Spider-Man: Far From Home (5 Stars)

Today I went to see "Spider-Man: Far From Home" in the cinema for the second time. The first time was in 2D, which I prefer. Today was in 3D. The best thing I can say about the 3D experience is that it wasn't intrusive. With the exception of the on-screen texts that announced the arrival in new cities, it didn't even look like 3D.

The only way I can enjoy the new Spider-Man films is my shutting my eyes and forgetting the original comics. After the tragic miscasting of Andrew Garfield, an attempt has been made to find an actor who looks and talks like the nerdy 1960's teenager that I loved when I was growing up. Tom Holland is a good choice. I've heard people summing it up, "Tobey Maguire was a good Peter Parker, Andrew Garfield was a good Spider-Man, Tom Holland is good at both". I agree. Arguably, Tobey Maguire was the best Peter Parker of all in his first film, but he slacked off in the other two films, for the simple fact that he was too old. Even though Spider-Man went through different life phases as he grew up, from a college student to a married man, he's best known as the young teenager from the early comics written by Stan Lee. His age was never explicitly stated, but he seemed to be 14 or 15. In "Far From Home" Peter Parker says that he's 16. That's close enough. Tom Holland was 22 when he made the film, but he looked like a teenager, and I hope he'll stay young long enough to make a few more films.

Immense effort must have been made into casting Peter Parker, but the supporting cast has been picked so badly that it can't possibly be a mistake. Nobody can make that many mistakes, it must be deliberate. Stan Lee's comics featured an all-white school in Forest Hills, New York. The new films force ethnic diversity down our throats. While it's true that Forest Hills isn't 100% white, as suggested by the comics, it only has a 3% black population, compared to 24% in New York City overall.

However, the biggest shock in the casting isn't about ethnicity, it's about MJ's hair colour. The studio has stated that MJ in the new films isn't supposed to be the same person as Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's films, but in both films "MJ" is Peter Parker's love interest. In the comics she was famous for her red hair, a dark crimson colour that didn't look genuine. Kirsten Dunst was a more natural strawberry blonde, but she was still recognisable as the comic book character.

It's not just about the hair colour, it's about the attitude. Mary Jane was an out-and-out extrovert. She knew that men were crazy about her looks, and she enjoyed it. Eventually we found out that she had a deeper side, but she kept it well hidden, only showing her air-headed all-day party self to the world. The new MJ has a tomboy appearance and a goth attitude, and she's awkward with boys. That's a completely different MJ.

And I shan't even start on Aunt May.....