Spider-Man: Far From Home Review (No Spoilers)

The sequel to the beloved Spider-Man: Homecoming is finally here! Before I go any further, I am issuing a SPOILER WARNING for Avengers: Endgame. I mean, if you’re one of the 3 people on the planet that hasn’t seen Endgame already, you probably don’t care about spoilers.

After Tony Stark sacrificed his life by snapping Thanos’ and his forces to dust, Peter starts feeling pressured to step up and fill the shoes of his late mentor. However, the kid is completely exhausted and just wants a break after the harrowing events of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame and decides to leave his suit behind and go on a school trip to Europe. As one can expect in the life of a superhero, the danger is at the front door and Peter must once again don [multiple] suits to save the day.

Positives

Tom Holland once again proves why he is the best on-screen incarnation of Peter Parker/Spider-Man ever! He is able to nail the comedy, dramatic and emotional aspects of the character so f*n well. This is his 5th appearance as the web-slinger and I can’t get enough. Jake Gyllenhaal, one of my favorite actors, delivers the best performance in the film and full honesty, his character (Quentin Beck aka Mysterio) might just be my favorite villain in a Spider-Man movie ever!! Beck claims that he is from a different Earth, and that “snap [presumably Thanos’] tore a hole in the dimension.” I absolutely loved his character’s antics but can’t say anything more without giving away spoilers. Holland and Gyllenhaal also have great chemistry and Beck serves as a new, surrogate father to Peter.

The rest of the cast all do a solid job but Zendaya shines above most of them. She’s given a bigger role in this film and thankfully, it isn’t just to serve as a love interest for Peter.

The Spider-Man action is absolutely delightful to watch, but more importantly, this movie works both as a superhero movie and as a coming-of-age film. In terms of superheroics, the action scenes with Mysterio and Spidey teaming-up to take down the Elementals is fun to watch, albeit drag a little. Speaking of the Elementals and to avoid revealing spoilers about their origins, I’ll simply mention what Mysterio states in the film, “They were born in stable orbits. Within the black holes, creatures formed from the primary elements. Air, Water, Fire, Earth.” There are also a lot of twists and turns, which is expected from a villain named ‘Mysterio.’

As mentioned above, everyone (especially Nick Fury) is expecting Spider-Man to be the next Iron Man, but he just wants to be the “friendly neighboorhood Spider-Man.” A quick side-note, but the movie actually explains why the supposed-omnipresent Fury is a little ‘off his game’ and a little incompetent in this film. Anyways, Tony’s death in Endgame serves as the main emotional driving force for Peter and is endearing and works absolutely well! Peter is so overwhelmed by the responsibility of filling Iron Man’s shoes that he starts doubting himself and makes mistakes he’ll later regret.

All that aside, let’s “talk” about the post-credit scenes in Far From Home! Not only are they entertaining, but they are also EXTREMELY important for the future of the MCU! The mid-credit scene left me in a state of shock and honestly, I haven’t been this excited for a new Spider-Man movie ever! The final post-credit scene ties in with a different Marvel movie and has huge implications for the future of the MCU. All I’ll say is, if you’ve seen other Marvel films, not just the MCU, you will be excited!

Negatives

Even though it is a movie about 16-year olds, the teen-romantic drama kinda took me out of the film. Ned-Betty fling seemed cute at first but got tiring after a point, while Peter and Brad’s rivalry for MJ’s affection felt unnecessary. These are tropes we’ve seen before, especially in Spidey films, and is partly responsible for the first act being a slog. In addition, the Ned-Betty romance is also responsible for Peter sharing fewer scenes with Ned, which is not acceptable considering the duo have great chemistry and were inseparable in the first film.

There are also scenes that linger a tad bit too long, specifically the Elementals’ action scenes, which affect the pacing. Lastly, this movie isn’t remotely as funny as its predecessor. There are a ton of gags, like the science teacher’s ‘witches’ jokes or Flash’s vlogging, that never land.

Rating

Although sub-par compared to Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home is still a worthy sequel! The solid performances, well-realized character work, and the use of Mysterio’s powers help deliver an emotional yet entertaining package! Apologize for being vague with my review, but I don’t want to give away any spoiler that both Sony and Marvel have gone at length to not show in the marketing. 4/5.

Box Office – Why Avengers: Endgame won’t catch Avatar?

Proclaimed as the ‘cinematic event of our lifetime,’ Avengers: Endgame has dominated the pop-culture lexicon ever since the cliffhanger-ending of Avengers: Infinity War. Thanos wiping out half of all life, including beloved heroes like Spider-Man, Black Panther, left audiences in a state of shock, which made the final chapter of the 22-film saga even more of an event. When the tickets went on sale for Endgame, ticketing sites like AMC, Fandango, Atom Tickets, either crashed or experienced huge delays from system overloads. Fandango reported that Endgame’s pre-sale tickets demolished the previous record-holder’s pre-sales, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in less than 1/4th the time. The record-breaking pre-sales immediately left the film-fan community wondering – Will Avengers: Endgame be the movie that finally dethrones Avatar’s 10-year long-held #1 spot in the worldwide box office list. Despite the crazy hype and buzz that Avengers: Infinity War and the Force Awakens enjoyed, the 2 Disney flicks successfully joined the exclusive 2-billion club but were unable to topple James Cameron’s Titanic and Avatar. Titanic remained #2 at $2.187.5 billion, while Avatar sat comfortably at #1 with $2.788 billion. All that seemingly changed once Endgame opened.

