Spider-Man: Far From Home - Going Through Changes
Thoughts On: Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Peter Parker tries to take time out of his life as a superhero and go on a school trip.
Marvel, as flat and somewhat lifeless as it was three years ago, has ramped up and hit a selection of peaks via hype and new directions recently. Thor: Ragnarok was something new that sparked a sense of world and tone much like Guardians of the Galaxy did three years prior. Black Panther generated much hype and, in my opinion, was quite fulfilling, following a character on a slightly more classical story of kingdoms. Black Panther wanes slightly over re-watches, Ragnarok holds. And then came the Infinity War films. As hyped as they were, they were the culmination of much of what we've come to know as just Marvel; they weren't incredibly fulfilling in my opinion, especially with re-watches.
Spider-Man: Far From Home emerges from a weighted and belaboured cinematic universe that has tunnelled deep into its narrative capacities. As a result, it had to face many challenges and is somewhat successful in two key respects. Before discussing these, the limitations. First and foremost, the Marvel aesthetic is a somewhat ugly one. It was ground down to its most basic and uninspiring elements in Civil War, and Far From Home adopts this without much alteration. There is a texturelessness to the frame, the lighting on subjects harsh and isolating; the background distanced and seemingly trapped in a green (blue, silver) screen.
I have made this point previously, but one can see the terrible Marvel aesthetic best exemplified by their posters - of which Far From Home may have the worst. The faces of character are blasted with a sharp key light and then top- and/or side-lit. This puts rather drastic shadows on parts of the faces - you see this on the left side of Gyllenhaal's head and under the chin of Holland - and a halo or gleam around the edges of the head. It looks particularly terrible on the poster as the background is brightly lit and coloured and features locations. The poster is too busy and the lighting on the separate elements fails to integrate and formulate a cohesive image. The eye is left with separate elements, wondering why they have so so obviously composited together.
The poster represents an extreme example of bad lighting and image composition. It carries over to the film. This was particularly obvious to my eye as part of the film is set in London, and all too often it is painfully clear that actors stand before a green screen projecting places I see often. A related issues concerns the wire and physical stunt work, much of which is rather unconvincing. This leaves Far From Home without much spatial and aesthetic verisimilitude: much of the film looks fake. Minorly, this criticism transposes over to performance and lighting. Especially across early scenes that set up the narrative, performances and writing feel incredibly staged - at times, it is as if characters talk to the audience without looking down the lens. All of this is a consequence of the film's management of its dramatic approach - an issue we will not delve into.
That said, it is worth discussing this film's positives above all else, namely, its rather ruthless and daring confrontation of looming issues the bloated cinematic universe imposes. To start, the biggest question that Far From Home had to answer was related to Endgame. How will, after the major events of the previous films, a rather confined element of this universe carry things on? Somewhat ingeniously, Far From Home decides not to in very many respects. I will not delve into major spoilers, but the writers decide to not take this part of their job very seriously at all. There is part of Parker's character that feels pressured to grow and step up across the narrative considering the previous fallout. Alas, the doom and gloom that is aimed at with darker elements of Endgame is pretty much lost on this film. It makes a light game out of pretty much all the tragedy the MCU struggled to crescendo toward. Cast aside and made fun of (often rather successfully - the opening montage and song is uncannily brilliant), the weighted drama of the MCU is used to radically effect the fabric of the world.
This brings us to the second related technique used by the writers. We saw this in Endgame, and we see it again, but radical choices are made highly flippantly in regards to character and world. Endgame gave us Banner/Hulk and fat Thor. There's more surprises in Far From Home. So not only is comedy used to change the dramatic path of the MCU, but daring and flippant world and character building choices are made that profoundly change preconceptions of what these films should do going forward. In Far From Home, we then have a light high school comedy that interrupts half an avengers film, and something quite far from the familiar Spiderman narrative (a world unenclosed spatially and temporally) with a comedic adventure. With these two techniques we see Marvel changing, attempting to breathe new air into their universe. The question we may want to ask is then where do they want to take things?
This question cannot be dealt with without sufficient spoilers and, indeed, anyone who sees the film will ask it. So, I will end after a brief discussion of what Far From Home does by emphasising that all that is good about Far From Home is highly trans formative and that I not only see Marvel re-branding and building a new definition of a comic book movie, but anticipate them striving in rather radical directions in the future. Whether this works or not is up to audience speculation for now. That said, what do you think of what Marvel are doing different and the direction they are heading in?
