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drwexI would say that Far from Home (FFH) is the best live-action Spider Man movie of them all and comes close in quality to Spiderverse. I think the latter is better because it's so innovative and breaks ground while FFH is the culmination of a movie arc within a constrained universe. That said, FFH does approximately everything right. 4/5 stars and I'm glad Spider Man survived the snap.
FFH starts off with a premise that makes comics fans and those who know the story shake their heads. Wait, isn't that dude supposed to be a bad guy? In our universe, he's Mysterio and we know he's bad. In FFH he's from another Earth and is helping by doing heroics in the absence of the Avengers or SHIELD.
FFH has several jobs to do. It is the last movie of this phase of the MCU arc, so it has to tell us about the world after people come back from being snapped out of existence. It has to provide continuity with the story as we know it from the earlier movies, and it has to remind us that there are enough interesting things left to get us looking forward to what comes next. That it does all these things while still being a good movie in its own right and developing its own characters is a credit to Erik Sommers' screenplay. The movie is laugh-out-loud funny in places, manages to tackle serious themes well, and lets its characters grow and develop.
Tom Holland is a real stand-out in this film. He seems to have grown into the Spider Man/Peter Parker dual characters wonderfully. He's defining each and bringing the story to life through them. The movie provides a number of opportunities for Parker to reflect out loud on who he is and what he wants and he does it without ever coming across as explaining or lecturing the audience. He's soul-searching about some things, in mourning about some things, and trying to live a high schooler's life. Holland gets considerable help from Jake Gyllenhaal's "Quentin Beck" (Mysterio) who is old enough to be a father figure for Parker but stays back from that just enough. He's more a worldly advisor who likes Parker. It works well.
Zendaya continues to shine as MJ and I hope they'll do more Spider Man-MJ stories. There are several good ones in the comics. This version of MJ is the smart snarky girl who doesn't know how to deal with her emotions so she hides and redirects and reflects them. She's attractive without being overwhelming, and her character gets to be fleshed out in ways that feel natural to the story.
The other supporting characters are also good, notably Jacob Batalon as best-buddy/sidekick/confidante Ned, and Jon Favreau as the slightly comic Happy Hogan. I really appreciated the way Favreau shares in Parker's grief over Tony Stark's death without crowding or being awkward. The script gives Happy more of an "Alfred the Butler" role and though I'm still weirded out by how the MCU has de-aged and made attractive Marisa Tomei's Aunt May I think it's starting to work, largely due to how Favreau is playing it. Peter Parker, awkward teen romantic, gets to see adults demonstrating awkward romance that he has to "be the adult" for.
The movie wisely keeps this lightly funny - it could easily descend into farce or slapstick but instead it's kind of cute, kind of awkward and you get to laugh with the characters more than at them.
Finally, I want to say that the filmmakers have cleverly included a bunch of clues in the film. If something seems odd or out of place, pay attention because that's likely going to be part of the explanations given in the second half. And since that's spoilery it'll be below the cut...
Having watched a breakdown after seeing the film, I see I missed a number of clues. The end of the movie makes obvious what's wrong with Fury/Hill, a thing that was kind of nagging at me all along. And yet I missed both some big things ("your Earth" indeed) and some small things (like how Quentin's team is pretty obviously a set-up for AIM and it's possible he faked his own death again).
I really appreciated how the end of the film tied the action back into the bigger MCU. Like, hey, things didn't just end, there are people and actions going on.
One thing is sticking in my craw, though. Did anyone on-screen ever call Carol Danvers "Captain Marvel" prior to FFH? I mean, _we_ know that but it was remarkable that the movie of her didn't ever use that name. I can't think of a canonical place in the MCU where that name is said, which leads me to wonder how Parker knows it.
Finally, I wanted to give a shout-out to the movie for how it shows Ned and Betty's relationship. It's played for comedy and is funny, but it also models healthy teen relationships and a break-up in a way we don't often see. They do their thing, go through phases of what's essentially a fling, and at the end they behave well toward each other and the people around them. I wish more movies would model relationships in a healthy way.
