Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 2, 2019) [ENDGAME SPOILERS ALLOWED!] (2 Viewers)

[Colin Jacobson]

Spoiler

Similarities are bound to happen when you have a 23-film-and-counting series. It didn't bother me to have both villains be pissed at Tony Stark. For the mainstream audience, who see these things once or twice and are more casual in fandom, it might not even register. I saw Iron Man 3 in theaters and liked it, and I know what happened in it, but haven't bought it yet and didn't see it again. So I didn't sit there in the movie on Tuesday night and think "Mysterio has a similar motivation to the Mandelorian." You're right that he does, but that wasn't front of mind for me while watching Far From Home and it did not detract from watching Jake's performance of Mysterio's story at all.

I think you missed my point:

Spoiler

As depicted in "IM3", the Mandarin wasn't a disgruntled employee - he was an actor hired to play the character. Yes, there's a disgruntled ex-Stark employee behind the whole plot, but the actual Mandarin played by Ben Kingsley was just a dupe.

The twist I refer to is the realization that the Mandarin we've seen isn't actually a villain - he's an actor.

And the twist in "FFH" is that Mysterio is a villain who lies about... well, everything. Much more obvious twist if you've read the comics - seemed strange that MCU would suddenly make an established Spidey baddie into a hero - but it's still a twist.

Anyway, the Mysterio twist didn't bother me or distract me. I simply thought it reminded me of the twist in "IM3"...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Spoiler

I believe Brad was 5 years younger when the Snap happened. He survived, aged 5 years, and is now in the same grade as Peter et al.

You're correct - the movie explicitly mentions this.

Indeed, the movie points it out so strongly I'm surprised anyone missed it! The characters make a big deal about

Spoiler

how weird it is that this kid they knew as a pre-teen is now all big and manly!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

They just haven’t connected with me.

I love Holland as an actor (The Impossible) but to me he is annoying as Spiderman in his standalone films. I liked him in the other Marvel films. And both Holland films I thought were somewhat generic superhero action films. I don’t hate them by any means and they are somewhat fun but they are my least favorite of the Spidey films. And tbh I haven’t seen TASM2 and Spiderman 3 in years so I’m not really sure if I would rank it above or below the Holland films.

I was pretty critical of Holland in "Homecoming" but he matured nicely here. I felt he played Peter like he was 10, not 16 (or so) in the prior film, but here he seems more age-appropriate...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I just never much cared for the Raimi movies.

As a longtime fan of the Spidey comics, the first Raimi delighted me because I felt it got the spirit just right.

Sure, it made some changes to the mythology I didn't like, but it just "seemed right". It seemed like a movie made by fans who wanted to convey the spirit of the character to the screen, and it connected in a big way.

The Raimi Spideys are my top 3. People can call "Spidey 3" objectively bad if they want - and it's clearly the weakest of the 3 - but I like it and have never really understood the criticisms.

I think Raimi understood the character better than those behind the Garfield and Holland films...

 

[TJPC]

I knew 2 things about Spider-Man before the movies. 1. He was some type of Marvel Super hero, and 2. He had a very annoying cartoon theme song.

Because of the above, Spider-Man for me is only a character in a series of enjoyable movies. Nothing from the comic book lore that is not in the movies really exists for me and therefore I can’t be troubled by any changes or omissions.

DC was my expertise. I keep wondering why Superman does not visit the “bottled city of Kandor” for instance.

 

[Malcolm R]

Since Holland has taken on the character, I have a hard time watching any of the older films. I used to think I loved the Raimi/Maguire films, but I've tried to watch some of them since watching Holland's performance and I just don't like them as well as I remember. I do love Rosemary Harris as Aunt May in the earlier films, though. I always thought she deserved a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for Spiderman 2. She could make me laugh and get teary-eyed from scene to scene.

I haven't seen FFH yet, and haven't watched the older films recently in their entirety, so I'm not going to rank each film. But I do love Holland's performance of the character the best. He seems more age appropriate and brings great energy. Maguire was pretty good, but he always seemed a little too old and a bit low key/laid back for the character and he had a tendency to make weird facial expressions (in SM2, see the train scene, or when he's running across the rooftop trying to regain his powers). I just found Garfield annoying in general.

 

[TJPC]

I know they will produce them as long as they make money, but counting the latest cartoon version, isn’t this SM#7? Are there no other Marvel characters to mine? One of the highlights of these movies for me was how spectacular the swinging looked in 3D. With the world going flat now what is the point? Our local IMAX is showing the 3D version but only at night. We will therefore be seeing it in “Unreal 3D” in the afternoon (We turn into pumpkins if we are out after dark! )

 

[TravisR]

2. He had a very annoying cartoon theme song.

Goofy as it may be, I think it's an all time great theme song. And it's one of the Ramones' best covers:

 

[Sam Favate]

Given the Queens connection, they really need a way to get the Ramones' cover of the theme song into one of the movies. Long been one of my favorites.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I know they will produce them as long as they make money, but counting the latest cartoon version, isn’t this SM#7? Are there no other Marvel characters to mine?

It's "SM8":

3 Maguires
2 Garfields
2 Hollands
1 Animated

And that ignores Holland's part in "Civil War" and the 2 Avengers flicks.

There've been 7 formal X-Men movies from 2000-19, and that doesn't count related flicks like the 3 Wolverine flicks and the 2 Deadpools!

 

[TJPC]

I was thinking there was only one “Garfield” a la George Lazenby.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Are there no other Marvel characters to mine?

Nope, not for Sony, which is of course the studio. They don't have the rights to anyone else, so it's got to be Spider-Man and/or his rogues gallery (ex: Venom.)

