Spider-Man Far From Home Spends More Time Eulogizing Iron Man Than It Probably Should
It goes without saying that the events of Avengers: Endgame will impact the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the foreseeable future. With Spider-Man: Far From Home, we see some of this immediate impact, especially as it relates to Peter Parker. Trying to move on from the loss of Tony Stark, Peter wants to focus on an impending school trip to Europe, a trip where he can hopefully share his romantic feelings for fellow classmate, MJ. Unfortunately, Peter’s plans are interrupted by otherworldly forces wreaking havoc around the world, the emergence of a new and mysterious hero, and Nick Fury demanding that Spider-Man pitch in against the threat.
One of my main problems I had with Spider-Man Homecoming was that it was very little more than a John Hughes teen comedy that just so happened to have a character in it that people referred to as “Spider-Man”. This may have satisfied a large contingent of moviegoers, but the film’s desire to make Peter, and the world he inhabited more comedic overall, left me missing a lot of core fundamental aspects of the character, while feeling like other aspects were being trivialized altogether.
To its credit, Spider-Man: Far From Home does a slightly better job of examining Peter’s struggle with his desire to have a normal life, and the obstacles put in his path because of his status as Spider-Man. Everywhere Peter and the rest of his class go on their trip, Peter is forced to take on the threat of behemoth creatures in the form of the basic elements of fire, earth, wind, and water, and keep his friends out of danger. This makes for some genuine dramatic tension in the film. The introduction of Mysterio is another great way of exploring Peter’s growth as a superhero, and illustrating that he still has a lot to learn. As Peter starts to doubt himself, it’s the quieter moments where Mysterio plays mentor to him that prove to be some of the best moments in the film. Jake Gyllenhaal is having entirely too much fun in the role, and how the character is envisioned in the film is rather clever.
In terms of action, Spider-Man: Far From Home definitely steps things up from Homecoming, and there’s a variety to the set pieces as locations are constantly changing throughout the film. The filmmakers took every opportunity to put Peter in a position where he has to think strategically, and the end result is satisfying more often than not. Peter quickly realizes that he can’t fight the elementals the way he would regular criminals, and his focus is more on protecting civilians from the destruction being caused, with the knowledge that Mysterio is providing offense. I particularly loved how the film made a running joke out of Peter’s spider-sense in the first half of the film, before having it serve a substantial purpose during the climax.
And yet, for all the improvements Spider-Man: Far From Home makes, it is still a frustrating film to watch for a multitude of reasons. Much like Homecoming, there are far too many moments in Far From Home where the overuse of humor undercuts the dramatic tension of a given scene. No matter how serious a situation is, there just has to be a joke shoehorned in. The story is structured in such a way as to put a time table on Spider-Man and Mysterio’s mission, and the humor tends to get in the way of that. And as easy as it was to simply ignore Peter’s teacher Mr. Harrington, played by Martin Starr in the first film, he’s now paired with JB Smoove, who serves no purpose in this film other than to be the goofball to Starr’s straight man, even in light of Mr. Harrington now being bafflingly more inept than he was in the previous film.
We also need to talk about Peter’s classmate Brad. Unlike everyone else on Peter’s class trip, Brad is a student from Peter’s school who wasn’t snapped out of existence by Thanos, and as Peter and the rest of his class return, Brad is now five years old then the rest of them. While I suppose it’s necessary to acknowledge that not everyone at Peter’s high school was snapped away by Thanos, it begs the question, why is he still in high school?!?! Not only should this MAN be in college, he shouldn’t be portrayed as an adolescent in a man’s body. Coupled with his attempts to move in on the still very teenaged MJ, I couldn’t help but find his inclusion in Far From Home to be profoundly cringe-inducing.
Of course the bigger issue with Spider-Man: Far From Home is the same problem I had with Homecoming and Civil War; the idea that Tony Stark plays such a large role in Peter’s journey to become a better hero. This has never made sense to me, as it ultimately strengthens Tony Stark as a character, more so than Spider-Man himself. Even in death, Tony’s presence is felt so strongly that the film’s biggest plot development literally doesn’t function without him. In this regard, Spider-Man is no longer his own autonomous hero, so much as he is a window through which we can examine Tony Star’s lofty aspirations, ego, and hubris. This is only exacerbated when looking at some of the narrative gaps between Homecoming and Far From Home; there’s no connective tissue between Peter being oblivious to MJ’s crush on him at the end of Homecoming, and him suddenly having a massive crush on her as we start Far From Home. Aunt May goes from angrily discovering that Peter is Spider-Man at the end of Homecoming, which was already contextually treated as a throwaway comedic moment, to happily using him as a spokesperson for her fundraising efforts after the events of Infinity War and Endgame. Story developments like this, especially in the context of Spider-Man being 16 years-old, would be immensely important to Peter’s character development, were we to see them play out organically within a given film.
While I wouldn’t necessarily call Spider-Man Far From Home a bad film, it is a film that struggles to define its purpose. It wants to be a comedy, but a lot of its humor is forced and poorly-timed. It doesn’t want to showcase Uncle Ben as other Spider-Man films have already covered Peter’s origin, but using an established MCU hero in his place instead pulls focus away from Peter’s growth and development. As great as it may be to have Spider-Man as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it would be better if he could stand on his own within it.
[3 out of 5]
