2019’sSpider-Man: Far From Homeis (pardon the pun) far from the bestSpider-Manmovie. It feels more likean episode of a Disney+ seriesthan a full-blown movie, it exists in the shadow ofAvengers: Endgame, and its formulaic storytelling often feels like Marvel going through the motions after doing the same thing 23 times. Sam Raimi’sSpider-Man 2remains the best Spidey movie out there, withInto the Spider-Versein a close second place.
But it’s alsofar from the worstSpider-Manmovie. The cast shares impeccable chemistry, Jake Gyllenhaal makes for a hilariously hammed-up baddie, and the visual effects in Mysterio’s elaborate illusions are flawless. Plus, it shed a spotlight on one of Spidey’s most underutilized and underappreciated powers.
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When people think of Spider-Man, they think of him swinging through the city on webs and crawling up walls. Sam Raimi’s camera trickery convinced audiencesTobey Maguire could crawl up wallsand state-of-the-art CGI had him zipping between yellow taxis as he swung dangerously low through the streets of New York. Since then, that’s been the most prevalent image of Spidey. But he also has another crucial superpower that’s rarely explored on film: his Spider-Sense.
Unlike shooting webs and crawling up walls (andpretty much every other superpower), which have to be consciously activated by the hero, Spider-Sense is a precognitive superpower. When Spidey’s in trouble, like a villain is about to attack or he’s about to be hit by a car, he feels a tingling at the base of his skull. In the old animated series, Spidey used to explain, “My Spider-Sense is tingling!” And not only that; the intensity of the tingle tells him how bad the danger is.
The Spider-Sense is one of Spidey’s most unique and interesting powers, but it’s mostly been left out of the movies because it’s difficult to visualize in live-action. Raimi’s trilogy visualized Peter’s Spider-Sense in a very jarring, on-the-nose way. He would suddenly cut from a normal dialogue scene to slow-motion closeups of a bunch of things Peter was sensing nearby. It was great that Raimi made use of the Spider-Sense to give a more rounded portrait of the character, but his portrayal of it was two steps away from Ang Lee’s awkward comic book panel scene transitions inthe 2003Hulkmovie.
The Andrew Garfield-starringAmazing Spider-Manfilms largely avoided utilizing Peter’s Spider-Sense, but then Peter in those movies didn’t really act like Peter at all. As soon as he got his powers, he turned into a bully. Plus, he stalked Gwen Stacy around the city and the movies spent way too much time needlessly building a conspiracy around the deaths of Peter’s parents. WithSpider-Man: Homecoming,Jon Watts brought the character back to basics, focusing on his mother-son dynamic with Aunt May and the eternal struggle of balancing his crimefighting career with his high school education.
But in terms of Peter’s powers,Homecomingstill focused just on the wallcrawling and webslinging. Not only does the movie not feature his Spider-Sense; he gets caught off-guard a bunch of times, suggesting he doesn’t even have it. So, it was refreshing when Watts dedicated the entire sequel to Peter learning how to harness his Spider-Sense – or, as the movie hilariously puts it, his “Peter tingle.”Far From Homefinally put Spidey’s sixth sense at center stage as Mysterio’s illusions forced him to tap into his superhuman instincts to detect disguised drones.
Initially, the final battle ofFar From Homeisn’t very high-stakes or exciting, because the audience knows it’s all an illusion. As long as Spidey can just keep reminding himself that the danger he’s diving into isn’t real, he’ll be absolutely fine.Mysterio ramps up the tensionwhen he notices Spidey sabotaging his plan and decides to drop the act and turn it into a full-on drone strike. When the drones drop the illusion and start shooting at Spidey, he’s in real trouble.
But the true climactic scene ofFar From Homeis when Spidey confronts Mysterio on the bridge. Mysterio casts a trippy illusion over the whole bridge, forcing Spidey to use his Peter tingle to identify the drones and take them out before they shoot him dead. It’s a spectacular sequence, showing just how far he’s come in terms of discipline and accepting the great responsibility that comes with his great power.
Spider-Man: No Way Home, set to hit theaters on December 17, has a lot on its plate following up onFar From Home’s bombshell mid-credits twist and introducing a live-actionSpider-Verse(to an undetermined degree), so it probably won’t be very occupied with Peter’s Spider-Sense. But the threequel has a great opportunity to follow up onFar From Home’s “Peter tingle” development. Now that Spidey’s identity has been revealed to the entire criminal underbelly of New York, danger will be lurking around every corner – it’ll help if he can sense it in advance.
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