Spider-man: Far From Home
Watched this one with friends, which meant we could talk about it afterwards; we all enjoyed it thoroughly, including being pleasantly surprised that it managed emotional continuity with Endgame while still being an essentially light hearted summer movie. So far, Tom Holland remains my favourite movie incarnation of Peter Parker. Also, the mid-credits and post-credit scenes this time around were actually quintessential, instead of being addenda in differing degrees nice or pointless.
Incidentally, I wonder how the „everyone in Europe loves Americans“ gag plays out in an US audience? My cinema in in Munich exploded in laughter when Ned said that. Mind you, there were also wistful sighs later when the Dutch characters (who actually sounded Dutch, not fake movie German, and as the credits revealed were played by Dutch actors) were all fluent in English. (We know.) (Explanatory footnote: this is a cliché that’s really true; while in Germany everyone learns at least some English at school, the Dutch who watch English language movies, tv shows, news, undubbed everywhere, not just in the big cities (or now on the internet), are the masters of fluency to a degree we simply as a people can’t match. 😊 )
While I liked the world building nods - when May mentioned having lost her apartment due to being snapped (or rather, as it’s now called, blipped) for five years, and that this is a big problem for a lot of people, I felt smug because I had been wondering about that very thing -, and the emotional continuity, I thought one key premise really did not bear thinking about with earth logic (and maths), to wit: leaving the morals of such a device aside, when is Tony supposed to have given those SI- and drones controlling glasses to Nick Fury to give to Peter? Can’t have been during the five years between the first defeat of Thanos and Scott coming up with a plan, because not only was Peter dusted (and assumed to stay that way) during that time, but so was Nick Fury. Once Tony signed on to the Time Heist, he was busy with that 24/7, and Fury remained dusted along with everyone else until Bruce reversed the Snappening. (Excuse me, Blip.) And in however many hours were between that and Tony’s own death, he had other problems as well. (Not to mention that Nick Fury is about the least likely intermediary to be given such a device, because honestly, is there a reason not to believe he’d keep it to himself based on previous movies?) And… but you know, those were all post-movie thoughts, because while watching, I was too entertained by everything to mind, and I’m not upset about it now, either. Handwavium applies.
This take on the Peter/MJ romance was suitably teenagery without being obnoxious, and I’m pleased she figured out the Spider-man identity on her own. (Okay, the mid credits scene would also ensure we won’t spent the next few movies with tired „Peter wrecks his relationship with MJ because of his secret identity“ plots, but MJ figuring it out first was good for the character.) Romantic rival Brad being the sole character in Peter’s class who used to be younger than the rest of them and now is the same age falls into the „neat world building continuity“ category again; for that matter, I don’t know whether it was intentional, but Happy/May (whether one sided or both sided) to me was a nod in two directions. In the comics, Aunt May has a fling with Original Jarvis just before (the comics version of) Civil War (prompting
likeadeuce to joke to me that she wants a special issue titled: Civil War: Aunt May and Jarvis dealing with the fallout for them once Peter and Tony were on different sides in the comics). And Iron Man 3 established Happy as a passionate Downton Abbey fan. Now I stopped watching Downton Abbey in early s3, but fannish osmosis tells me Lady Mary ended up with the chauffeur?
Anyway, loved the use of Happy in this movie in general, and long may it continue. Not least because an adult who doesn’t want anything from Peter while offering emotional support is a good thing. Real Nick Fury might or might not have seen through Mysterio, but he definitely would not have had scruples to emotionally blackmail Peter into helping him with the problem du jour. He’s Nick Fury. Which reminds me: during the movie I was thinking „Samuel Jackson had a bit too much fun with the performance, or maybe it’s hangover from playing younger, looser Nick in Captain Marvel“ and then of course the very last scene told me. Well played, Mr. Jackson. Well played. Also by the scriptwriters, because some of the lines in retrospect can be taken as pointed hints.
As to this movie’s main villain: this version of Peter was due to betrayal by seemingly friendly, admired older guy, and lo, delivery came. There was a lot of meta in the movie’s use of Mysterio - who was wearing a motion capture suit post mid movie reveal as to what he was doing - and the way the Marvel movies themselves are made, complete with emotional manipulation, feeling the need for escalating catastrophes to impress - as well as meta on the increasing difficulty to tell what’s real in an age where everything can be faked. The sequence where Mysterio keeps changing „realities“ on Peter was truly stunning (and gut wrenching) to me, and it also set up the mid credits twist which I should have seen coming, but I didn’t.
Oh, and speaking of: clever update of J. Jonah Jameson and his Spidey-bashing medium of choice. Although, as I told my friends afterwards, I hope they keep Jameson as a true believer in his bashing, as opposed to making him in league with villains, because that’s an important character trait in any incarnation of him.
