Possible spoilers ahead!
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” picks up a few months after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.” Facing a much different world than he remembers, and wondering where he goes from here, Peter Parker is burnt out and in need of a break from superhero life. All he wants right now is to enjoy his summer vacation in Europe with his best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), and tell MJ (Zendaya), how he feels about her.
However, Peter’s plans are derailed when he’s approached by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) to help Quentin Beck aka. Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) fight the Elementals and save the world. At first, Peter turns down a spot on Fury’s team, feeling there must be someone better for the job. But when Nick Fury arranges for Peter’s school trip to visit Prague, Peter is left with little choice but to help out.
Unknown to most, during all of this Peter is constantly wrestling with the idea of stepping up to fill the void left by Tony Stark’s death, and the need to live the normal life of a 16-year-old high school student. But with the world in danger, Peter Parker must decide once and for all what kind of superhero he wants to be.
The theme of Peter Parker figuring out his superhero identity carries over from 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” where it worked rather well. But in Far From Home, Peter questioning himself gets old quickly. It goes and on and after a while it just felt like the film was treading water and hitting some of the same spots from the previous film. Doing this slowed things down for me, and I left feeling like this movie could have easily been 15 minutes shorter.
Something else I wasn’t a fan of was how gullible the filmmakers made Peter Parker in Far From Home. I can understand the character being somewhat naive, after all, he’s sixteen years old. But losing Tony Stark apparently took a large toll of Peter Parker because now he makes stupid mistake after stupid mistake.
It wouldn’t be so bad if Peter’s mistakes weren’t on a global level, but in “Spide-Man: Far From Home they all are. He even puts his own friends in danger multiple times. What makes it worse is that the other aspects of Far From Home are so good that it was like watching two different movies at the same time.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that this movie has plenty of other stuff too like. For example, “Spider-Man: Far From Home” delivers some of the best Spider-Man action scenes ever. There are several action set pieces, but the battle in Prague, in particular, was jaw-dropping. It really was like watching a comic book come to life. There are other great scenes in the film which will no doubt leave action fans happy.
As for the cast, Tom Holland continues to bring an incredibly likable charm to Peter Parker. The problems I mentioned earlier are not Hollan’s fault, they are the fault of the script. Here the actor nails once again the awkwardness of being sixteen. Everyone can relate to that moment when you want to tell someone that you like them only for something to go wrong. That’s where Holland’s best moments come, not under the mask but when he’s plain old Peter Parker.
I really like Zendaya as MJ. I think she adds something new to the part, even a little mystery. Thankfully she hasn’t been used as a damsel in distress in these movies. But I do wish the movies would give her something more to do. Or at least tell us something new about her. We actually know very little about MJ outside of school, I don’t think either movie has mentioned if she lives with her parents or with her Aunt Anna as she did in the comics.
Meanwhile, Ned Leeds continues to be one of the worst best friends in history. Sure he means well, but he always ends up causing more problems for Peter. I think Peter’s life would be simpler if he found a new best friend. However, one thing I did like about Ned in this movie is his romance with Betty Brant (Angourie Rice). Not only is this a nice nod to the comics (where the two married), but it’s one of the highlights of “Spider-Man: Far From Home”.
Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) looks great. I don’t know how they did it, but the filmmakers actually made the fishbowl head work. It doesn’t look silly, and some of his scenes are pretty damn cool. But his motivations were somewhat of a letdown. I mean, it all makes sense, but when it’s all revealed I was like “Meh.” Mysterio is by no means the worst villain in the MCU though, in fact, he may prove to be the most important villain this Spider-Man ever meets.
Coming in on the heels of “Avengers: Endgame” is no easy task. The shadow of Tony Stark looms large here and There were still question to be answered after Endgame. This film didn’t back down and it answered the burning questions with a super-quick explanation of the new status quo in the MCU. The way this is done had the entire theater laughing by the way.
Despite the few issues I ‘ve mentioned here, “Spider-Man: Far From Home” is still a highly entertaining film with plenty of cool stuff. The action is far above anything we’ve seen before in a Spider-Man movie. Tom Holland is as charming as ever, and all the major characters show growth. Even the Aunt May and Happy Hogan mini-romance is fun to see. While this may not be my favorite MCU movie, it does prove there is life after Endgame, and that’s a very good thing.
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” score: B
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