Spider-Man: Far From Home

Did anyone here actually like Peter Parker?

Superhero/Action ‧ 129 minutes ‧ PG-13 ‧ 2019 ‧ 5 min read

"Nothing is what it seems."

Spider-Man: Far From Home had the unenviable task of following Avengers: Endgame, which was the end of eleven years of MCU storytelling. My thoughts on Endgame are separate, but that context matters here because this movie is so focused on what comes after Tony Stark that Peter Parker barely gets to have a story of his own.

I liked Homecoming because it finally gave us a Spider-Man who was actually allowed to be a kid. Peter wanted to prove himself, he wanted Tony Stark to notice him, and he eventually had to learn that being Spider-Man was not about having the best suit or getting invited into the Avengers. By the end of that movie, Peter proves he can do this on his own.

Far From Home immediately walks that back.

The movie sends Peter to Europe on a school trip, which should be a perfect setup for a fun story about a teenager trying to have a normal vacation while also being Spider-Man. Instead, the whole thing becomes another lesson about Peter being expected to replace Tony Stark. Everybody wants him to be the next Iron Man, both inside the story and as part of the larger MCU. Peter is understandably uncomfortable with that, but instead of letting him grow into his own identity, the movie keeps putting Tony's legacy in front of him.

That is what bothers me so much about this version of Peter. I do not actually have a problem with Peter loving Tony Stark. I defended that in my Homecoming review. He is a teenage kid living in a universe where Iron Man is basically a celebrity superhero, and Tony personally took an interest in him. Of course Peter idolizes him.

The problem is that Tony never really leaves the story.

Even after his death, Peter's moral compass keeps being built around Tony. Happy Hogan is there. Tony's glasses are there. Tony's technology is there. Everyone keeps talking about what Tony wanted Peter to become. Peter spends so much of the movie worrying about whether he can live up to Tony that his own sense of who he wants to be gets pushed to the side.

And then the movie gives Peter another giant piece of Stark technology to solve his problems. That is where I really start to lose patience. Homecoming ended with Peter proving that he did not need Tony's fancy suit to be Spider-Man. Far From Home follows that up by giving him a literal Stark-built system that is basically a replacement for Tony himself.

I understand the intended message. Peter has to stop thinking of Tony as someone he needs to live up to and eventually trust himself. Fine. I just do not think the movie executes that idea very well because almost every important step in Peter's development still runs through Tony. It is difficult to sell Peter becoming his own hero when the movie keeps giving him another reminder of the hero he is supposedly moving past.

It does not help that Peter spends a lot of the movie trying to avoid being Spider-Man. I actually like the idea in theory. He is a teenager on vacation. He wants to spend time with MJ. He wants to have a normal trip. He does not want another world-ending crisis dumped on him. That is believable.

The problem is that the movie uses this as another way to make Peter relearn things he had already figured out. He has to regain confidence. He has to accept responsibility again. He has to learn that he cannot just run away from being Spider-Man. But Homecoming already dealt with that. Peter already made that choice.

Tom Holland is still good. Zendaya is good. Their relationship continues to be one of the better parts of this series, and I like that Peter actually has a crush on MJ that feels awkward in a way that fits this version of him. Holland can sell the anxious teenager stuff very well. I just wish the movie gave him more to do that was not connected to Tony Stark.

Jake Gyllenhaal is also having fun as Mysterio. The visual effects during the big illusion sequences are some of the most interesting parts of the movie, especially when the film gets weird with Peter's perception of reality. The problem is that once the twist happens, Mysterio mostly becomes another MCU villain whose main purpose is to manipulate Peter into learning a lesson.

The action looks good. I cannot really argue against that. The Mysterio sequences have a lot of style, and the movie knows how to make Spider-Man swinging through European locations look impressive. But again, I have to judge the whole movie. Good action cannot make up for a story I do not think is working.

That is the biggest issue I have with a lot of the defenses of the MCU Spider-Man movies. People will point to an action scene, a funny moment, Tom Holland's performance, or a scene between Peter and MJ and use that as evidence that the entire movie is good. I do not think movies work that way. I can enjoy parts of something and still think the thing as a whole is bad.

Far From Home is especially frustrating because Homecoming showed me a version of this character that I really liked. Peter was young. He was excited. He wanted to prove himself. He had friends and school and problems that had nothing to do with saving the universe. There was a smaller Spider-Man movie there, and I think it suited Tom Holland extremely well.

Far From Home takes that smaller story and immediately makes it about the larger MCU again. Endgame has just happened, Tony is dead, the world needs a new hero, Peter has access to even more technology, and suddenly this teenager is expected to carry all of that. The result is a movie that feels more interested in where Spider-Man fits into the MCU than in what Peter Parker actually wants.

That is why the European setting does not really matter as much as it should. It looks nice, and the school trip gives the movie a few funny moments, but it is mostly another place for the MCU to happen. I would rather have spent more time watching Peter actually be a teenager. Let him hang out with Ned. Let him awkwardly talk to MJ. Let him worry about school. Let him screw up something small. He does not always need another giant responsibility dropped on him.

I also think this movie exposes one of the larger problems with the direction of this version of Spider-Man. Homecoming ends by telling Peter that he does not need Tony's approval to be Spider-Man. Far From Home asks him to deal with Tony's absence instead. No Way Home will later take Peter into another completely different kind of story. The movies keep moving him into bigger situations, and the quieter teenage version that made Homecoming work starts getting harder to find.

This is not me saying Tom Holland is a bad Spider-Man. I actually think he is good at playing this version of Peter. I just do not think the movies always know what to do with him. There is a great younger Spider-Man character buried in here, and I think Homecoming comes closest to understanding him.

Far From Home is where I started feeling like the MCU was more interested in Spider-Man than Peter Parker. The suit, the technology, the Avengers, Tony Stark, the world-ending threats, and the bigger universe all keep taking up space that could have gone toward Peter himself.

That is why I land at a 1/5. There are things I like here. Holland and Zendaya are good. Some of the visuals are great. Mysterio has some fun sequences. The movie is not completely devoid of entertainment. But none of those things fix the central problem for me.

Spider-Man: Homecoming gave this version of Peter a chance to prove that he could be Spider-Man without Tony Stark telling him how. Far From Home gives him Tony's technology, Tony's legacy, Tony's expectations, and another crisis to prove himself in. Instead of moving Peter forward, it feels like the movie is putting him right back where it started.

Spider-Man: Far From Home gets a 1/5 from me. I do not hate Tom Holland, and I do not hate this version of Peter. I actually think there is a really good younger Spider-Man somewhere in these movies. I just think this movie keeps getting in the way of him. At some point I have to stop reviewing the actor, the suit, or the action scenes and actually review the movie sitting in front of me.

(Tony Stark died in Endgame, but somehow he still got to make Peter's next Spider-Man movie about him.)