Spider-Man: Far From Home
Directed by Jon Watts
A quick review tonight. We’re in the midst of flu season here in Tasmania and this is the first chance I’ve had to get to a cinema to see this movie.
This was always going to be a difficult film, coming after the high drama of Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019) but for the most part this is a fun, surprisingly frothy romp around Europe with Peter Parker and his school friends. While I’m definitely not in the target demographic for this, I really related to the awkward teen moments of Peter, MJ and co.
As one would expect this far into the franchise, Marvel’s visual effects are up to their usual high standard and the production values generally are what I’ve come to really appreciate. But I felt there were issues with how the narrative works and particularly the motivations of the villain not being plausible. In Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) Vulture was a fully realised bad guy, with very believable reasons for his actions, but here I couldn’t find the same rationale.
There’s an old maxim in writing that says you can never have a really satisfying protagonist without a fully formed antagonist. Without heading into spoiler territory, our main villain and his happy band of hench-people just didn’t ring true to me. That amount of maniacal, mad scientist level vitriol and egotism was something I’d expect to see in the 70s cartoons, not the urbane, hip, 21st century MCU.
Nevertheless, this is still a solid entry, with a great central performance from Tom Holland who balances the awkward teen who just wants to be a normal kid and the smart, heroic action hero. He is undoubtedly now my favourite Spider-Man. The rest of the cast are just as strong, and it was lovely to see Jon Favreau and Marissa Tomei having a ton of fun as Happy Hogan and Aunt May. The final set piece is really very satisfying and though this isn’t my favourite film in the franchise, it’s still a rollicking good ride.
Do stay for the very end, the two cut scenes are not only very funny but also nod to future directions for the MCU Phase 4.
Debra Manskey 