Spider-Man: Far From Home (also, Lucy needs a Captain Marvel icon if anyone wants to make one)
Went to see Spider-Man: Far From Home with the small fanperson and Wa just now. Spoilers for both the movie and a mid-credits scene that probably tells you the plot of the next movie.
I loved the movie. Loved it loved it. I loved the surface plot, which I label thus because I don't really think it's accurate to call it the "A" plot. Much of it is just a hanger from which to swing Peter's emotional arc. The way he looks at "Mysterio" when this man who physically recalls Tony Stark without looking like him too much calls Peter the smartest guy in the room is heartbreaking. This iteration of Peter Parker, even without ever mentioning the loss of Uncle Ben, has been yearning for a father figure from scene one, and he wants nothing more than to prove himself to that father figure, whether it's the absent Tony Stark or Quentin Beck.
(Funny-touching-ironic side note: the best father figure Peter gets in this movie is Happy, who is busily freaking Peter out by having...something with Aunt May.)
And of course in the midst of struggling with feelings of inadequacy (which, Jesus fuck, the kid's sixteen, and dear God do I love how this iteration really lets Peter be young), he's trying to actually have something resembling a life (read: girlfriend) while not getting the people in that life killed.
All of this is played pitch perfectly. The only slightly off-note performance turns out to be off-note for a reason. The characters are different from previous iterations (Peter perhaps resembles the Ultimate version a bit, or maybe it's just that I want to adopt both of them), but they're consistent. I absolutely adore Zendaya's MJ, who isn't even named Mary Jane, but is a wonderful, wonderful character, and I won't even complain about her being the only real female character in the movie. Okay, maybe I will a little, but that's a sigh and not a shout.
I've said before, too, that this is the first live-action Spider-man where the grace and agility of the character are evident everywhere, not just in the CGI-d bits. I mean, no shock: the actor is a dancer and acrobat. But it's nice to be able to really believe that this kid has some kind of preternatural agility.
Oh, yeah, the surface plot. Gyllenhaal did a terrific job, to the point that knowing, even without much comics background since I read the comic strip as a kid (and that was a looooooong time ago), that he was the bad guy (the pacing of the plot gives it away if nothing else), he almost sells this sad, altruistic, kindly dude who actually gives Peter the validation he so badly needs. And when the inevitable reveal happens, it's an interesting reveal. In literally any other MCU character, I would have been kind of annoyed at the plot being, in some ways, yet another fallout of Tony Stark's actions, but for Peter to be the one to clean up Tony's mess is simply perfect. (And oh, God, the bit where he's designing his new suit, holding out his arm with the virtual gauntlet, and Happy's little smile...I'm smiling just thinking about it.)
I ended the movie so happy and wanting to see it again right then. And then I saw the mid-credits scene.
AUGH, MCU, why do you gotta hurt me like this? Why is it necessary that every fucking superhero ever has to go through the "something happens that makes everyone think the hero did something awful" storyline? Longtime readers will know that I hate, hate, hate "accused of a crime they didn't commit." It is literally my least favorite, most hated storyline. I loathe it. I know that there's a long tradition of Spider-Man being distrusted and even hated, but AUGH. It seriously soured my happiness from the movie.
I suppose I will just have to see it again and leave before that scene.
Note: Not putting on the squee tag, because, well, not all squee, but if you hated the movie, I would appreciate you not unloading in this space.
This entry was originally posted at https://cereta.dreamwidth.org/1192766.html. If you can, please speak there.
have spoken there.
I loved the movie. Loved it loved it. I loved the surface plot, which I label thus because I don't really think it's accurate to call it the "A" plot. Much of it is just a hanger from which to swing Peter's emotional arc. The way he looks at "Mysterio" when this man who physically recalls Tony Stark without looking like him too much calls Peter the smartest guy in the room is heartbreaking. This iteration of Peter Parker, even without ever mentioning the loss of Uncle Ben, has been yearning for a father figure from scene one, and he wants nothing more than to prove himself to that father figure, whether it's the absent Tony Stark or Quentin Beck.
(Funny-touching-ironic side note: the best father figure Peter gets in this movie is Happy, who is busily freaking Peter out by having...something with Aunt May.)
And of course in the midst of struggling with feelings of inadequacy (which, Jesus fuck, the kid's sixteen, and dear God do I love how this iteration really lets Peter be young), he's trying to actually have something resembling a life (read: girlfriend) while not getting the people in that life killed.
All of this is played pitch perfectly. The only slightly off-note performance turns out to be off-note for a reason. The characters are different from previous iterations (Peter perhaps resembles the Ultimate version a bit, or maybe it's just that I want to adopt both of them), but they're consistent. I absolutely adore Zendaya's MJ, who isn't even named Mary Jane, but is a wonderful, wonderful character, and I won't even complain about her being the only real female character in the movie. Okay, maybe I will a little, but that's a sigh and not a shout.
I've said before, too, that this is the first live-action Spider-man where the grace and agility of the character are evident everywhere, not just in the CGI-d bits. I mean, no shock: the actor is a dancer and acrobat. But it's nice to be able to really believe that this kid has some kind of preternatural agility.
Oh, yeah, the surface plot. Gyllenhaal did a terrific job, to the point that knowing, even without much comics background since I read the comic strip as a kid (and that was a looooooong time ago), that he was the bad guy (the pacing of the plot gives it away if nothing else), he almost sells this sad, altruistic, kindly dude who actually gives Peter the validation he so badly needs. And when the inevitable reveal happens, it's an interesting reveal. In literally any other MCU character, I would have been kind of annoyed at the plot being, in some ways, yet another fallout of Tony Stark's actions, but for Peter to be the one to clean up Tony's mess is simply perfect. (And oh, God, the bit where he's designing his new suit, holding out his arm with the virtual gauntlet, and Happy's little smile...I'm smiling just thinking about it.)
I ended the movie so happy and wanting to see it again right then. And then I saw the mid-credits scene.
AUGH, MCU, why do you gotta hurt me like this? Why is it necessary that every fucking superhero ever has to go through the "something happens that makes everyone think the hero did something awful" storyline? Longtime readers will know that I hate, hate, hate "accused of a crime they didn't commit." It is literally my least favorite, most hated storyline. I loathe it. I know that there's a long tradition of Spider-Man being distrusted and even hated, but AUGH. It seriously soured my happiness from the movie.
I suppose I will just have to see it again and leave before that scene.
Note: Not putting on the squee tag, because, well, not all squee, but if you hated the movie, I would appreciate you not unloading in this space.
This entry was originally posted at https://cereta.dreamwidth.org/1192766.html. If you can, please speak there.
have spoken there.