Review: Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)

I'll be honest, though I did enjoy Homecoming I didn't think it was anything overly spectacular. Even with my great like of Michael Keaton, I thought that everything about the film was done admirably and well but nothing entirely special came out of it. It was for this reason that my interest in Far from Home wasn't over the moon, other than the fact that I also really like Jake Gyllenhaal and think Mysterio is an interesting villain. However, I can now say that I actually enjoyed Far from Home more than Homecoming - it is a wildly entertaining superhero flick and has one of the most visually arresting sequences I have seen in a superhero film thus far.

Far from Home picks up the pieces from both Homecoming as well as Avengers: Endgame. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is still in high school, struggling with the balance of being both a superhero and a teenage student, as well, that he's now mourning the death of his great mentor, Tony Stark. In that, FFH gives some brief but pivotal information about the effect of Thanos' snap and all those dusty individuals' return to reality, and also how the rest of the world too is grieving for our beloved lost heroes. This leads to an interesting and natural set up for Peter, in that he deservedly feels that he needs a break from all the fighting, and what better getaway than a science-y school trip to Europe with bestie, Ned (Jacob Batalon), and major crush, MJ (Zendaya). No shocker here (pun intended), but the crimefighting catches up to Spidey even in Europe and soon he finds himself assisting Nick Fury, Maria Hill and new hero on the scene, Quentin Beck, to take down a group of alien Elementals. These make for some great action sequences featuring some top-notch VFX. Not all is as it seems though and Spidey soon has to contend with a new threat - one which comic book readers and others alike were likely expecting. This is the one that leads to a surreal and overly-trippy sequence that I am dying to put on a loop and dissect when FFH comes out on video some months from now.

There are some resonating themes for Peter in this one as he struggles to come to terms as a hero without the man who was his guiding light in superheroing for so long. Beck plays an important role in Peter's journey here, and this personal aspect elevates the story greatly. On top of this there is the classic rom-com story happening with MJ that similarly is notched up a number of steps throughout the film and played out quite well. The balance of comedy and drama in FFH is one of its most successful facets - Holland, Zendaya, Batalon and Gyllenhaal (who is clearly having the time of his life in the role) are all great throughout the film.

SPOILERS BELOW:
The one thing that I didn't particularly like was that, despite Marvel advertising over-and-over that FFH would be setting up the future of the MCU, it really did no such thing other than an abstract teaser that the Skrulls will be playing a major role going forward (we all kinda guessed this would be the case). The cliffhanger featuring ol' JJJ and the large reveal for Spidey's individual future were quite riveting, however, I personally wanted a little more to chew on about Phase 4 of the MCU as we have received very little information about where we're headed from here.