Spider-Man: Far From Home

Like a disapproving parent, I’m not mad at Spider-Man: Far From Home, I’m just disappointed. It’s not a bad movie. In fact, I would go so far as to say it is a good movie. It just wasn’t for me. Ultimately, what should have been a fun and fast moving action romp was weighed down by a ton of Marvel Cinematic Universe baggage that ruined my experience.

There is plenty the movie does well, which is why I consider it a good movie despite my misgivings. It is a worthy follow-on to the fairly excellent Spider-Man: Homecoming. It still captures the same energy as the original, albeit not quite as well. Like its predecessor, Far From Home has exciting action set pieces, very likable characters, and a lighthearted, charming tone. Peter Parker is, despite his super powers and super powered associates, a relatable teenager with goofy friends, a crush he gets nervous around, and a desire to not feel burdened by his responsibilities. Only here his responsibilities are more saving the world and less doing the laundry and taking out the trash.

The above tone and likeability are tested by the film’s many problems. More specifically, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a servant to too many masters. It suffers from something I think almost every Marvel movie has suffered from since Captain America: Civil War. Namely, it’s position within the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe is no longer a side element that adds richness to the movie’s driving narrative, but rather the demands of the cinematic universe take over and become the driving narrative. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, the presence of Tony Stark is important but not overbearing. The story still revolves around Spider-Man and New York City. The conceit of the plot forces him to take on local issues.  Spider-Man: Far From Home can’t do that because it exists in a continuity post Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Spider-Man can’t just be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man when he has been to space, fought Thanos, and everything else. So Far From Home begins to feel stretched. It wants to be another story where Peter struggles to balance his normal life in high school with his super powered responsibilities, but it can’t do that simply because Endgame and “the blip” mess with the fundamental logic of a high school based story. It wants to explore Peter’s emotional state after Endgame, but that darkness plays poorly against the established lighter tone of the Tom Holland Spider-Man films. So instead Peter’s head space is implied but not thematically explored, leaving it as a sort of vestigial idea in the films DNA.

There is a subtext of Peter’s mixture of fear and grief, from Endgame, and how it weighs on Peter’s thoughts. This is perhaps best seen in Peter’s relationship with the idea of being a hero. In Homecoming, Peter wants nothing more than to be an Avenger, only to be rebuffed by Stark who wants him to mature first. In Far From Home, Peter wants nothing more than to have a Spider-Suit free vacation with his friends, only to be roped in by Nick Fury. However, this is rarely expressed in the action of the film. Instead, Peter’s motivations are left ambiguous. He could be motivated by fear, or grief, or youthful rebellion, or exhaustion, or any number of other factors. A theme needs to be felt throughout the fabric of the movie, as it is what the movie is about rather than simply what happens, and nothing in Far From Home is well articulated enough to fill that role.

The movie also has to set up Parker’s place in the next wave of Marvel movies, which creates even more ways for the film to feel stretched. For example, Happy, who has the most reason to be there, and Nick Fury and Maria Hill, who have the least reason to be there, are all involved mostly for their ability to tie Far From Home to the broader MCU. While Fury and Hill aren’t entirely irrelevant to the plot, more than half of the scenes they are in could probably have been cut without negatively effecting the flow of the movie. Similarly, the great pains taken to lay the groundwork for Spider-Man’s future within the MCU also produces several scenes that feel shoehorned in. While it is nice to see that Marvel remembers Peter Parker is a bright kid with the potential to be a great scientist and inventor, a core part of comic book Peter’s identity, the way they bring it into the story, explicitly paralleling Stark from previous films, came across as very forced and heavy handed.

Perhaps worst of all, these issues are made harder to ignore by the inevitable comparison of Far From Home to Homecoming. Homecoming is a tightly written story with little wasted time. It is elevated by its place in the MCU rather than feeling buried by it. In Homecoming, the events of other MCU films act as a backdrop that informs Peter’s world. In Far From Home they are more all consuming. In Homecoming, Peter’s family, friends, and romantic interest ground him as he adapts to his new identity as a superhero. In Far From Home they mostly serve as comic relief. In Homecoming, the finale serves up emotional catharsis as numerous plot lines dovetail together, culminating in Peter failing, showing vulnerability, realizing something about himself, and rising from the rubble a more self-actualized person. In Far From Home, Peter follows a more “traditional” Marvel route where the central hero feels invincible and the action is mostly about spectacle rather than story. While the movie wants to sell us on the idea that Peter is overcoming his post-Endgame reticence to be a hero, the action of the movie presents Peter’s motivations in the climax as mostly a desire to a) rectify a mistake, and b) save his friends. As someone who really enjoyed Homecoming, and so had high hopes for Far From Home, it frustrated me to see the sequel end up so bland by comparison.

Lastly, there was one small and fairly technical thing that bothered me about Far From Home. Some of the special effects shots look cheap and lack believably, especially the animated CGI Spider-Man in some fight scenes. CGI Spider-Mans have been used in special effects shots, like swinging through New York in ways that would be impossible to capture with a human actor, since Raimi’s original Spider-Man in the early 2000s. The problem is that, while Raimi’s animated Spidey looks passably real, Far From Home’s animated Spidey looks about as real as the characters from Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. It completely took me out of the movie when the supposedly live action Spider-Man looks like a character from a hyper-stylistic 3D animated movie.

In short, Far From Home is a perfectly fine film, though it does fall short of the high standard set by its predecessor. It has great characters, with good chemistry, and a fun and action filled story that takes you on an entertaining ride. However, I found the whole thing rather underwhelming due to its MCU story baggage, significantly less clever script, and some moments of dodgy CGI. Maybe I’m just getting jaded after a decade of Kevin Feige’s Marvel movies.

Would Recommend: If you really dig Marvel movies or are a Spider-Man superfan.

Would Not Recommend: If you prefer your movies, even the franchise ones, to function well as stand alone stories.