Spidey - Far From Home (SPOILERS)
obviously for those who have seen the movie.
Once again, it seems that JE and I are brothers from another mother. Pretty much fully agree with his take on this movie, in that overall it was good, but also pretty disappointing. I would probably still put it in the Top Tier of Marvel movies (and better than anything DC has put out except the Bale Batman movies, Wonder Woman and (maybe) Aquaman. It blows the doors off of Dark Phoenix. But, I left the movie feeling pretty underwhelmed and feeling like they took a step back and kind of blew it with their chance to start the next phase of the Marvel movies. Again, overall I liked it, but I won't go see it again in the theaters.
So what did I like:
* The humor. It's just consistently funny, in a way that only Marvel seems to fully understand how to do. Laughed at times from the beginning to the end.
* Happy and Spidey (and Aunt May - except for two things, more on those in a bit). Part of the funny.
* The Tony Stark love. They did it just right.
* The introduction about the blip and the return. Loved the footage of the people disappearing and then returning in the middle of the game (although, it did cause me and my 15 year old to debate what happened to people in airplanes, did they all reappear at 30,000 feet? He said yes. I said no way would Banner do that). Also loved the "and we still had to take the entire school year over."
* The last third of the movie. The pacing and editing and fight scenes were great. Really liked the illusions that Spidey faced the first time he fought Mysterio, and how Spiderman beat him at the end.
* Jake G's acting. He's one of the best around today.
* Tom Holland. Great Spider-man.
* The focus on what it's like to be a teenager and trying to fit in and wanting to be a grown up, but also wanting to be a kid, and feeling attracted to other people and being awkward. All well done.
* Bringing back JK Simmons as JJ Jameson from the Daily Bugle. Did not see that coming. It was easily one of the highlights of the movie!
So what didn't I like (in reverse order)
10. Mr. Dell (JB Smooth). What was the point of his character. Just comic relief, and it got old. And wasn't believable.
9. MJ. My spouse kind of liked her arc. I didn't. She just seemed to be the object of desire, and someone who desired Peter. There was no depth. She's super smart. That was basically ignored. There was no character development, or growth, or anything. She was just a cute girl that Peter liked and that liked Peter.
8. Aunt May. The end of Homecoming saw her catching Peter as Spiderman. They then hinted that they could really dive into that with her worrying about Peter, etc. Instead they completely avoided it. She was using him as a prop. And packing his suit for him. Not consistent at all with last movie.
7. Aunt May Part II. One thing that Marvel really, really, really, really should dive into, is the effect of the Blip. It would be devastating to half the population. Jobs lost. Missing kids growing up. Surviving spouses remarrying. Homes no longer yours. The dabbled at this with some attempt at humor. But this is dark, dark stuff. They could easily make this the thing that creates a new batch of villains. It should be the centerpiece of everything moving forward. They barely touched it.
6. The Mysterio reveal. I liked that the bar scene was an illusion. But anyone who knows anything about Spider-man knows that Mysterio is a bad guy. So painting him as good at first was just dumb to me.
5. The relationship with Ned and Betty. Yeah, it was kind of funny, and it could have been great. But 16 year olds don't go from people who know each other to calling each other "dear" and "sweetie" after an overnight flight. It was forced. As was the breakup. And it could have been done in a totally believable way. But wasn't.
4. I'm sorry, but if Peter Parker gets hit by a train going 80 miles per hour...he's dead. This is not Thor or Wonder Woman or Aquaman (ie a God). He's human.
3. The big reveal at the first credit scene. Though it was shocking to have Mysterio reveal Peter Parker's true name (and I was shocked), after that wore off, I was pretty bummed. The essence of Spiderman is that nobody knows who he is. Now that everyone does, it makes him and his family unsafe. It becomes the story line in the next movie (which could be OK, if it works out) and just fundamentally changes SpiderMan. It would be the same way as if they did that for Bruce Wayne. You just don't out them - not without changing everything that you've ever associated with the characters. I guess some people might like this...but I didn't. And it seemed that Mysterio actually really did like Peter Parker. Didn't seem like he would out him like that either.
2. The illusions created by Mysterio. How did they actually work? For wind and fire and water, you need, well, wind and fire and water. The drones can't produce heat can they? Spiderman would have realized that the creature wasn't some giant thing made of lava, because it wouldn't have been given heat off the way it should. And later it showed Mysterio practicing the choreography in London. But the creatures had to react to things around them, like Spiderman and the people on the Ferris wheel. You can't do that spontaneously with a guy on a laptop watching. And the swinging arms of the elements broke things completely - not like what a drone would do. And he didn't have the drones until the end anyway. Fully completely unbelievable. And yes, I know I have to suspend my disbelief in these movies. But this was bad.
1. Easily the worst wast the last credit scene. So, so frustrating. We find that Nick Fury, who has been 100% Nick Fury the entire time, wasn't Nick Fury at all. This is lazy. And unbelievable. And beyond dumb. How would the alien know what "ghosting" was. How would they have access to all that Nick Fury had? How would they have been able to find Mysterio at the beginning? When Happy called with the surfboard story and "things aren't how they appear" how would the alien know to say it wasn't his surfboard, and then that it was actually a warning? And again, the entire movie is Fury being pure Fury, and now we are supposed to believe that it wasn't Nick at all. This scene damned near ruined the movie for me.
OK, diatribe over. Other thoughts?