Spiderman Far From Home: Dealing with Expectations

Walking into this movie I was fearful of how one of my favorite Spiderman villains (mysterio) was going to be used given the background that the MCU has in terms of villains being represented for this universe in a different way, for example “the Mandarin”. Dr. Ludwig Rinehart, Quentin Beck a.k.a. Mysterio is a horrible actor because he is an incredible special effects artist whose superpower is one that exists in the real world more than we would wish: deception. And for this movie, I cannot believe HOW WELL they used Quentin’s deception to highlight Peter Parkers innocence and fear of responsibility.

Mysterio is not a person, he is a group of disgruntled Stark Industries workers that decided to take advantage of the power void that Tony left when he died to take advantage of the technology they had worked with him for their own agenda. Quentin simply takes over everyone and their agenda becomes his own. I COMPLETELY disagree with the people that criticize the exposition scene at the bar when Peter hands over EDITH and Jake Gyllenhaal is peer pressured into a victory lap speech. Simply put, it is a necessary celebration of the villain having the upper hand after probably months if not years of work. Gyllenhaal plays the part perfectly and delivers his fake persona lines as a bad actor (for example when he is explaining what the elementals are and how they killed his family). Plus, you can CLEARLY see when he is being earnest and does not deliver his lines like a script reading, but rather as a true honest character (for example the superhero talk on the ledge of the building in Prague).

Homecoming as a movie has a blatant truth: Peter is Tony Stark’s son he never had and Tony is Peter’s dad he never had. Peter losing another father figure in Endgame breaks that reality into pieces. Far From Home is a movie that starts Spiderman’s journey to becoming HIS OWN superhero; making mistakes and having to solve them on his own! Peter Parker is a highly smart teenager, and he always has the disadvantage of maturity, the vast majority of villains he faces have always been older and have more life experience than him.

Peter cannot speak publicly, thinks superhero work is a 9 to 5 where you have vacations, wants to tell the girl he likes that he does with a cheesy - over the top plan, almost kills a classmate with EDITH, does not want to help Fury with the elementals threat, AND handed over EDITH to a man who he met less than a week ago! There is NO DOUBT they show his youth and lack of experience, plus life hits him HARD: Mysterio plays him like a fiddle.

Eventually Spiderman had to grow up. And just like in Homecoming, when he is able to lift himself out from under the rubble after having a panic attack, he has to focus on himself and trust that he is capable of much more as long as he confronts head on the problems that he created. We as an audience have to adapt out expectations to a teen Spiderman, a boy becoming a man, a puberty exiting man who has to learn what Thor’s mother said in Endgame: “everyone fails at who they’re supposed to be. The true measure of a hero is how well they succeed at who they are”. Spiderman is “supposed to be” the next Ironman, the next avengers leader, etc. However, anyone that knows Spiderman understands how different he is and for those that do not, you will be impressed by him showing how much of a different personality and leadership he has and will grow to have.

Lastly, MJ is not Mary Jane Watson… SO WHAT? This is one of the most earnest and delightful teen romances I have ever seen. The awkward moments and chemistry, the unnecessary “romantic” plans, the imaginary enemy that you think is stealing her away from you. The love relationship also is going to be a VERY strong backbone to Spiderman’s drive and resolve from here on… He does love Aunt May, and has a great friend in Ned, but MJ is one of the most important characters in Peter Parker and Spiderman’s life. Having that set up over 2 movies and going forward realizing that she is in serious danger could be used to raise the stakes with the villains to come.

All in all, this movie proved to be an amazing story told through the lies of a villain and the innocence of an up and coming superhero that has been forced to confront the world without his mentor. PLUS, keep in mind that in the back end of this plot and movie there was a pretty large expectation of being the movie to close out the Infinity Saga of the marvel cinematic universe (MCU) and tease what comes next. And they DELIVERED perfectly there as well. They explained the blip, they brought back characters from Civil War and the first Ironman movie, they fooled the audience with the Nick Fury twist and they even fan serviced specific characters that showed up, and so much more...