After a huge event movie (Aftermath) bringing 11 years of story to a close, one would think the trivial adventures and personal life of Spider-Man would be a letdown. Not so, Kevin Feige brilliantly found a way to give the audience a breather, a little palette cleanser or a return to the superhero flick in which the world’s fate isn’t in the balance…at first.
It’s safe to discuss Aftermath without getting attacked for ruining spoilers by now so…
Far picks up some weeks after the defeat of Thanos, the death of Iron Man and the half the universe’s return, now called “The Blip.” People who were gone for five years were blipped. Their return wasn’t always greeted with cheers neither. In an early scene, Aunt May tells the story of how she returned to her apartment and found it occupied by a family while she was blipped. Word has it, MCU will continue this way forward with the awkwardness of over three billion people on earth being five years younger or older than they recall.
With Peter Parker, he’s trying to get back into the normality of high school alongside all his classmates who were blipped: his crush Mary Jane, his rival Flash Thompson and best friend Ned. Now the school year is ending and he’s excited about going on the class trip to Europe. Peter thinks this will be he chance to tell MJ how he feels and she will do the same, blah blah, another sucker who fell for the fairytale in When Harry Met Sally. Plus, he plans to ditch being Spider-Man for a few weeks and just enjoy being a teenager. The trailers make it obvious how Peter won’t get his wish with Nick Fury appearing, tell him him his services are needed in aiding new hero Mysterio. You have to see Far from here to see how it all unfolds. As usual, you need to sit through the credits for what MCU plans to do in 2020 and a closing joke.
I thought Far was the right type of superhero movie needed. Exciting, light-hearted and more emphasis on Peter’s petty teenager issues with MJ, Flash, this guy named Brad moving in on MJ and Ned’s antics. Bringing in Mysterio from Spider-Man’s long list of villains/supporting characters was also a great choice. Unlike Batman, they haven’t recycled Dr. Octopus, Green Goblin, Sandman (underused), Venom or Electro in this soft reboot. For me, the scene stealer was JB Smoove, one of Peter’s two teacher-chaperones.
Check it out. It’s the movie equivalent of a small bowl of sherbet after eating a big meal.
Can’t wait to see what will be the next three movies in 2020 and I’m a DC fan.
Alamo Extras: British kid show with them performing Madonna’s “Holiday”; old Mego toy commercials; Trailer for Richard Greico’s If Looks Could Kill (some career he had compared to Johnny Depp); Some Web site of two jerks arguing about Spider-Man’s story; Captain Marvel punching to the beats of “Mr. Postman” as sung by Samuel L Jackson; PSA about being yourself via breakdancers, one is dressed as Spider-Man; A story about Spider-Man’s numerous dorky enemies, namely a disco-themed one and another fascinated with wheels; a History of Spider-Man movies before Sam Raimi’s: a student one made in 1969, the 1977 CBS TV movies (I saw those!), a Turkish one and the Japanese TV series; closed up with a Recap of all movies since 2002.
The avatars had a good time too.