 

[darklight00]

I've been seeing articles today pop up on Facebook saying "Yes, That Was SPOILER Playing SPOILER in Far From Home." Only they didn't use the word spoiler and just identified both the character and actor introduced in the mid-credits scene. Then it's just some fluff piece about how surprising it was to see them in the movie.

Apart from this just being a really crappy thing to do in a clickbait headline, that's not the article I want. I'm waiting for someone to write

Spoiler

an actual article where they talk to J.K. Simmons and Jon Watts and Kevin Feige about how it came about to bring Simmons back. I want to know what the thought process was behind doing it. I agree it was absolutely the right choice, but I'm sure there was a discussion. I'd like to know what Simmons' reaction was when they asked him to come back. And also, I wonder if Sam Raimi has any thoughts about it, since Raimi is after all the one who cast him in the first place. I'm sure he would be gracious to the press, but I still think the story of how and when this return happened, and what it was like for everyone involved in it, is something interesting I hope they touch on sooner rather than later. At the very least it needs a Blu-ray featurette talking about it.

here the director John Watss talks about how this post credit cameo came about.

Spoiler

https://www.polygon.com/2019/7/7/20683487/spider-man-far-from-home-spoilers-j-jonah-jameson-actor

 

[darklight00]

This is a better article on John Watts discussing the casting of the surprise cameo.

Spoiler

http://collider.com/spider-man-far-from-home-credits-scene-cameo-explained/

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Nope, not for Sony, which is of course the studio. They don't have the rights to anyone else, so it's got to be Spider-Man and/or his rogues gallery (ex: Venom.)

And if they want the $$$s that come from being part of the MCU and associated with the Marvel Studios brand, Kevin Feige has to sign off as well.

It made sense to produce Homecoming and its sequels in order to have access to Spider-Man, the crown jewel of Marvel Comics, for its major event team up movies.

But is Marvel Studios going to want to invest the same time and effort for Black Cat or the like?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I was thinking there was only one “Garfield” a la George Lazenby.

Nope! "Amazing Spider-Man" was 2012 and "AS2" was 2014!

Both made money but still disappointed at the box office, especially given their massive budgets.

I didn't hate either but I didn't like either, either!

 

[Bryan^H]

As a longtime fan of the Spidey comics, the first Raimi delighted me because I felt it got the spirit just right.

Without a doubt. I have been a Spidey fan since 1983 when I started reading the reprints of the original stories from the 60's in Marvel Tales. I read every issue The Amazing Spider-Man up to the end of the McFarlane run in the mid 300's. And none of the movies captured that comic book tone like the first two Raimi movies (especially the second film). In fact all of the Spider-Man films since the second Raimi film have been a "one and done" for me.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Kevin Feige talks about the mid-credit cameo:

Spoiler

It was one of the early ideas when we started working with Amy and Sony on the Spider-Man franchise and the kind of things we wanted to do. A younger high school-based Peter, taking him to places he hasn’t been before, interacting with the other MCU characters. J. Jonah Jameson was one of them. He wasn’t in either of the two Amazing [Spider-Man films], so we felt like we had to do that at some point. Homecoming didn’t seem like the right idea, and then 95% of Far From Home takes place outside the city. So it felt like that was the opportunity to do a number of things. One: to have Mysterio win in a way that you’re not expecting, to have Mysterio pull one last trick on him. And in those conversations with Jameson, it was always about how the notion of the powerful publisher doesn’t exist anymore. Selling newspapers, “get ‘em out, they gotta go to print!” is a very romanticized notion that doesn’t exist anymore. So, you know, in the Ultimates there was the Daily Bugle website and things like that. But taking it into an even more contemporary radical left and radical right news journalist that kind of scream in front of the camera. And thinking, “Who could do it?”

The thing is, JK Simmons is such a versatile actor. Look at what he’s done over the years since his iconic portrayal of this character in the Sam Raimi films. And then all of his work, Whiplash being one of the biggest ones. It can be the same actor with that somewhat similar voice inflection, but with a totally different persona. That had never been done before. We really liked the idea that it’s a new Jameson, he’s not from another dimension or multiverse or something like that. It’s a new Jameson in this world played by the same actor.

Definitely sounds to me that this isn’t a “one and done” cameo but character that will continue to have a presence in Spidey’s world going forward. Which is what I would expect.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Oh for sure. That character is going to be around in the third film in a significant capacity. The setup in the tag scene requires it.

 

[TonyD]

I'm going out of my mind right now.

Annoying carton song?????
The 2 Amazing films ranked higher then ANY of the other movies.

I'm beside myself right now.

I was at a friends house today and ASM 1 was on tv.
I hadnt seen it in years and had forgotten how awful it is.

The Lizard, jeez they couldnt have made him look dumber if they tried to.
Garfield is so miscast as PP it is laughable.
SM sets up a camera to take pictures of the Lizard and he labels it with his name on it.
The Lizard controls all the little lizards in NY.
Another Death of Uncle Ben scene and it's the dumbest way possible he could get killed.

All the stuff with Peter's parents.
The business with the crane operators.
What the bleep was that. I guess there weren't a hundred really tall buildings right there that he could use to web swing with. OOPS, Oh yes there were.

I'm not even going to start on ASM3.

I thought something was off

Spoiler

with Fury. He made more mistakes than that character would, and it seems like it would be easy enough to check out the identity of a former Stark employee like Beck. (Didn't Maria Hill go to work for Stark after SHIELD collapsed in The Winter Soldier?) Nice that they explained this by explaining it wasn't really Fury.

Yeah Sam, I mentioned all that in my first longish review a few pages back.
I'm glad I wasnt the only one to notice.

1. Spider-man
2. Spider-man 2.1
3. Homecoming
4. Far From Home
5. Spider-verse
6. Spider-man 3
7. ASM 1
8. ASM 2