I decided the best way to review the new Spidey movie was via a Q&A with myself. Also, extremely mild spoilers will follow, if you're sensitive to that kind of thing …
So, Bob, before we get into the new movie, how's 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming — ol' Webhead's first headlining MCU film — sitting with you these days?
Thanks for asking, Bob. It's sitting great! I still think it's an ideal blend of sweet high-school drama (where Peter Parker has always thrived as a character) and more expansive MCU-related mayhem. Plus, Michael Keaton's Vulture remains one of Marvel's very best villains. Homecoming is easily a top-half MCU movie. I can't help but to put the remote down and watch for a while every time I flip by it on TV.
Wait, you still have cable?!
Yes, I still have cable. Shut up, Bob.
Ooookay, moving on then. So how does Spider-Man: Far From Home compare to Homecoming?
It's a solid sequel to it — Tom Holland continues to be the best Spidey ever — but unfortunately the teen drama stuff is less interesting this time around. The Peter and M.J. scenes mostly work (largely thanks to the endearing performances by Holland and Zendaya), but their fellow classmates are a lot less fun in Far From Home. Ned, in particular, is turned into a one-joke drip, which is a bummer considering how much I enjoyed Jacob Batalon's character in the first film.
That kind of sucks. Do you think there's anything director Jon Watts and writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers could have done to alleviate this problem?
Tough to say, but eliminating all the excess jokes from returning teacher Martin Starr and his new colleague J.B. Smoove and instead devoting those minutes to building upon the Peter/Ned friendship would have been a good start.
Wait, Leon from Curb Your Enthusiasm is in this movie?
Yeah. It's weird. Smoove plays a never-before-seen teacher who travels with the kids on their field trip to Europe, which is where Nick Fury ropes Peter into a mission to battle a series of "Elementals," giant monsters who are wreaking havoc across the globe. Fury is busy fighting these things with a new superhero named Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), and they think they need Spidey's help.
Hold on a minute, isn't Mysterio traditionally a Spider-Man VILLAIN?!
Oh, is he? Hmm, that's interesting. Very interesting. Let's just say Mysterio rules in this movie and Gyllenhaal is absolutely fantastic. The character is Far From Home's biggest strength.
So he is the bad guy then?
Hey, I didn't say that! I will say Mysterio's back-story gets a clever MCU makeover. But that's all your getting from me!
Hrmph. Okay, so what about "The Unsnappening?" How much does Far From Home deal with the fallout from Avengers: Endgame and all those dead people finally coming back to life?
Following a Mysterio-driven cold open, I'd say about the first 10 minutes of the movie are devoted entirely to Endgame fallout, although in ways that are more humorous than serious. There is one exception to that: the death of Iron Man which permeates the whole film. In fact, a major theme of the movie is if Tony Stark is replaceable and whether Peter Parker should feel obligated to fill that role at the expense of being a normal 16-year-old kid. He struggles with it throughout the movie.
Does Robert Downey Jr. make any kind of appearance?
Only in flashback footage from other movies. Although his sunglasses play a big part.
You mentioned we've got Samuel L. Jackson around though, right?
Yeah, Fury and Maria Hill show up early on. Although they're really not in the film much past what you see in the trailers. I'm honestly not sure they were needed either. I kind of wish their time could have been given to Peter and M.J. Again, Holland and Zendaya have real chemistry, but Zendaya is pushed to the side a little too often because there's a lot going on in this movie. Aunt May and Happy Hogan get jammed awkwardly into this thing too!
Wow. Any other complaints you want to get out of your system?
Drones in action movies are boring. Always.
That … seems random, but okay. So Endgame didn't have any of Marvel's famous end-credits stingers. Does Far From Home have any?
Ohhhh, yes, I'd say so. Two, in fact — one after the featured credits and another at the very end.
Any good?
The first is one of Marvel's best end-credits stingers ever. Actually, it's less of a stinger and more the honest-to-god ending to the movie. And it is going to cause Marvel fandom to explode. I may have squealed loudly in the theater.
Jeez, that sounds exciting. And the second stinger?
Less exciting, but it forces you to re-contextualize the movie you just watched. So neither of these are throw-aways. Make sure you stick around to the end.
So, to be clear, this movie is not better than Homecoming then?
No, but it still has enough going for it to recommend: Holland, Gyllenhaal, Zendaya, some neat twists and one fantastic hallucinatory sequence.
Is it better than Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?
Oh, hell no.
Is it better than Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2?
Of course not. Stop being stupid.
But it is better than The Amazing Spider-Man films with Andrew Garfield, right?
Oh, it's worlds better than the first one of those. I've actually still never seen the second one because I value my time too much. Conversely, I will always make time for the MCU/Tom Holland Spidey because he is just so damn likable in the role.
Okay, I think I'm out of questions. But, come on, Mysterio's the bad guy, right?