Previous post:
Minding The Gap - Explicitly Humble
Peter Parker tries to take time out of his life as a superhero and go on a school trip.
Marvel, as flat and somewhat lifeless as it was three years ago, has ramped up and hit a selection of peaks via hype and new directions recently. Thor: Ragnarok was something new that sparked a sense of world and tone much like Guardians of the Galaxy did three years prior. Black Panther generated much hype and, in my opinion, was quite fulfilling, following a character on a slightly more classical story of kingdoms. Black Panther wanes slightly over re-watches, Ragnarok holds. And then came the Infinity War films. As hyped as they were, they were the culmination of much of what we've come to know as just Marvel; they weren't incredibly fulfilling in my opinion, especially with re-watches.
Spider-Man: Far From Home emerges from a weighted and belaboured cinematic universe that has tunnelled deep into its narrative capacities. As a result, it had to face many challenges and is somewhat successful in two key respects. Before discussing these, the limitations. First and foremost, the Marvel aesthetic is a somewhat ugly one. It was ground down to its most basic and uninspiring elements in Civil War, and Far From Home adopts this without much alteration. There is a texturelessness to the frame, the lighting on subjects harsh and isolating; the background distanced and seemingly trapped in a green (blue, silver) screen.
I have made this point previously, but one can see the terrible Marvel aesthetic best exemplified by their posters - of which Far From Home may have the worst. The faces of character are blasted with a sharp key light and then top- and/or side-lit. This puts rather drastic shadows on parts of the faces - you see this on the left side of Gyllenhaal's head and under the chin of Holland - and a halo or gleam around the edges of the head. It looks particularly terrible on the poster as the background is brightly lit and coloured and features locations. The poster is too busy and the lighting on the separate elements fails to integrate and formulate a cohesive image. The eye is left with separate elements, wondering why they have so so obviously composited together.
The poster represents an extreme example of bad lighting and image composition. It carries over to the film. This was particularly obvious to my eye as part of the film is set in London, and all too often it is painfully clear that actors stand before a green screen projecting places I see often. A related issues concerns the wire and physical stunt work, much of which is rather unconvincing. This leaves Far From Home without much spatial and aesthetic verisimilitude: much of the film looks fake. Minorly, this criticism transposes over to performance and lighting. Especially across early scenes that set up the narrative, performances and writing feel incredibly staged - at times, it is as if characters talk to the audience without looking down the lens. All of this is a consequence of the film's management of its dramatic approach - an issue we will not delve into.
That said, it is worth discussing this film's positives above all else, namely, its rather ruthless and daring confrontation of looming issues the bloated cinematic universe imposes. To start, the biggest question that Far From Home had to answer was related to Endgame. How will, after the major events of the previous films, a rather confined element of this universe carry things on? Somewhat ingeniously, Far From Home decides not to in very many respects. I will not delve into major spoilers, but the writers decide to not take this part of their job very seriously at all. There is part of Parker's character that feels pressured to grow and step up across the narrative considering the previous fallout. Alas, the doom and gloom that is aimed at with darker elements of Endgame is pretty much lost on this film. It makes a light game out of pretty much all the tragedy the MCU struggled to crescendo toward. Cast aside and made fun of (often rather successfully - the opening montage and song is uncannily brilliant), the weighted drama of the MCU is used to radically effect the fabric of the world.
This brings us to the second related technique used by the writers. We saw this in Endgame, and we see it again, but radical choices are made highly flippantly in regards to character and world. Endgame gave us Banner/Hulk and fat Thor. There's more surprises in Far From Home. So not only is comedy used to change the dramatic path of the MCU, but daring and flippant world and character building choices are made that profoundly change preconceptions of what these films should do going forward. In Far From Home, we then have a light high school comedy that interrupts half an avengers film, and something quite far from the familiar Spiderman narrative (a world unenclosed spatially and temporally) with a comedic adventure. With these two techniques we see Marvel changing, attempting to breathe new air into their universe. The question we may want to ask is then where do they want to take things?
This question cannot be dealt with without sufficient spoilers and, indeed, anyone who sees the film will ask it. So, I will end after a brief discussion of what Far From Home does by emphasising that all that is good about Far From Home is highly trans formative and that I not only see Marvel re-branding and building a new definition of a comic book movie, but anticipate them striving in rather radical directions in the future. Whether this works or not is up to audience speculation for now. That said, what do you think of what Marvel are doing different and the direction they are heading in?
Previous post:
Minding The Gap - Explicitly Humble
