Mysterio Is The Best Part of 'Far From Home'

SPOILERS AHEAD

Before Tom Holland superfans ready their pitchforks for my review page in its infancy, I wanted to say that just because of the titular topic, it does not in any way take away from his nor any of the cast's performances in Spiderman: Far From Home. However, Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio was a character I could not ignore and felt needed a special commendation.

Whew, now that we’ve got that cleared up, let’s proceed.

Now, if you read my last review, you'll have noticed I've seemed to have changed my tune a little bit as there were very subtle digs at Marvel marketing and homogeneous content, which are not exempt here but, I digress. Following up from Endgame with anything other than the formula and what this movie was would've been a disaster, which is exactly why Far From Home is able to encapsulate not only Spiderman for who he actually is but is also able to consolidate the complexity of a villain like Mysterio, also known as Quentin Beck. In the wake of Thanos, it would be hard for the MCU to top him, but in their catalogue of villains (of which, Thanos isn’t) Mysterio was thankfully chosen.

Thanos’ lack of imagination led to him using the Reality Stone to produce bubbles instead of driving the Avengers ballistic, whereas Mysterio simply relishes in the insanity of his created holographs and determination to alter perceived truths, even when the Oz curtain is pulled back. The scenes in which the extent of his creative ability is demonstrated by the extensive illusions are some of the best parts of the movie and shot in such a way that not only encapsulates Mysterio’s ubiquitous presence, but genuinely makes you unnerved in a way Marvel hasn't invoked in a while.

It’s not unreasonable to argue that still attatched to Endgame’s umbilical cord, Far From Home is only so invigorating because it’s been a hot minute since we’ve been able to catch our breath and get to properly know just a handful of characters instead of an entire battalion, but the movie's antagonist rejects this assumption. The shyer initial performance may seem like talent wasted, but we quickly understand that this is not only reinforcing the amalgamation of movie genres (superhero, teen, comedy), but Mysterio was only gearing himself up for what was to come. And when it comes, it's so coolly evil that it's hard to not enjoy the true villainy of it Marvel didn't get to explore wholly with Thanos.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Endgame but it was an oasis on the horizon to be able to properly experience a bad guy on a level beyond what has been offered. Mysterio’s petulant temperament not too dissimilar to Norman Stansfield, a charisma akin to Hans Landa and a calculating proclivity reminiscent of Iago creates a concoction fit for the disaster he wreaks, or more accurately, the illusion of disaster he wreaks.

This is best illustrated by his speech to fellow comrades in the pub once he’s been granted ownership of Tony’s glasses from Peter and the façade of friendly drops quickly. Disappointed but not surprised that Peter won’t be getting a father figure so promptly, Gyllenhaal distracts us with a performance that handles the scene with such care that audiences, despite his proclaimations of disaster, are relieved as we see that Gyllenhaal has done Mysterio justice.

Undoubtedly, the most jarring part of this scene is not the portentous ranting of evil, but more subtly, the hand gestures. Gyllenhaal’s use of the ‘thumb press’ which has become increasingly popular in politicians in the past few years demonstrates the side of Mysterio that possess both diplomatic ability and an over looming sense of (you guessed it) mystery and insecurity we feel towards many politicians.

However, I think this could also suggest Mysterio’s valiant determination to get what he wants without overtly being seen as the aggressor to the people. His use of illusions divert his opponent’s attention and throw them into a state of disorientation or emotional turmoil without being direct connotes that in a genre where heros and villains are once again becoming polarised by their dedication to claim their ideology and confidently be the goodie or the baddie, Mysterio subverts this by bringing it back to basics in a nice way.

Strangely though, Mysterio still has good within him even once he's revealed to be evil; if we look at the movie under the guise of your average bildungsroman in the respect of change commonly experienced in adolescence, he represents a teenager's changing attitudes towards their parents. He's not necessarily evil to Peter, they just have fundamental ideological differences as Peter's conceptualisation of father figures change, for Mysterio’s easy charm is not too far a cry from Tony Stark’s, and Gyllenhaal’s ability to tap into this makes him such a good fit for the role Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man played in Peter's life. With this transition of father figures, we experience the enhanced antagonism that playfully rested on the surface of Tony’s personality that Mysterio represents within Peter.

The meta discovery of Mysterio’s team who construct his image, but the fact that the operation is ultimately commanded by Mysterio himself lends him a genuine sense of autonomy and control over the movie that does prompt us to question if he will actually succeed in his mission. He’s so deceptive and smart that it’s hard to believe any end we see of Mysterio is not actually an end at all, but an introduction to an omnipotent, all-tech version of Mysterio that we see in the post-credits sequence.

Of course, we also see JK Simmons back in his legendary role, which my brother was exceptionally excited about. J Jonah Jameson's likliness to Alex Jones in a Trump mediated era combined with the aforementioned political hand gestures perhaps allude to a more politically 'woke' MCU facilitated by the arrival of Mysterio, based on the foundations of political deception and insincerity confounded in Mysterio's 'fake news' video that frames Spiderman as the villain. There is a large chance that this may well continue in the next film for the cyclical nature of elections may mean Mysterio remains as a long-term villain.

In conclusion, assuming this is indeed the case and Mysterio will, in some form, be back (some may call it wishful thinking), if Spiderman continues along this route of truly interesting, complex villains then it seems it will continue to thrive. The movie was made by the significance of Mysterio above all, perhaps Gyllenhaal’s involvement a capitalisation off his roles in Nightcrawler and Okja to let us know that we will not be disappointed by this villain. And, I most certainly wasn’t

Overall rating: 8/10