FFH starts off with a premise that makes comics fans and those who know the story shake their heads. Wait, isn't that dude supposed to be a bad guy? In our universe, he's Mysterio and we know he's bad. In FFH he's from another Earth and is helping by doing heroics in the absence of the Avengers or SHIELD.
FFH has several jobs to do. It is the last movie of this phase of the MCU arc, so it has to tell us about the world after people come back from being snapped out of existence. It has to provide continuity with the story as we know it from the earlier movies, and it has to remind us that there are enough interesting things left to get us looking forward to what comes next. That it does all these things while still being a good movie in its own right and developing its own characters is a credit to Erik Sommers' screenplay. The movie is laugh-out-loud funny in places, manages to tackle serious themes well, and lets its characters grow and develop.
Tom Holland is a real stand-out in this film. He seems to have grown into the Spider Man/Peter Parker dual characters wonderfully. He's defining each and bringing the story to life through them. The movie provides a number of opportunities for Parker to reflect out loud on who he is and what he wants and he does it without ever coming across as explaining or lecturing the audience. He's soul-searching about some things, in mourning about some things, and trying to live a high schooler's life. Holland gets considerable help from Jake Gyllenhaal's "Quentin Beck" (Mysterio) who is old enough to be a father figure for Parker but stays back from that just enough. He's more a worldly advisor who likes Parker. It works well.
Zendaya continues to shine as MJ and I hope they'll do more Spider Man-MJ stories. There are several good ones in the comics. This version of MJ is the smart snarky girl who doesn't know how to deal with her emotions so she hides and redirects and reflects them. She's attractive without being overwhelming, and her character gets to be fleshed out in ways that feel natural to the story.
The other supporting characters are also good, notably Jacob Batalon as best-buddy/sidekick/confidante Ned, and Jon Favreau as the slightly comic Happy Hogan. I really appreciated the way Favreau shares in Parker's grief over Tony Stark's death without crowding or being awkward. The script gives Happy more of an "Alfred the Butler" role and though I'm still weirded out by how the MCU has de-aged and made attractive Marisa Tomei's Aunt May I think it's starting to work, largely due to how Favreau is playing it. Peter Parker, awkward teen romantic, gets to see adults demonstrating awkward romance that he has to "be the adult" for.
The movie wisely keeps this lightly funny - it could easily descend into farce or slapstick but instead it's kind of cute, kind of awkward and you get to laugh with the characters more than at them.
Finally, I want to say that the filmmakers have cleverly included a bunch of clues in the film. If something seems odd or out of place, pay attention because that's likely going to be part of the explanations given in the second half. And since that's spoilery it'll be below the cut...
Having watched a breakdown after seeing the film, I see I missed a number of clues. The end of the movie makes obvious what's wrong with Fury/Hill, a thing that was kind of nagging at me all along. And yet I missed both some big things ("your Earth" indeed) and some small things (like how Quentin's team is pretty obviously a set-up for AIM and it's possible he faked his own death again).
I really appreciated how the end of the film tied the action back into the bigger MCU. Like, hey, things didn't just end, there are people and actions going on.
One thing is sticking in my craw, though. Did anyone on-screen ever call Carol Danvers "Captain Marvel" prior to FFH? I mean, _we_ know that but it was remarkable that the movie of her didn't ever use that name. I can't think of a canonical place in the MCU where that name is said, which leads me to wonder how Parker knows it.
Finally, I wanted to give a shout-out to the movie for how it shows Ned and Betty's relationship. It's played for comedy and is funny, but it also models healthy teen relationships and a break-up in a way we don't often see. They do their thing, go through phases of what's essentially a fling, and at the end they behave well toward each other and the people around them. I wish more movies would model relationships in a healthy way.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-16 05:23 pm (UTC)(I took your advice and went to see it; it was fun.)
Kiralee
no subject
Date: 2019-07-16 05:29 pm (UTC)