Review: Spider-Man: Far From Home is a breezy and fun follow-up to Endgame
It’s energetic, exciting, and shows that Marvel still knows exactly what to do with small scale movies…
★★★★½
Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man must step up to take on new threats in a world that has changed forever. (IMDb)
Spider-Man: Far From Home is something of a balance between setting the stage for the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and serving as an ending that deals with the fallout from Avengers: Endgame. It could’ve easily ended up feeling like an awkward transition into a world after the enormous events of that film, but Far From Home is a movie that works remarkably well. It keeps the focus relatively small scale, the tone is often light and silly, and it delivers coming-of-age themes with characters who are charismatic and fun to watch. Endgame brought us a massive game-changer for the whole MCU, but for it to continue as successfully as it has, the world of this series still has to feel real and recognisable. This movie pulls that off effectively, keeping its attention on how people have reacted to the massive changes to their lives, and how they’re managing and carrying on. Things are somehow different and the same, and that’s a good choice for the future of the Marvel universe.
Living in a post-Endgame world
If you haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame, I’m about to spoil the ending of it. The time travel shenanigans all resolve with the heroic sacrifice of Tony Stark and the return of all the people Thanos killed with a snap of his fingers five years previously. Because of this, the MCU now takes place in the future, after the time jump, and half of the people within it have missed five years while the rest have lived with their loss and pain for exactly that long. In Far From Home, Peter Parker is still coming to terms with his sudden return, the death of his mentor, and the weight of expectation that has been placed upon him as a hero within this world. It’s not easy for him, as an ordinary high school kid, to know how to live up to those kind of expectations. We also see how the experience has been dubbed the “Blip” and how Aunt May is now working with a charity to help people who were displaced by what happened. Peter’s about to go a school trip to Europe and wants a break from being Spider-Man. But Nick Fury appears to have other plans, and an important mission for him to go on.
Twists and turns you won’t expect
The movie introduces us to a hero from an alternate reality called Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) who has arrived to battle monsters called the Elementals who have begun to appear in this world after having destroyed his. Fury wants Spider-Man and Mysterio to team up in this fight, but Peter wants to just be a kid and get closer to MJ (Zendaya) while he has the chance on their trip. There‘s a lot in Far From Home that is principally about playing with the expectations of the audience. You’ll find that on several occasions the film twists and turns where you won’t expect. Even if you think you’re two steps ahead, it has some surprising developments up its sleeves. Gyllenhaal delivers a terrific performance, and Tom Holland is once again fantastic too. His Peter Parker has quickly become the definitive take on the character, and he’s a joy to watch. The same can be said for Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon as Parker’s best friend Ned.
It’s a light and entertaining teen comedy too
Much of the fun of this movie is watching how well it balances little moments of high school comedy and exciting superheroics. This may be one of the funniest Spider-Man movies to date, if not the funniest. It’s got a lot of great jokes and physical humour throughout, and the teen characters are really likeable and fun, so you always enjoy watching whatever they get up to. The dialogue, from screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, is always sharp and zippy, with Zendaya’s deadpan MJ being one of the most enjoyable characters to watch. This Peter Parker is naive and overly trusting, but you can’t help but warm to him. He’s definitely someone that we want to see succeed, even when we see him make mistakes. Far From Home never aims to be as enormous or consequential as the other Marvel films released this year, but that’s a good thing. It keeps the focus small scale, and delivers as a delightful and well-paced superhero story. It also has some great post-credits scenes, including a brilliant little cliffhanger in the mid-credits sting. It’s clear Marvel has a plan for what’s coming next, and I can’t wait to see where things go from here.
Verdict
It’s lively and energetic, with strong performances, great characters and interesting developments. This is an entertaining, action-packed Spider-Man adventure that’s charming and funny.
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