In conclusion: am still charmed by this corner of the MCU, and will continue to follow it with delight. This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1347023.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Incidentally, I wonder how the „everyone in Europe loves Americans“ gag plays out in an US audience? My cinema in in Munich exploded in laughter when Ned said that. Mind you, there were also wistful sighs later when the Dutch characters (who actually sounded Dutch, not fake movie German, and as the credits revealed were played by Dutch actors) were all fluent in English. (We know.) (Explanatory footnote: this is a cliché that’s really true; while in Germany everyone learns at least some English at school, the Dutch who watch English language movies, tv shows, news, undubbed everywhere, not just in the big cities (or now on the internet), are the masters of fluency to a degree we simply as a people can’t match. 😊 )
While I liked the world building nods - when May mentioned having lost her apartment due to being snapped (or rather, as it’s now called, blipped) for five years, and that this is a big problem for a lot of people, I felt smug because I had been wondering about that very thing -, and the emotional continuity, I thought one key premise really did not bear thinking about with earth logic (and maths), to wit: leaving the morals of such a device aside, when is Tony supposed to have given those SI- and drones controlling glasses to Nick Fury to give to Peter? Can’t have been during the five years between the first defeat of Thanos and Scott coming up with a plan, because not only was Peter dusted (and assumed to stay that way) during that time, but so was Nick Fury. Once Tony signed on to the Time Heist, he was busy with that 24/7, and Fury remained dusted along with everyone else until Bruce reversed the Snappening. (Excuse me, Blip.) And in however many hours were between that and Tony’s own death, he had other problems as well. (Not to mention that Nick Fury is about the least likely intermediary to be given such a device, because honestly, is there a reason not to believe he’d keep it to himself based on previous movies?) And… but you know, those were all post-movie thoughts, because while watching, I was too entertained by everything to mind, and I’m not upset about it now, either. Handwavium applies.
This take on the Peter/MJ romance was suitably teenagery without being obnoxious, and I’m pleased she figured out the Spider-man identity on her own. (Okay, the mid credits scene would also ensure we won’t spent the next few movies with tired „Peter wrecks his relationship with MJ because of his secret identity“ plots, but MJ figuring it out first was good for the character.) Romantic rival Brad being the sole character in Peter’s class who used to be younger than the rest of them and now is the same age falls into the „neat world building continuity“ category again; for that matter, I don’t know whether it was intentional, but Happy/May (whether one sided or both sided) to me was a nod in two directions. In the comics, Aunt May has a fling with Original Jarvis just before (the comics version of) Civil War (prompting
likeadeuce to joke to me that she wants a special issue titled: Civil War: Aunt May and Jarvis dealing with the fallout for them once Peter and Tony were on different sides in the comics). And Iron Man 3 established Happy as a passionate Downton Abbey fan. Now I stopped watching Downton Abbey in early s3, but fannish osmosis tells me Lady Mary ended up with the chauffeur?
Anyway, loved the use of Happy in this movie in general, and long may it continue. Not least because an adult who doesn’t want anything from Peter while offering emotional support is a good thing. Real Nick Fury might or might not have seen through Mysterio, but he definitely would not have had scruples to emotionally blackmail Peter into helping him with the problem du jour. He’s Nick Fury. Which reminds me: during the movie I was thinking „Samuel Jackson had a bit too much fun with the performance, or maybe it’s hangover from playing younger, looser Nick in Captain Marvel“ and then of course the very last scene told me. Well played, Mr. Jackson. Well played. Also by the scriptwriters, because some of the lines in retrospect can be taken as pointed hints.
As to this movie’s main villain: this version of Peter was due to betrayal by seemingly friendly, admired older guy, and lo, delivery came. There was a lot of meta in the movie’s use of Mysterio - who was wearing a motion capture suit post mid movie reveal as to what he was doing - and the way the Marvel movies themselves are made, complete with emotional manipulation, feeling the need for escalating catastrophes to impress - as well as meta on the increasing difficulty to tell what’s real in an age where everything can be faked. The sequence where Mysterio keeps changing „realities“ on Peter was truly stunning (and gut wrenching) to me, and it also set up the mid credits twist which I should have seen coming, but I didn’t.
Oh, and speaking of: clever update of J. Jonah Jameson and his Spidey-bashing medium of choice. Although, as I told my friends afterwards, I hope they keep Jameson as a true believer in his bashing, as opposed to making him in league with villains, because that’s an important character trait in any incarnation of him.
In conclusion: am still charmed by this corner of the MCU, and will continue to follow it with delight. This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1347023.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.