Spoiler Warning: This review will contain major spoilers for Avengers: Endgame while keeping Spider-Man: Far From Home as non-spoiler as possible.
Spider-Man Far from Home is not just a sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming but is also considered the final film in Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Taking place eight months after the events in Avengers: Endgame, the world is still coming to grips with a world post snap, or “blip,” as it is called in Far From Home. The memory of Iron Man haunts the movie throughout as the world still mourns Tony Stark and honors his sacrifice.
This especially looms over Peter Parker who has looked up to Tony as not just a father figure but a superhero mentor. And as Spider-Man, others keep looking to him as either the “next” Iron Man or the next leader of the Avengers. Along with his superhero responsibilities, he is also trying to balance life as a normal teenager. This balance is strained as Peter Parker and his class go on a European science trip, which really doesn’t get much science done. Part of that is because there is a global threat from — well — monsters.
The students first see one rise out of the waters of Venice and while Peter does his best to save the city’s civilians without his costume handy, a mysterious caped character appears to fight the creature and appears to destroy it by blasting it with green energy from his hands that resemble Captain Marvel’s photon blasts while also wielding what look like Dr. Strange’s spell glyphs.
The students dub him Mysterio as a play on the Italian press describing him as a “Mysterio” or Mystery Man. It turns out that his name is Quentin Beck, a soldier from an alternate earth, and he has been working with Nick Fury to battle creatures known as Elementals, based on the elements, they had destroyed his earth. Fury wants to recruit Peter into the team to combat these things. Peter is reluctant to do so as he doesn’t feel he is up for the task plus he wants to just be a high school kid for once. Of course if great laid out plans worked as they are dreamed of, we would not have a movie. And he’s still an awkward dork.
This may be Tom Holland’s second Spider-Man movie, but it’s the fifth time he’s played the web slinger. He’s really come to personify the role now and is as connected to the role as much as Robert Downey Jr. has Iron Man or Chris Evans as Captain America. His performance as both Peter and Spider-Man come across as a authentic teenager who has accepted his great responsibility but has doubts about his ability to step up.
It helps to have a strong supporting cast to lift up our main and they are on hand for Spidey. These current Spider-Man films have the most ethnically diverse cast in any Marvel film and it really makes the setting of a New York City High School believable. Jacob Batalon returns as Ned, the world’s worst best friend. He is mostly around for some comic relief and a source of distraction for Peter when he needs to get away. Since they are out of their home element, their is no opportunity for him to really be the “guy in the chair.” But he owns all his scenes.
Zendaya is back as MJ. Previously, she provided sarcastic commentary every few scenes like a deadpan Greek Chorus. She still does that, but is also the object of Peter’s affections and a such a contrived plan to confess his feelings, it rivals that of anime slice of life romances. Nevertheless, romance does play an important sub-plot for Peter’s character as deals with his hormones and added superhero responsibilities. Though her character is still deadpan, and dry humored, she brings a certain charm to it which reminds me of the goth kids I grew up with in my high school.
Of course, Samuel L. Jackson returns as Nick Fury, a role he was born for. Well, technically, this role was made for him as it was based on the Ultimate Universe comics version oh Fury. And those Ultimate comics line based their Fury on Samuel L. Jackson. Funny how these things work out. Jackson’s is, as always, a welcome presence in the role and brings along Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) as the guys in the chair tag-team for Spidey this time around. He provides the contractually obligated snappy one-liners with typical Jackson panache, minus the use of motherf***er word, of course.
Jon Favreau is back as Happy Hogan with a bigger, more involved, role this time around and also serves as the closest person Peter can turn to for emotional support in the absence of Tony Stark.
If it were any other actor than Jake Gyllenhaal, the character of Mysterio would be a joke. But he manages to not just embrace the role, he manages to sell it to us. For those who know the character from the comics, it’s not too major a surprise what his story is, but it’s more about how and when it is revealed. There are of course differences between the character’s history in the comics as opposed to the MCU, but this fits the movie universe quite well. And for those that were picking apart the trailer looking for clues to support fan theories, y’all got played a little.
The locations from Venice, Prague, and London look great on film and is a welcome change from the almost stale look of generic locations that are so often used in other Marvel Studio films. It really does make the film feel large in scale. And the eye-popping action sequences utilize the locations to great effect.
The film does suffer from a few issues however, one of which is a major dumb decision from Peter Parker that will put himself and everyone he knows in danger. The plot hinges on this, of course, and I guess it was necessary for him to make that dumb move.
With the evolution of the MCU movies, the tech has gone from plausible to near magical and I’m not sure how I feel about that. From magically omnipresent A.I. to spider suits that are magically put together by nano-technology that not just stretches believability but really makes the stakes feel less high is magical tech is going to solve everything.
As humorous as Far From Home is, some of the jokes land flat and romance angle seems to drag at points with what seems to be an unneeded and contrived triangle involving fellow student Brad Davis (played by Remy Hii) for MJ’s attention.
And of course, stick around through all of the credits until the end to catch the two post credit scenes. These two scenes aren’t just little stingers, but they setup major plot points and teases for events moving forward not only for Spider-Man’s future but the MCU as well. Despite a few shortcomings, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a fun entertaining film and is not just a palate cleanser to Avengers: Endgame and close to Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It opens the way for the next phase of movies to come. It comes with two thumbs up from me and is Highly Recommended
Final score: 8.5/10
The Ranting Penguin 