I am unbelievably late to this party. Generally speaking I try and see the Marvel movies soon after opening. I made sure to see Endgame its opening night. It helps to avoid spoilers and all that.
But, for a few reasons I did not get around to seeing Far From Home for ages. In fact, I just watched it yesterday.
It was pretty fantastic. By far I have more good things to say about this film than negatives. Tom Holland continues to shine as Peter Parker and the supporting cast were given more room to shine.
Over all this was a really well down movie, that was both a satisfying “teen finds himself and romance in foreign lands” flick as well as an action film.
But there was thing that hurt the film for me. It is both a bit of a quibble, but also large enough that it takes up almost the first half of the movie.
Maybe it is worth mentioning that I’ve been reading comic books a majority of my 38 years on this planet. Seeing them just being accepted as entertainment still kind of blows my mind. But I digress.
I’ve read a lot of comics.
A good portion of the first hour of this movie is devoted to convincing the audience that Mysterio is a good guy. Some excellent performances are there to convince us of this. It is done without a single wink to the camera.
And I just never bought in to it.
So much emotional resonance rests on Peter trusting Quintin and the ensuing sudden but inevitable betrayal. And even though I avoided spoilers until I could actually see this film, it was hard to let go of what I knew.
Quentin Beck is a bad guy. Mysterio is a villain. And once Peter started questioning whether he deserved the weapon system, it was a wait until Beck got his hands on the missiles.
And while there is still a lot of good in that first half of the movie, it is a bit of a slog when you are only waiting for the heel turn to happen.
That said, I’m wondering whether watching it again will help. The first time watching a movie, not knowing what happens can keep us ever anticipating what will happen next. The next viewing can be all about savoring what is currently happening.
So, yeah. This was a good flick. But it was better once the obvious thing happened.
Deadly Troubadour 