There’s a lot to unpack in Marvel’s final Phase 3 installment. Iron Man is gone. The world wonders who will step up to take his place. Marvel fans wonder what Phase 4 will bring. And, I wonder what loose ends there could possibly be after what I consider a flawless Endgame. Rumors and speculation have swirled around Spider-Man: Far From Home, and I had a few ideas and expectations myself.
Spider-Man: Far From Home, picks up months after Endgame and follows Peter Parker as he figures out what his place is in the world. Ironically, being missing for 5 years isn’t enough and he wants a break from the craziness of existence to just be a normal kid. Enter Nick Fury, who this kid has been dodging, and Peter is thrust into a fight it looks like he doesn’t want to fight.
The film does a great job introducing new characters and developing some of his classmates’ backstories and personalities. However, t the first third of the movie seemed a little predictable. I found myself guessing a couple storylines and rolling my eyes when they came true. Then, the film takes seemingly random events, turns them into loose ends, and then ties them up pretty neatly in the remaining hour and twenty minutes.
Many fans speculate and grumble about the role of Mysterio in this movie. I hope we can all finally agree that Marvel will not hold its cinematic universe to the one developed in comics. If we, as fans, can move away from that, I think we will enjoy the ride and Easter eggs a little more. That being said, I was pretty pleased with the direction Mysterio took (in the last 2/3rds of the movie).
It should also be noted that Marvel’s two Spider-Man projects seem to play second fiddle to Tony Stark. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Vulture and his lackeys emerge after Stark Industries basically pushed them out of the destruction cleanup business. And, without giving too much away, Far From Home echoes that same note by taking place in the wake of Iron Man’s death. Even in the rumor mill, fans speculated that Peter would be the next Iron Man.
Before watching this newest Marvel blockbuster, I would have been very disappointed if Spider-Man was regulated to be the “next Iron Man.” I felt that doing this cuts out the potential growth for a 16-year-old from Queens. It limits the Spider-Manness of Spider-Man. I still feel this way, and probably do more so after watching all the dorky, awkward ways Peter gets himself into and out of trouble. There is definitely a different type of slapstick, corny humor that makes Peter our friendly neighborhood Spiderman.
I’m still not sure about this dark, brooding MJ. Zendaya and Tom Holland interact well and are pretty believable, and MJ keeps Peter on his toes while still seeming believably attainable to a weird kid who isn’t all that popular.
Overall, the latter part of the film overcame the predictableness of the first 40 minutes and delivered a thrill-thwipping good time. Make sure you stay until the end of the credits for a pretty good end scene.
4orty2 