Endgame opened to a tune of $357 million, utterly annihilating the previous domestic-opening weekend record-holder, Infinity War ($257 million). Worldwide, Endgame opened to Galactus-sized $1.2 billion, destroying the previous opening weekend record-holder, Infinity War ($641 million). With the gargantuan $1.2 billion opening weekend that Endgame had, even the most skeptical box-office pundits became all-but-certain that it’s not a matter of if but when Avatar would be dethroned by the Avengers flick. However, it looks like Endgame will end up being just short of Avatar’s record, which is something I have said since day 1. As of this writing, Endgame is at $2.749 billion, less than $40 million from Avatar. Barring a miracle, Endgame will probably end its run with $2.754 billion at this rate. Shameful, right? Disney is crying itself to sleep, knowing that their movie, Endgame, won’t top their other film, Avatar (recently-acquired from the Fox purchase). Just being facetious, of course. Who am I kidding? As I write this article, the Disney execs are probably sleeping atop the piles of cash Endgame raked in.

Jokes aside, I believe there are 2 big reasons for Endgame failing to top Avatar’s record – the sheer competition and the 3-hour run-time.

Competition

In my opinion, the sheer competition is the biggest reason for Endgame failing to top Avatar. Unlike its rival, Endgame faced/continues to face an onslaught of heavy competition. Just for the sake of simplification and ease, I will only list movies that grossed at least $100 million within Endgame and Avatar’s first 2 months of release. In its first 2 months, Endgame’s major competition included – Detective Pikachu ($422 million+), John Wick 3 ($290 million +), Aladdin ($800 million +), Godzilla 2 ($350 million +), Rocketman ($150 million +), Dark Phoenix ($250 million +), Secret Life of Pets 2 ($200 million +), Men in Black ($180 million +), Toy Story 4 (just opened as of me writing this article – $238 million +), and Annabelle 3 (yet to open). Not to mention, Spider-Man: Far From Home and The Lion King also release real soon. Even though none of the aforementioned movies will make as much money as Endgame, they definitely took (at least $40 million) money away from Endgame.

On the other hand, let’s look at Avatar’s competition in its first 2 months of release. Avatar’s significant competition included – Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel ($443 million +), Sherlock Holmes ($524 million +), The Wolfman ($139 million +), Shutter Island ($294.8 million +), and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief ($226 million +).

Note – Endgame faced 2x the significant competition than Avatar. In addition, the competing films also went for a similar demographic as Endgame. Sans John Wick 3, Annabelle 3 and Rocketman, the other 7 films have a four-quadrant appeal and target a family-audience. In Avatar’s case, there really isn’t a clear-cut direct competition. Alvin and the Chipmunks is primarily targeted at the kids, while the Percy Jackson flick is more targeted towards the young adults. Wolfman, Shutter Island, and Sherlock Holmes are all geared toward adults.

Run-time

The longer a movie is, the fewer number of showtimes can it have in a day. Avatar clocks in at 2 hours and 42 minutes, while Endgame has a run-time of 3 hours and 2 minutes. One might be tempted to say, “It’s only a 20-minute difference. Big deal!” In reality, those 20 minutes are a huge deal! With significantly less competition and a shorter run-time, Avatar was able to stay in theatres a lot longer and play on many more screens than theatres could for Endgame. Being 3 hours long, theatres can only show Endgame a finite number of times in any given day. Because this article does a superb job in explaining the correlation between a longer run-time and box office, I highly recommend checking out this article from Variety. As explained in the article, “exhibitors are budgeting an additional hour for each screening, which cuts at least one showtime daily.” Multiply one lost screen with every theatre domestically and Endgame loses at least 4000 screenings in any given day. Of course, this number is a lot higher when you factor in the international screens.

In addition, the lengthier run-time also affects the re-watchability factor. Even if people love Endgame 3000, many are a little hesitant to go back to the theatres and re-watch Endgame, as it’s a pretty long movie. And obviously, going to the movie theatre is a costly, time-consuming endeavor. Not to mention, many parents might be afraid of taking their young children to a 3 hour+ movie.

