Spider-Man: Far From Home Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

lllllllloved it!

I liked how they took a technique from the Daredevil playbook with his spidey sense.

[FaxModem1]

I actually kinda didn't like this movie. I wasn't even planning on seeing it, but then I read the movie's synopsis on Wikipedia and there was talk of J.K. Simmons in the mid-credits sequence so I went to check that out.

My biggest core gripe, story-wise, is that Beck's plan to acquire E.D.I.T.H. required a lot of things out of his control to go perfectly right. He couldn't just swipe it when Peter wasn't looking, as it wouldn't respond to him, Peter had to specifically and willfully relinquish control, and I didn't buy that he'd so quickly parse Tony's note into "give away this EXTREMELY POWERFUL weapon to someone else, like someone you've known for less than a few days". That was a really dumb move for Peter, who's supposed to be smart enough to not be that dumb. Okay so he's young and naive and misses his Stark-dad, but still.

If, perhaps, Mysterio had suggested or induced the idea that they'd be better off with someone else and Peter considered it and concluded, "Well, maybe it'd be better off that way," I could give it a bit more slack in this department, but as far as the subterfuge plan goes, the first time Beck sees E.D.I.T.H. (at least as far as Peter knows) is when the waitress picks it up off the floor and gives it back to Peter. And then Peter comes up with, "Wait...I should give it to YOU!" all on his own with no prompting, and furthermore over Beck's repeated (even if insincere) refusals.

And it might be just me, but every time they went for humor or romance I got absolutely nothing out of the experience. No chuckles or awwws, and when they're kissing at the end, I'm more thinking about how the blazing fire on the tire of that overturned car next to them is probably blowing some rather stinky fumes in their faces.

Quentin Beck is a con man, and is using con man like psychological tricks to get Peter to trust him. Let's go through a few of them. A lot of this makes sense if you assume Beck studied Peter to get a sense of what kind of kid he is, and what would work on him.

One, he makes himself seem like a trustworthy person. Being the big hero and all that.

Two, he sticks up for Peter when Peter is being down on himself and ingratiating himself at each opportunity.

Three, he imitates a revered figure physically from Peter's past, so as to create an innate feeling of trustworthiness. Note how Quentin has the same hairstyle as Tony Stark until after he gets Edith, then he changes hairstyles to be slicked back. That's on purpose. He's trying to subconsciously remind Peter of Tony, and make Peter think of him as like Tony, without the judgement.

Four, he plays Devil's advocate for Peter, voicing his concerns about giving him Edith. This is so that Peter will, via reverse psychology, think that this is a great idea, as Quentin is obviously someone worthy if he's trying to have Peter keep the glasses.

Five, he makes subtle jabs at Peter that the glasses aren't right for him, and that he shouldn't wear them. This is so that Peter will not want to wear them, while not being openly insulted.

Six, let 'Nick Fury' do all the railroading to make Peter feel forced, so that he can come off as the nice guy who is actually looking out for him in contrast.

Essentially, Quentin Beck's plan does a lot of gaslighting on Peter Parker to psychologically manipulate him. Everything else is a lot of preplanning with a special effects team and rehearsals.

Things did go wrong for them as soon as 'Nick Fury' got involved, but they were definitely working to bamboozle Peter Parker and Nick Fury from the beginning, and put it work beforehand to make it work.

[Madner Kami]

Mentioning Nick Fury, that is something I really loved in hindsight. Through the entire length of the movie, I was irked by how atypically unprofessional and not-so-serious especially Nick Fury, but also Agent Hill acted and thought that there's something off. After a while, I filed it under "general tone of the movie being a bit quirky, so they slightly adapted the characters to not be super serious" and then the after-credits scene happened. I laughed for a good while there and then. Bonus points for the subtle snub at Captain Marvel, too.

Also, I went into this movie with an aunt of mine. I was a bit concerned on whether such a "mid series movie" would work for her, as she has zero connection to the franchise, other than pop-culture osmosis and the movie does a lot of interconnecting, but apparently she did not get confused once and the "Mysterio is a bad guy"-reveal was a surprise for her. Of course, I knew who Mysterio really is, but I found them bringing him in like this very well done. Gyllenhaal plays him just perfect and really seems to get the character and I'd wished, that he gets more time to play with Spider-Man, as I felt their second confrontation was a bit too weak, not utilizing the abilities that Mysterio has quite as well, as in their first bout.

And as for the elephant in the room: I do like Flash Thompson and MJ, I do not like the "brown-washing" (for lack of a better word) going on there. They are genuinely good characters on their own and do not need the names of old to justify their existence, especially because they don't feel like iterations of the previous characters, but rather unique characters on their own.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I think this movie coming now works as a coda to "Endgame".

The opening bit was charming I thought. As a standalone movie, everything expositing the blip just kinda stood out, but I'm not going to pretend that the MCU franchise shouldn't have its own gravity on things.

Also I liked the set pieces. The movie felt a bit like the first Mission Impossible, even having a sequence in Prague, and Peter having a striking suit like Tom Cruise has worn in those movies.

[Winter]

In regards to Flash I honestly don't like him AS Flash cause he just doesn't really feel like Flash. Flash is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and a Dumb Jock who is a LOT smarter then anyone, including himself, really gives him credit for. Honestly he feels more like Harry Osborn without any of the redeeming qualities, a smart upper class kid with a dysfunctional family. Honestly if they had made him Harry I think it would have been interesting as it would have shaken up the usual SM formula l which seems to be the MCU's main goal when it comes to their Spider-Man.

On the flip side we have Michelle Jones aka MJ which, name change aside, is actually a lot more accurate to the MJ of the comics. She's arguably the best take on the character since Spectacular Spider-Man and Spider-Man PS4. MJ is, IMHO, the most screwed over when it comes to adaptations as apart from the MCU, PS4 and SSM Mary Jane is usually VERY heavily changed. In the 90's Spider-Man animated series she honestly was REALLY whiny and only started to really develop as a character AFTER her return and THAT was a Hydro-Man Clone of her.

Raimi's MJ has Very VERY little character outside of her relationship with Peter and what character is there is really unlikable most notably in Spider-Man 2 where she's just a jerk who is more interested in her own wants and needs then hearing anyone else's, (though she was a LOT better in the PS2 Spider-Man 2 game mostly because they Kept all her more sympathetic scenes in and removed ALL her Jerk @$$ scenes).

MJ from The MCU has all of MJ's smarts, her unapologetic snarkiness and her backstory is more in line with what she told Peter in the comics (that she was a class clown and a loner in high-school) and she has a more of Mary Jane's Fiery personality.

Again, my only complaint about MJ in the MCU is that I wish she had gotten more screen time as I really like her character a LOT more then I do with Ned.

[Rocketboy1313]

I feel like there is some kind of subtext about a much more famous actor in a mocap suit is the bad guy, and he ultimately attacks Spider-man... by unmasking him...

There is something in the meta-text here that I think might be a bigger idea that will come to me in the coming months. Like Marvel being really self critical.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that during that Mysterio sequence in which all the illusions include Spiderman in different costumes... I am 100% certian they originally intended to include cameos by Tobey MacGuire and Andrew Garfields... Costumes. Maybe even a blink and miss it Spiderverse reference. I am certain that was going to be part of that scene and then they didn't do it because of brand consistency or something.