The latest installment in Marvel’s cinematic universe, Spider-Man: Far From Home follows Peter Parker and his classmates as they take a school trip around Europe and encounter dangerous otherworldly forces.
Spider-Man Far From Home picks up in what feels like minutes after the events of Avengers: End Game. In the wake of the Snap – now redubbed the more cutesy “blip” – Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and the rest of his high school class at Midtown School of Science and Technology have returned to existence just in time for an epic school trip to Europe. With a serious case of burnout that brings new meaning to the phrase “superhero fatigue” and his “Peter tingle” – excuse me, spidey senses – on the fritz the teen webslinger ditches his spidey suit, grabs his passport, ignores all of Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson) phone calls, and enlists his wingman and BFF Ned (Jacob Batalon) in helping him carry out his elaborate plan to ask out Michelle Jones, or, MJ (Zendaya Coleman) during the trip.
A furious Fury, though, is not into Peter’s evasion, and promptly hijacks the webslinger’s vacay. Recruiting the young Avenger to join forces with a powerful new ally, Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), Fury arms the teen to with a new black stealth suit and a pair of Tony’s iconic AI enhanced glasses (with a personalized note from Mr. Stark himself) to face off against a threat that’s of the likes of which S.H.I.E.L.D has never faced before.
Monstrous creatures known as Elementals – inhuman forces of nature that bear more than a passing resemblance to the Titans in Disney’s 1997 Hercules – are rampaging at random throughout Europe, demolishing everything in sight. The only one with the strength to subdue them is Beck, a superpowered wizard type man clad in a World of Warcraft-ish crimson-caped, gilded armor combo, who has the ability to fly and shoot green energy blasts out of his hands. With none of Earth’s Greatest Defenders in reach and the powerhouse Captain Marvel off-planet, Quentin, dubbed Mysterio by the Italian press, and Spider-Man are the only ones S.H.I.E.L.D can turn to.
One of Marvel’s most balanced films in recent years, Spider-Man Far From Home has a sense of free-spiritedness and a lust for life of the likes that hasn’t been seen in the MCU since 2015’s Ant-Man and 2018’s Ant-Man and The Wasp. The 16-year-old behind the mask is given equal, if not slightly more screen time than the spider-powered superhero. Spider-Man’s disaster movie brawls with the Elementals, and death-defying webslinging is given as much weight as Peter’s hilarious quest to get a seat next to MJ on the 8-hour plane flight to Italy and the side-splittingly funny drone strike shenanigans he gets himself into.
Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts is back behind the camera in Spider-Man Far From Home. Shot on location in Venice, Prague, and London, as well as at Leavesden Studios, Far From Home is picturesque and immersive. So much so that it’s worth springing the extra cash to catch it and all its travel glory on IMAX screens.
Watts and writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (known for penning Spider-Man Homecoming) take all the best parts of the first Spider-Man film – the distinctively punchy tone, the tight narrative, the cracklingly witty dialogue, and the charismatic multi-dimensional characters – and expands them. Side characters Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is given more to do than just a briefcase baring babysitter, and Jackson’s Nicky Fury is given license to be as cheeky as he pleases, a nice change up from the tough-as-nails, sometimes onenote S.H.I.E.L.D. director. Coleman’s MJ has the messy-hair-don’t-care sensibilities she had in Homecoming but this time has even more brilliant one-liners and a more effortless knack for dropping snark bombs. Clever and witty, she has dynamite chemistry with Peter and is just as fun to watch romping around on the screen with Peter as Batalon’s goofy and lovable Ned.
As Spider-Man, Holland proves yet again that this is a role he was born to play. His portrayal of Peter’s battle with survivor’s guilt and concerns over not living up to Tony’s legacy is especially gut-wrenching. On the other end of the spectrum, his happiness and enthusiasm are contagious. Whether he’s hurting or hyperactively ready for action, the British actor continues to shine as Spidey and Peter, bringing equal parts joy and vulnerability to the already extremely relatable character.
Likewise, Gyllenhaal’s dashingly handsome and charismatic Mysterio is a welcome addition to the MCU. Hailing from another universe, Mysterio brings a new layer to Spider-Man Far From Home. For the first time in a live action* MCU film it’s revealed that the world we’ve all known** is Earth-616. Teasing what’s to come in this new phase Marvel films, Mysterio’s complexity, magnetism and his commitment to his ambitions put him in a unique situation – one that has a lasting implication on Earth-616 as we, and Spider-Man, know it. After all, as we see in one of the most startling Marvel finales to date, the old adage “the higher they climb the harder fall” also applies to spider-powered teens.
Spider-Man Far From Home is a zingy and escapist two hours of action-packed superhero hijinks, suckerpunch ending and all! Along with its depth, heart, and a thoughtfully plotted narrative, one that ties together several of the numerous Marvel films before it, Spider-Man Far From Home delivers a follow up hit to both End Game and Homecoming and opens a new door to the promising next phase of the MCU. Stick around for the post-credit scenes (really, do not leave) to catch a shot of The Daily Bugle’s loud-mouthed, cigar-chomping editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons reprising his role from Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man trilogy) cameoing in one of the most jaw-dropping post-credit scenes to hit a Marvel movie in the history of um… ever.
Notes: