Spider-Man: Far From Home shows that if this is the direction they plan to go after Avengers: Endgame, then be prepared for another 10 years of Marvel dominance. The ease with which this film picks up after the events of Endgame while propelling a single character forward was actually unexpected to me. Maybe I was dumb for doubting Marvel, but I didn’t think that Far From Home would be better than 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, but it was.
Far From Home picks up a few months after the events of Endgame as summer rolls around for Peter’s (Tom Holland) high school. All of his friends were snapped, which is referred to as “The Blip” by all the character in the movie so everyone is back. The lightheartedness with which they deal with certain teens being snapped, sorry blipped, for 5 years was pretty refreshing after the events of Endgame. Peter is still trying to find his way as a hero and some of his powers, most notably his “Peter Tingle” (Spider-Sense), seem to be affected by his mood and PTSD from Endgame. Luckily, Peter is off to Europe for a school trip where his only focus is to tell MJ (Zendeya) how he feels about her. Of course once element monsters start popping up to attack landmarks around the globe, Peter is reluctantly roped in to help Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) to stop them at all costs.
The most enjoyable aspect about this movie to me was the fact that if you removed all of the superhero stuff it would be a pretty entertaining teen rom-com. Peter’s friends are all funny. The interactions with his bumbling teachers (Martin Starr & J.B. Smoove) all work for laughs. Peter’s angst and nervousness around MJ feels true to how we all acted in high school around someone we liked. It would be an above average rom-com. Lucky for us, we also get some great superhero action with Mysterio and Spider-Man. The movie seemed to up the ante with web-slinging in this movie because it looked much more improved from even the quick scenes in Infinity War & Endgame and light years better than Homecoming. The unique aspect of this movie were Mysterio’s visions which didn’t disappoint one bit and I felt like they put the psychedelic Quantum Realm from Ant-Man to shame. Mysterio’s visions were on par with the imagery of Doctor Strange and were the sequences I can’t wait to rewatch several more times.
It is very tough to talk about the movie anymore without spoiling it. The twists and turns were plentiful. Some expected and a few that actually surprised even me! The best part is that I was never bored and there wasn’t a moment that felt like it dragged. 3 months ago I watched Captain America fight Thanos with his shield and Thor’s hammer so to say my excitement level had peaked would be an understatement with these movies. However, the Marvel machine has found a way to keep their “grounded” teenage character “grounded” in his own story with his own stakes that feel true to who Spider-Man is and more importantly who he wants to be. The bonus is that they make it a blast start to finish.
STOP READING NOW.
SERIOUSLY.
I WILL SPOIL SOMETHING.
BACK UP!
LAST WARNING.
(HIGHLIGHT TO REVEAL BELOW)
To suggest the two end credit sequences are the most important in the history of the MCU would not be hyperbolic. They both bring the story of Spider-Man and the Marvel Universe in new directions. First we see J. Jonah Jameson (played by J.K. Simmons again) as an Alex Jones conspiracy theory show news guy revealing Spider-Man’s true identity to the World. The ramifications of this are amazing for storytelling. (See what I did there?) It will be so fun to see how Peter grapples with this moving forward and how he chooses to protect the ones he loves.
Second it is revealed that Nick Fury and Maria Hill are actually Talos and his wife from Captain Marvel. The shapeshifting Skrulls. Now this isn’t nefarious, they were sent there by Nick to deal with the Earth situation and they call him on the phone and treat him like he is their boss which was interesting. Once Fury hears everything worked out he hangs up on them and it is revealed he is in a giant Skrull ship in space! So Nick Fury doesn’t have time for petty Earth matters and sends Talos to help handle because clearly there is something more important off-Earth. I love the notion of the MCU splitting the films between Cosmic and Earth and this showed a link of how they might do it going forward. It was pretty great!