Conclusion

Despite the huge opening weekend, Avengers: Endgame won’t (and doesn’t have to) catch Avatar at its current pace. The movie faced a lot of competition and it’s lengthier run-time limits the number of screenings per day. Yes, you also have other factors like streaming options, novelty, etc. but the effects of those are arguably minuscule compared to the reasons I elaborated on. However, the rank really doesn’t matter that much. Either way, we (and Disney) win. Besides, Endgame has made over $2.7 billion, something only one other film has ever done. It has already broken most of the box-office records and cemented its place in the hearts of movie-goers. Honestly, there is nothing to be ashamed about for Endgame winning the silver medal.

PS – Disney/Marvel is “re-releasing” Endgame with a deleted scene, a tribute (presumably of Stan Lee) and “some extra surprises.” Even though it’s still possible, I just don’t see Endgame making an additional $40 million from this so-called “extended cut.”

Top 10 Movies of 2018 Ranked

With 2018 now in the rearview mirror, it’s time to reflect on and rank the movies that came out last year. 2018 was arguably the best year for movies since 2014 and it was especially hard to make my Top 10 list because there were a ton of movies I liked/loved that sadly didn’t make the Top 10 cut. Before I give my Top 10 list, I want to issue a caveat. I have (yet) to see movies like Green Book, If Beale Street could talk, Roma etc. that are getting Oscar Buzz. So if you don’t see those movies on this list, chances are I haven’t seen it yet or I simply didn’t think it was Top 10 worthy. That being said, here is my honorable mentions list, followed by my top 10 list!

Honorable mentions – Vice, Spiderman: Into the spider-verse, Hereditary, Unsane, A star is born, Black Panther, Eighth Grade, Won’t you be my neighbor, Love Simon, Bumblebee.

#10. Searching – Searching is a really good suspenseful thriller. Great performances, cool twists and a much better version of the ‘Unfriended’ series.

#9. Incredibles 2 – While not as good as the first one, it’s still a dam great movie. Having Mr. Incredible stay home with the kids while Elastigirl is out doing superhero stuff really worked and made for great comedy. Jack-jack vs the poor raccoon fight is one of my favorite scenes of the year and I still contend, had Jack-Jack been in Infinity War, even Thanos with all 6 Infinity Stones would have been defeated.

#8. Mission impossible: fallout – Tom Cruise does what Tom Cruise does best – run (a lot), do insane death-defying stunts etc. While this entry in the franchise is not as good as MI4 and MI5, it’s still a great action movie with solid character interaction moments. Also, how great is Henry Cavill? From his now iconic “reloading his arms” scene to his sick multi-million dollar moustache that ruined Justice League, Cavill was a great foil to Cruise’ Ethan Hunt.

#7. Blindspotting – Blindspotting is a movie I just recently watched and man, it’s such a powerful, thought-provoking movie. Like Blackkklansman, it is a very relevant movie that is also extremely funny. This movie is fueled by stellar performances from Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, and explores the issues of gentrification, police violence against unarmed black people etc. A must-watch.

#6. Bohemian Rhapsody – Just like the Queen band themselves, 20th Century Fox rocked our world with a Queen biopic movie starring Rami Malek as the band’s lead singer Freddy Mercury. What could easily have been just a 2 hour long music video featuring all the iconic Queen songs, the filmmakers crafted a compelling story with well-developed characters and an Oscar-worthy performance from Malek. Lastly, the Live-aid concert left me wishing this was my real life rather than being a fantasy.

#5. Blackkklansman – A movie like this could have easily been a dark, serious movie but Spike Lee chose to add a comedic angle to it, making it a more palatable, powerful yet entertaining film. This is a very relevant movie and Lee had the chutzpah to take a firm stand against the current political administration and its tendency to attract white nationalists.

#4. A Quiet Place – You make a noise, you die. Definitely an interesting premise that makes you wonder how you would fare in a situation like this. However, the tension is palpable, the characters are so well-realized with terrific performances from John Krasinsky, his wife (both real life and on-screen) Emily Blunt, and the two kids. Like Get Out last year, here’s hoping the Academy ignores the fact that this is a genre movie and actually recognizes this movie to be worthy of a few accolades, because it is deserving of it.

#3. Game Night – Game night is one of the most original films of 2018 and is such a rollicking fun time at the theatres. The movie has a great ensemble cast coupled with a genuinely interesting story and most importantly, jokes that actually land and are funny.

#2. Avengers: Infinity War – What can I say that hasn’t already been said. I absolutely loved this movie. It had everything I could ever have hoped for – great action, wonderful character interaction moments, humor, a commanding villain in Thanos etc. With that epic cliffhanger, I am salivating over the next installment in the Avengers franchise, Avengers: Endgame.

#1. Creed 2 – Being a massive fan of the Rocky movies and Creed, I was a little nervous when they announced that Ryan Coogler won’t be returning for the Creed sequel and the movie would have Adonis go toe-to-toe with Ivan Drago’s son, Victor. However, this movie packed a number of punches, making it an emotional, exciting ride. Not only are the boxing scenes super hardcore and awesome to watch, there are a number of poignant, heartfelt moments between Adonis and his family.