoming is about Peter essentially dealing with two opposing
father figures in Tony Stark and the Vulture, it makes sense that he'd spend most of Far
From Home mourning the loss of his heroic mentor.
However, the film goes beyond Peter wanting to live up to Iron Man's superheroism.
By the time the credits roll, Peter Parker's basically become Iron Lad.
First, he gets bionic sunglasses that seem to basically be able to do anything related
to technology.
Then, he's given a ride from Tony's old pal and sidekick in a private plane, where he
designs his new technologically-advanced super-suit.
Even the villains he's fought in the movies to date all exist directly as a result of
Tony Stark's poor decisions.
It's a pretty far cry from the dumpster-diving boy from Queens that audiences briefly saw
in Captain America: Civil War.
"Oh, what do we have here?
Retro-tech, huh?
Thrift store?"
"Salvation Army?"
"The garbage actually."
"You're a dumpster diver?"
"Yeah, I was…"
And it's a huge jump from the constantly down-on-his-luck and rent-hungry Peter Parker of the comics
and previous films.
Peter wanting to live up to the flawed ideal of Tony is a great concept in theory.
Still, when most of his own storyline revolves so completely around Iron Man's, it chips
away at Spider-Man as a viable character in his own right.
The Sam Raimi Spider-Man films are undeniably a product of their times.
At turns both deeply embarrassed about superhero movies as a genre and deeply committed to
full-on weirdness, there's plenty to love and and plenty to loathe about the early-2000s
superhero trilogy.
However, one aspect of the films that's unquestionably a success is J.K. Simmons' casting as belligerent
newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson.
"Put an ad on the front page.
Cash money for a picture of Spider-Man.
He doesn't want to be famous?
I'll make him infamous!"
Thankfully, Far From Home's mid-credits sequence features Simmons reprising his role as the
Spider-Man-hating newsman.
Here's hoping he gets an even bigger role in the next one.
Homecoming had some incredible cameos and performances.
Michael Keaton dazzled with an incredible villain performance.
Marissa Tomei made the most of her limited screen time.
Chris Evans appearing as Captain America in a series of taped PSAs was delightful.
But Hannibal Buress' laconic Coach Wilson nearly stole the show from everyone in only
a couple of scenes.
Your gym teacher will be conducting the Captain America fitness challenge."
"Thank you Captain.
I'm pretty sure this guy is a war criminal now, but whatever, I have to show these videos,
it's required by the state."
While it doesn't necessarily make a whole lot of sense for a gym teacher to go on a
class trip to Europe instead, Martin Starr reprises his role as Mr. Harrington and J.B.
Smoove joins as a new teacher, Mr. Dell it's hard not to feel like we were robbed of seeing
Buress in Far From Home.
All we can do is hope that he returns for the sequel.
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