Will his boyish charm beat the summer box-office slump?
When it comes to Spider-Man movies, I’ve always been partial to the ones directed by Sam Raimi. It was a different time back then, in 2002.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly eighteen years since twenty-seven-year-old Tobey Maguire played an unconvincing high school student along with James Franco, battling the Green Goblin and making out upside down with Kirsten Dunst.
Spider-Man, along with Spider-Man 2 (the best out of the trilogy), could easily be credited with jump starting the revived interest in comic book movies, long before there was a Marvel Studios and a shared universe that is poised to take everyone’s money for time eternal.
To Raimi’s credit, he knew what to do with the character. Spider-Man isn’t about the man in the mask. It’s about the boy underneath it, the one with real-life wants and desires and struggles. It’s about how to take responsibility for your power, whatever it might be, in the face of the distractions of the world.
Raimi focused on the everyman aspect of Peter Parker and that’s what the audience connected with. With Spider-Man: Far From Home, the Marvel Studios version of Spider-Man finally lives up to his Raimi counterpart. The film is engaging, funny, and exciting in the same way the Raimi films were.
In terms of the Marvel continuity, Spider-Man: Far From Home follows the events of Avengers: Endgame and addresses the consequences of the snap as well as the subsequent unsnapping. This plays out in a charming high school AV memorial, where the biggest complaint is that those that vanished for five years still have to get their diploma, despite being technically old enough to drink.
They’ve also been joined by a few annoying siblings who were spared by Thanos, only to age up in the absence of half the population. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is back and headed to Europe with the science club, but still haunted by the losses of the previous film and unsure of his status in the Avengers. Namely, he doesn’t necessarily want to be a member of the Avengers—he’d rather be a high school student, have fun with his friends, and express his feelings to a girl he likes under the Eiffel Tower at night.
Unfortunately for him, Nick Fury needs his help and is not someone to take no for an answer. All around the world, villages and towns are being destroyed by natural disasters with a face, and a man from an alternate dimension has appeared to fight them off. Dubbed Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) by Peter’s friends who don’t speak Italian, this new hero might just be the leader the world needs and a way to relieve some of the pressure on Peter.
While there are several incredible action sequences that the Marvel films have become known for, in true Spider-Man form the best parts of the film involve Peter being Peter. Spider-Man: Far From Home limits the hero stuff enough to keep the focus on the trip and Peter’s struggles with responsibility and grief.
Holland is more playful with the part than Maguire was, and the writing is wittier, which allows the film to be more tonally consistent than the Raimi films ever were. As much as I enjoyed Tobey Maguire in the role, he always leaned too heavily on Peter’s more morose nature, where Holland seems to embrace the lighter side of Spider-Man, allowing the character to be more balanced. As a result, the film is both light hearted and weighty, and for the first time in the Marvel Universe, Spider-Man feels like a hero in his own right, rather than a sidekick for Iron Man.
And so, with the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Marvel Studios has completed its first arc. The studio is taking an break for an undetermined amount of time, so hopefully, the glut of superhero films will be in a moratorium. What will fill the void is anyone’s guess. If this summer is any indication, there is a slowdown for franchise film ticket sales.
Neither Toy Story 4 nor Aladdin or Godzilla have raked in the summer blockbuster money as expected. Audiences realize they don’t need to see these films opening weekend. They can always wait until they’re streaming. Hopefully, this will push the studios in a more independent direction. I like superhero movies fine, but I’m ready to see something new.