THE UNPOPULAR OPINION is an ongoing column featuring different takes on films that either the writer HATED, but that the majority of film fans LOVED, or that the writer LOVED, but that most others LOATHED. We're hoping this column will promote constructive and geek fueled discussion. Enjoy!
****SOME SPOILERS ENSUE****
We can pretty much agree at this point that Marvel Studios cannot be stopped. Like the coronavirus, Disney and Marvel have found a way to spread themselves to every corner of the world and there does not appear to be anything that can prevent their brand from reaching every man, woman, and child. But, even though they have yet to have a film completely bomb at the box office, there have been tell-tale signs that the level of quality in their productions is not always at the same caliber. Case in point is 2019's SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME. A co-production with Sony, SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME was the final film in the third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and sent the Infinity Saga era of the MCU out with a whimper rather than a bang. While not a terrible movie, Jon Watts' sequel to SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING failed to be a satisfactory movie about Peter Parker but instead tread water by trying to wrap up Iron Man's narrative despite the absence of Robert Downey Jr on screen.
Since Sam Raimi's original, I have enjoyed every SPIDER-MAN movie released thus far, including the two Andrew Garfield ones. Spider-man is just such an indelible character that it is virtually impossible to make a bad movie with Peter Parker in it. While SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE is arguably the single best movie in any medium featuring Stan Lee's iconic webslinger, the Sony/MCU movies have thus far been a nice restart to the franchise with the most age appropriate Peter Parker yet. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING gave us Tony Stark as a stand-in for Uncle Ben and eschewed the familiar origin story for a safe and small scale adventure. With SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME, the action is taken far from Spidey's New York surroundings and gives us an epic, AVENGERS-level threat for Peter to contend with. The problem is the movie never really develops Peter Parker as a character nor is Spider-man anything more than a surrogate for the recently deceased Iron Man.
Despite having the largest marketing campaign in film history and ranking as the 24th highest grossing film of all time, Sony's highest grossing film lacks the energy requisite for a SPIDER-MAN movie. HOMECOMING benefitted from feeling like a John Hughes film that exists within a comic book universe but FAR FROM HOME never takes advantage of the road trip plot device, instead shoe-horning in countless references to the events of AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR and ENDGAME while name-checking Tony Stark more than any character seen on screen. Tom Holland continues to be perfectly cast as young Peter but the movie has him pining after his fallen mentor so much and comparing himself to Iron Man that he never exists as his own person. His pursuit of MJ and relationship with both Nick Fury and Quentin Beck only serve to propel the story along which itself is all about the legacy of Stark himself.
Teasing the concept of a multiverse, SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME instead feels like a bait-and-switch. Jake Gyllenhaal is great as the fishbowl-domed Mysterio, but the reveal that he is a con artist who is seeking revenge on the late Tony Stark feels redundant and done many times over (see IRON MAN, IRON MAN 2, IRON MAN 3, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, etc). Beck is a worthy adversary but his plans feel so obvious that it is hard to believe that no one was able to see through it sooner. I mean, while we eventually learn that it is not Nick Fury but rather CAPTAIN MARVEL Skrull Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), how is it that they didn't figure out that Beck was lying or that the Multiverse isn't real. I would assume, like the Mandarin returning in SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, that the Multiverse is a real thing, it still seems odd that with all of the technology in the MCU that no one figured out that Beck was lying, especially since he and his team supposedly made the whole thing up.
For the entire running time of SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME, Peter Parker uses his array of suits built by Tony Stark or the E.D.I.T.H. glasses and new A.I. built by the late billionaire-playboy-philanthropist. When he doesn't have his suits, Fury provides him with his Night Monkey gear. What made Spider-man such a relatable character in the comics and prior films was that he built his suit himself. Spider-man has always been a poor New York teen who became a hero despite meager roots. Even the big ending of this film centers on Peter coming to terms that he is not the next Iron Man before building his own new suit using Tony's technology and echoing his late mentor. I mean, the effects of the MCU suits are cool and all, but it completely takes a major element of Peter Parker's character development out of the mix.
Even the supporting cast here seem overloaded and yet thinly drawn. New screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Zendaya's MJ continues to be a unique take on Mary Jane even though she easily solves Peter's secret, making it even more surprising that he has been able to keep it a mystery this long. Jon Favreau is a decent surrogate as Happy Hogan but like Peter's woebegone teachers/chaperones played by J.B. Smoove and Martin Starr, he is used mainly for comic relief. Jacob Batalon is wasted as Ned who played such a stronger role in HOMECOMING. Then there is Flash Thompson. I appreciated the reboot of the character for the new films and I liked Tony Revelori's take on the character, but he feels neutered and pointless here, more of a joke than any sort of antagonist to Peter.
Aping all the successful elements from SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING including MCU references and a hip yet retro soundtrack, SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME is far from a terrible movie but it is a terrible Spider-man movie. The special effects are good even if the Elemental characters are a complete waste. Jake Gyllenhaal is good despite his motivations feeling cribbed from prior Marvel movies. Tom Holland is good despite not being given anything special or unique to do. Maybe this movie would have worked better with a little more distance from AVENGERS: ENDGAME as it feels like little more than a footnote to the first era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like the five year gap the characters experienced, this movie is little more than a blip on the radar and one that does nothing to further the legacy of Peter Parker aside from setting up the third film to unmask Spider-man and deliver a tale we truly have never seen on the big screen before. Until then, you can avoid this junior version of IRON MAN.