Sound Off! Spider-Man: Far From Home

Welcome back to Sound Off!, a semi-regular column where members of Speculative Chic gather together to chat about the latest BIG THING in entertainment. This time, pack your superhero suit and discuss Spider-Man: Far From Home, which premiered in the United States on Tuesday, July 2, 2019.

Sound Off! is meant to be a reaction, but not necessarily a review. After all, while we are all individuals, even mutual love of something (or hate) can come from different places: you may find everything from critique to fangirling to maybe even hate-watching.

Now, join Shara White and Nancy O’Toole Meservier as they talk about Spider-Man: Far From Home! [Note: Make sure you’ve seen Avengers: Endgame before you read this, and then be wary of the spoiler warning in the midst of Nancy’s contribution if you haven’t yet seen Far From Home (or Captain Marvel)!]

Shara: Tom Holland remains my favorite Spider-Man (forgive me, for I have not yet seen Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse). I love how consistently they utilize his youth, how earnest and believable he is, and I love how, in the world post-Thanos (post-blip?), he wants nothing more than to simply be a normal kid.

There’s lots to love in Far from Home. His thwarted attempts to woo MJ. Nick Fury learning what it means to be ghosted. Ned’s surprising side-plot. The very real grief that permeates the movie, of having lost so many Avengers in the war with Thanos, specifically Tony Stark.

I could say a lot, but for once, the Spoiler Queen of Speculative Chic doesn’t feel the need to. I will say that I thought the story was very, very well done (though some of the surprises weren’t surprises for my husband, who is very familiar with the comics), and I like what’s being set up for future Spider-Man movies. There’s a quote that I’m going to mangle here, and I won’t say who says it, but a character basically states that people will believe anything you want them too. Not only did that feel particularly poignant for today’s world, but it’s going to have a whole new meaning as we go forward in the franchise.

Speaking of going forward, all of the reports keep saying this is the official end of Phase 3, which I’m having a tough time accepting. After all, we had Avengers: Endgame, right? ENDgame? Perhaps this is a coda, but I find I prefer to think of this movie as the start of a brand-new phase. Iron Man kicked off the MCU as we know it today, with its infamous ending, “I am Iron Man.” Follow that arc through Endgame, and we came full circle. It makes sense to me that this next arc begins with Spider-Man. It also makes sense that we might see a similar sacrifice.

Anyway: Far From Home was a fun film that I enjoyed thoroughly. As long as you’re caught up on the MCU, I’m sure you will too. Just remember: stay for the credits, and I do mean ALL of the credits. You’ll thank you me later. You’ll be perplexed, but you’ll thank me later.

Nancy: Wow, Marvel is really firing on all cylinders this year. First off, we get an entertaining origin story with Captain Marvel, followed by a heartbreaking Avengers finale with Endgame, and now one of the best Spider-Man movies that I’ve ever seen. Which, given the number of fantastic Spider-Man movies already out there, really says a lot. But Far From Home manages to break new ground thanks to its globetrotting story line, delicate handling of the fallout from Endgame, and exploration of a classic Spider-Man villain.

Part of the appeal of the Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is how well the actor can portray not just what it’s like to be a superhero, but a teenage superhero. Watching Peter go on a school trip, hang out with his friends and weird teachers, and crush on the sardonic MJ (wonderfully played by Zendaya in an expanded role), is just so charming. Even if super heroics never entered the picture, I’m pretty sure I would have been fine watching Peter have a nice vacation.

But of course, super heroics do play a role in the form of the Elementals, enemies from a parallel world that seem hellbent on destroying ours. But they didn’t come alone. Quentin Beck (aka Mysterio), a heroic sorcerer figure, is hunting them. With Beck, Peter sees not only an ally, but a way out. After being blipped out of existence, fighting space aliens, and losing his surrogate father, Tony Stark, Peter Parker finds the weight of being a superhero to be too much. With Beck, he sees a way that he can push off his newfound responsibilities and focus just on keeping Queens safe.

But of course, this being a Spider-Man story, we know this can’t be. But in order to explain why, I’m gonna need to get into some spoilers.

~SPOILERS FOR FAR FROM HOME BELOW~

Nancy, continued: I’m pretty sure most viewers saw Beck’s betrayal coming from a mile away. He is a classic Spider-Man villain after all. This gives the early Beck scenes a particular edge, guided by Jake Gyllanhall’s strong performance, and some really effective lighting. I felt like I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. And when it did, I was quite surprised to discover that Beck’s true origin, a disgruntled former employee of Tony Stark, and the genius behind B.A.R.F.. It is, in retrospect, a much more believable story line then that of a man from another universe with a giant fishbowl helmet. But, as Beck points out in a powerful scene, people will believe anything nowadays. This is something true enough in our regular world of Facebook news and deep fakes, never mind a universe that’s been invaded by gods and aliens.

Which brings us to our post-credit scenes. The moment that Beck was defeated and sent away one of his lackeys with a thumb drive, I knew that he was going to expose Peter’s identity. But to see that news delivered by J. Jonah Jamison, played by none other J.K. Simmons from the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films, completely floored me. And then, to reveal that Nick Fury and Maria Hill were Skrulls all along (Talos and his wife Soren from Captain Marvel) was just the icing on the cake. This opens up so many questions. Did they just take over for Fury and Hill to give them a vacation, or is Fury in the process of creating Marvel’s space-based version of S.H.I.E.L.D., S.W.O.R.D.? And, if that’s the case, how long have they been Skrulls?

There’s no denying it, Marvel knows how to leave a hell of a parting shot.