Okay, I'm'a level with y'all. Which... I mean, I've done this before, but in present context I feel like it's worth repeating. I am all Spider-Manned out. With the exception of Into the Spider-Verse it has been a solid decade since I've actually loved a Spider-Man movie. I feel obligated to put this review to proverbial/digital paper since I've covered literally ever other piece of the MCU to date, but so let it be known that honestly the movie was on the back foot going in just because of the biases I carry.
Making things even worse is the fact that Endgame was almost perfect... as an ending point to the MCU. Honestly they should have just released Endgame and had that be the last movie of the year. Maybe if I'd had a year to ruminate Far From Home would have worked better, but I guess I can't really promise that either. Endgame wrapped up the character arcs for the MCU that I've been invested in so heavily for so long with such a nice little fan-servicey bow that I honestly am having a hard time dredging up any enthusiasm at all for the movies and Disney+ TV shows we know are coming.
So there was an Everest for this movie to climb, and suffice it to say it is not the Citizen Kane of our generation. It's a superhero action-blockbuster. It was never going to be able to hit me with subverted expectations sufficient to impress and still be pop-corny enough to actually make back its budget. I'm too much of a Spidey-cynic at this point.
Also, tangent, have you seen Citizen Kane? How lame were movies before that if that was so ridiculously ground-breaking?
So, Far From Home. An iterative follow-up to the character of Spider-Man that brings us a teenager being horrified of increased responsibility trying to shove it off onto literally anyone else, which... Okay, that's fair. I'm sure there are plenty of teens who can relate. I could have, at one point, even if by now I relate more with the flibbin' chaperones than I do the actual kids. The movie also gives us a cursory look at how the world works post-Endgame, but given the general focus on teen social drama, it's pretty shallow overall.
And you know what, Mysterio actually comes out of the whole thing looking pretty cool. Way better than I expected based off the comics, even if his character is sometimes a little inconsistent and it's more than a bit ridiculous that literally the only reason anyone on Earth ever wants to destroy anything is because Tony Stark offended them that one time.
Seriously, Iron-monger, Whiplash, AIM, the Maximoff twins, Ultron, Vulture, freaking Captain America, and now Mysterio? Is this really the picture you want to paint of Tony Stark even after he's dead? Marvel, c'mon... People have motivations for things all the time. Surely you can come up with a few that don't have to do with Tony Stark.
So yeah, everything is generally put together pretty well even if the end product feels very iterative and occasionally derivative. I get why people like it, and honestly this kind of thing normally works pretty well for me when I'm not loaded down by all the biases I mentioned earlier on. If you like action popcorn flicks, this is a good one, and I understand why so many people liked it.
But... I didn't. That'll be reflected in my ranking.
Making things even worse is the fact that Endgame was almost perfect... as an ending point to the MCU. Honestly they should have just released Endgame and had that be the last movie of the year. Maybe if I'd had a year to ruminate Far From Home would have worked better, but I guess I can't really promise that either. Endgame wrapped up the character arcs for the MCU that I've been invested in so heavily for so long with such a nice little fan-servicey bow that I honestly am having a hard time dredging up any enthusiasm at all for the movies and Disney+ TV shows we know are coming.
So there was an Everest for this movie to climb, and suffice it to say it is not the Citizen Kane of our generation. It's a superhero action-blockbuster. It was never going to be able to hit me with subverted expectations sufficient to impress and still be pop-corny enough to actually make back its budget. I'm too much of a Spidey-cynic at this point.
Also, tangent, have you seen Citizen Kane? How lame were movies before that if that was so ridiculously ground-breaking?
So, Far From Home. An iterative follow-up to the character of Spider-Man that brings us a teenager being horrified of increased responsibility trying to shove it off onto literally anyone else, which... Okay, that's fair. I'm sure there are plenty of teens who can relate. I could have, at one point, even if by now I relate more with the flibbin' chaperones than I do the actual kids. The movie also gives us a cursory look at how the world works post-Endgame, but given the general focus on teen social drama, it's pretty shallow overall.
And you know what, Mysterio actually comes out of the whole thing looking pretty cool. Way better than I expected based off the comics, even if his character is sometimes a little inconsistent and it's more than a bit ridiculous that literally the only reason anyone on Earth ever wants to destroy anything is because Tony Stark offended them that one time.
Seriously, Iron-monger, Whiplash, AIM, the Maximoff twins, Ultron, Vulture, freaking Captain America, and now Mysterio? Is this really the picture you want to paint of Tony Stark even after he's dead? Marvel, c'mon... People have motivations for things all the time. Surely you can come up with a few that don't have to do with Tony Stark.
So yeah, everything is generally put together pretty well even if the end product feels very iterative and occasionally derivative. I get why people like it, and honestly this kind of thing normally works pretty well for me when I'm not loaded down by all the biases I mentioned earlier on. If you like action popcorn flicks, this is a good one, and I understand why so many people liked it.
But... I didn't. That'll be reflected in my ranking.
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