Spiderman: Far From Home, the highly anticipated sequel to Spiderman: Homecoming, is the first film to take place after Avengers: Endgame. Unfortunately, Spiderman: Far From Home falls below its potential and is only a meager addition to the Marvel Universe. Packed with moments of intense action, drawn out humor, and sloppy character development, Spiderman: Far From Home leaves its viewers entertained, but not impressed. Jon Watts returns to direct, with Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Favreau, and Marisa Tomei reprising their roles from Spiderman: Homecoming.
Spiderman: Far From Home follows Peter Parker (Holland) and his classmates on their class trip to Europe following the events of Avengers: Endgame. Nicknamed “The Blip” by the media, Peter and his classmates are still adjusting to the effects of half the school disappearing and reappearing 5 years later without aging a day. Peter is amidst his plans to profess his feelings to MJ (Zendaya), on the Eiffel Tower, when he is called upon by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) to fulfill his obligation of fighting the Elementals, destructive otherworldly creatures made of air, water, earth, and fire, with Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhal), an interdimensional superhero seeking vengeance for the deaths of his family. Along the way, Peter faces betrayal, girl troubles, and his own insecurities in the face of Tony Stark’s legacy.
First and foremost, while I did laugh out loud, the humor in this film is way overdone and often used as a disguise or distraction from poor character development. There was so much potential for a deeper and more emotional narrative, but it was more often than not shoved aside in favor of cringey one liners. I definitely wish that the narrative had spent more time focusing on Peter’s relationship with Tony, because aside from the moments where Tony’s death was directly addressed, it almost seemed like Peter’s character was completely unaffected by “The Blip.” Even when you could see growth or change, it wasn’t explained or acknowledged well by the script. Additionally, the half-developed narratives of several of the side characters, combined with the cheap humor, comes off as careless and shallow.
Speaking of underdeveloped characters, Mysterio’s story arc was not only incredibly random, but blurry and poorly paced. There was never a point where he was particularly important to the story; it felt like the writers and filmmakers could’ve instead left him out and had Spiderman fight the Elementals on his own and it would’ve made for a better film. His backstory felt completely rushed and his shallow personality worked against Peter’s liveliness and dragged the story down. At a certain point it seemed like the writers wanted to use Mysterio to begin a political commentary on the accuracy of the press, but of course, that didn’t go anywhere useful either.
Given these setbacks, however, I did immensely enjoy all the scenes with Peter and MJ. Holland and Zendaya have a wonderful chemistry that shines on screen. Their awkward teenage attraction is believable, sweet, and hilariously relatable. Neither of them is confident or initially successful in their efforts to be noticed by the other, which is refreshing in comparison to the typical “suave guy wins over the uptight girl” narrative this could’ve easily fallen into. Their scenes alone almost made up for the uncomfortable character development, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
There was a lot of potential in Peter’s relationship with Tony, the budding commentary on the reliability of the news, and Peter’s conflicting emotions about taking on the responsibilities of an adult, but none of them are ever fully achieved. Instead, we’re served an overdose of tacky humor to hide the lack of support behind it. However, I have to give credit to the cast for their chemistry and performance, because I did enjoy myself during the movie. Even though I was admittedly entertained, for me, this film is just another superhero flick getting more praise than it probably deserves because it’s riding the Marvel Bandwagon.
3/5 STARS