Spider-Man: Far From Home – Thoughts on the Last Trailer

All right. No one was talking about this, and I decided I couldn't let it ride. Of course, I am talking about the latest and final trailer for the 22nd installment into the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Spider-Man: Far From Home.

So what's the deal? Well frankly, I am upset with the latest trailer. Here's why. Because my feeling is that quite a bit is revealed unnecessarily. That's it. Now, it's no secret that this is not anything new in the case of film trailers, but sometimes it just gets to you, doesn't it? I can only speak for myself, and I can comfortably answer 'yes' to that. Before I continue, let me take a step back and look at the purpose of a movie trailer.

We all know that the function of a film trailer inherently is to get an audience to go and see it. Plain and simple. It is a part of the marketing campaign to generate interest for a film, correct? Okay. We also know that some of the most interesting, most funny, most eye-catching things can be seen in a trailer to get you to say, 'I have to see how that plays out!'

[caption id="attachment_105207" align="alignnone" width="800"] Image via Sony Pictures[/caption]

That said, isn't it enough in some cases that the actors in a project or the property is so loved that audiences will come to see it? If people already loved other iterations, I think it is a safe bet that people are going to go and see it. Unfortunately, the movie studios or whomever the gods are controlling how this all works don't agree.

So, Spider-Man: Far From Home. I had only ever watched (meaning, with my eyes open and listening to the sound) the first trailer that was dropped for it a mere two months or so after Avengers: Infinity War decimated everyone's soul. Immediately there were issues, but I kept quiet. Items like the fact that the trailer shows us that he is alive and well after we saw him disappear into dust (showing Nick Fury was another problem). Not that no one expected any of this, it's just that the resonance of a story is diminished when something like this occurs. At least let us feel it for a little bit before bringing him back! It should be as close to a genuine surprise as possible. Alas, we didn't get that.

Do you remember Interstellar and how Matt Damon made an appearance at a very critical moment in the film? Do you remember him being in any of the trailers at all? That's because he wasn't! I don't know how much influence Nolan had in how that went down, but man, I'm glad that that was left as a genuine surprise. This is how things should be handled with trailers. Those in control should throw marketing-brain to the wind and instead seek to preserve the integrity of a story.

[caption id="attachment_105208" align="alignnone" width="800"] Image via Sony Pictures[/caption]

Now we have this new Far From Home trailer, which you can view here, and immediately, there were more issues that came up for me. The one I'd like to focus on is the fact that Mary Jane, deduces that Peter is Spider-Man. Now, why would you reveal that? That to me is a huge narrative spoiler. Because now going into the film, the suspense around will she/won't she discover Spider-Man's true identity is gone. That isn't cool because it is a massive piece of the Spider-Man DNA at the high school stage of his career. The fact that he is carrying that secret is a burden on Peter at times, which makes everything to do with the relationships he has so much richer for all the tension and suspense that creates.

Jump back to 2004 with me if you will. Take a look at the trailers for Spider-Man 2 here and here. To me, the biggest twist in that film was that Peter's identity as Spider-Man had been revealed to two of the closest people to him, Harry Osborne and Mary Jane Watson. Aside from maybe a suggestion, neither trailer gives you any indication that anything like that was going to happen so when you saw it in the film there was a genuine surprise. In 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, you had a similar deal to a lesser degree with Aunt May finding out about Peter being Spider-Man at the very end of the film. Again, that was great drama.

With Far From Home, much of that drama is already gone. Sure, there will be drama in other ways, but it's hard to feel excited when a significant nugget is released before you even get to see what's going to happen and how it affects everything.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Sony Pictures[/caption]

In any event, that is my two cents on that. The film itself is out now, and the reviews seem to be glowing. I'm looking forward to catching it and seeing for myself. As a longtime fan of the character, there's no way I'm missing it. Still, I wish there was some way for some of these movies, to go back to a different way of advertising movies that don't reveal everything! (sigh)

Spider-Man: Far From Home is now in theaters.