After a successful reintroduction of the character in Marvel's Civil War and a strong solo film with Spider-Man: Homecoming, the journey of Tom Holland's Peter Parker/Spider-Man continues with Far From Home. With a total of four appearances up to this point, Tom Holland has left a strong impression with audiences with many ranking him as being one of the best Spider-Man's (If not the best) ever put on film. Far From Home has the distinct honor of being the first Marvel film currently that takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame, giving audiences a glimpse of the aftermath while using Peter Parker's journey as a vessel towards setting the next stage of the MCU. Unlike The Amazing Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Homecoming succeeded in successfully rebooting the character for the Marvel universe, making him fun-spirited, heroic, and relatable to audiences while bringing him a lot closer to the comics in terms of accuracy. Fast-Forward two years later with Far From Home, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming not only is a stronger and better film than its predecessor, its one of the best Spider-Man movies ever. Period.
The plot for
Spider-Man: Far From Home continues after the events of
Spider-Man: Homecoming along with the events of
Avengers: Endgame with Peter Parker struggling to cope with the worldwide death and destruction from the events of that film. He agrees to go on a school field trip to Europe with his classmates including his friend and romantic love interest MJ. During the field trip, Parker is recruited by Nick Fury to team up with a former superhero named Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio, to battle a series of new enemies called The Elementals from destroying Europe. What seems like a genuine friendship at first, Peter soon discovers that Mysterio is not the person he appears to be but is full of trickery and illusion.
Far From Home's story had the distinct challenge of not just following the end of
Homecoming, but also continuing from where
Endgame ended with audiences seeing Peter Parker's struggling to cope with the loss of Tony Stark and feeling the pressure of trying to step into his shoes. The sequel maintains much of the heart and charm of
Homecoming while delivering new themes to the story that flesh out the character of Peter Parker such as him struggling to take responsibility as well as the fear of stepping into someone else's shoes while not feeling worthy enough to do so. The film also explores Parker's desire to have a normal life with him making plans to express his true feelings to MJ while being asked by Nick Fury to help save the world. Deception, teen angst, and life choices all play important parts to the story as the audience witnesses the character of Peter Parker grow from the events of
Endgame as he continues to morph into the young hero that comic book fans know him to be. Much like
Homecoming, Far From Home as well as that film both feel like Spider-Man films as well as sitting down on a Saturday morning and watching one of the episodes of the iconic animated show that aired on Fox. Add to that a sizable dose of teen romance and stylish superhero action,
Far From Home is a true gem of a Spider-Man movie that serves as Marvel's response to the brilliant animated
Into The Spider-Verse.
In terms of acting, the cast does a terrific job playing their roles and appear to be having a blast with their characters. Tom Holland proves once again that he's the perfect choice to play Peter Parker and carry on the mantle from Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. For young Marvel fans, Holland's Parker and Spider-Man is the most relatable out of the three and down to earth. He stole the show in both
Infinity War and
Endgame with his end scenes and does a great job once again in the title role. Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic as usual playing the films main antagonist as he comes across as being warm, compassionate, deceptive, twisted, and sinister all rolled into one. He's the perfect Mysterio and delivers an awesome performance here while demonstrating great chemistry with Holland. Its also nice to see him in a superhero film as he nearly landed the role of Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's trilogy. Zendaya proves to be an unique yet great choice as MJ with her character being completely likable, smart, and funny. Its no mystery why Parker is head over heels for her as the two showcase great chemistry together with the sequel expanding on their relationship. Samuel L. Jackson delivers a strong supporting role as Nick Fury being both hilarious and intimidating as he pushes Parker to choose between his normal life and being the next Iron Man. Marisa Tomei proves once again to be a clever choice for Aunt May despite being younger than the actual May in the comics. Fans will get a kick out of seeing where the end twist of
Homecoming brings her character and Peter. Other noteworthy supporting roles are Jacob Batalon delivering a hilarious performance as Peters best friend as well as being one of the few that knows his secret, J.B Smoove as Mr. Dell, and Martin Starr as Mr. Harrington, both teachers and guardians to Peters class. It's not a question of whether anyone delivered a bad performance, everyone is excellent here and brings large amounts of enthusiasm and excitement to their parts. The audience gets to know these characters, shares numerous laughs with them and ultimately cares for them in the end.
As far as directing and writing goes, director Jon Watts from Homecoming returns as director for the sequel and once again brings his A Game. He once again blends superhero action with character development and humor that feels real. He even makes the audience care about the side characters such as the teachers, Flash, and Happy. For the films scope, Watts doesn't try to outdo
Endgames which would be impossible to do and disastrous, but brings things down to a more human and personal scale with Parker's character struggling to lead a double life while fighting to accept his true destiny. Instead of ignoring how
Endgame ends, the film builds off that movies climax and shows the emotional toll that the events of that film took on Peter with him losing someone who was essentially a father figure. As far as the teen romance in the film goes, Watts gives a sense of innocence to it that almost feels like something one would see on the Disney channel that appeals to young audiences while blending it with a solid villain and exciting action sequences that keep the adrenaline an thrills going. After Sam Raimi, Watts is easily the best director to helm a Spider-Man film as he clearly understands the character and re-establishes him in a way that audiences can connect with.
Homecoming writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers return to the sequel bringing the same kind of creativity and freshness, that made the previous film such a rewarding and surprise experience for fans. The duo writers do a very good job of creating and expanding on what's essentially a coming of age tale that revolves around loss and love, despair, hope, betrayal and trust. The writers brilliantly weave all of these themes and ideas together while creating a story that has relation to the audience while sprinkling healthy doses of humor throughout the film. Perhaps the reason why so many Marvel fans consider this Spider-Man to be the best one is because he's do down to earth and easy to understand and connect with.
On a technical note, the films visual effects once again are top notch and are not to be missed on the big screen especially IMAX. The films action set pieces are stunning especially the films insane third act which relies heavily on CGI. The cinematography is solid with the costume designs of both Spider-Man and Mysterio looking realistic and falling in line with the rest of the MCU. Mysterio is impressive here and looks like a comic book and cartoon character (If you grew up watching the Fox animated show), brought to the big screen in a larger than life form. The score by Michael Giacchino remains impressive once again though it can't beat Danny Elfman's trademark Spider-Man theme from the Sam Raimi trilogy. The films editing is masterfully done, keeping the story moving without it feeling slow or drawn out. The audience gets time to connect with Parker and his friends before he's pulled away to tackle the next big threat. On a technical note,
Far From Home is one of the most ambitious and impressive Spider-Man films to date with Marvel continuously raising the bar in terms of what can be done with the story on both an emotional and visual scale.
Once again Marvel beats the odds and shows audiences that they know how to properly bring these characters to the big screen and know what makes them work. Tom Hollands Peter Parker is no exception as his Spider-Man is perhaps the most human of them all giving the audience the impression that they could be the ones under the mask being put in the same shoes as him. Director Jon Watts and the writers understand that and chose to craft a set of Spider-Man movies that are not only exciting visually but remain grounded on a human level.
Far From Home is easily one of the best superhero films of the year and the best Spider-Man film since 2004's
Spider-Man 2. For long-time fans of the character, this is the film they've been waiting for as it manages to top
Spider-Man: Homecoming and bring a new villain to the screen. With all the impressive action, the heart of the film lies with the main characters and the performances delivered by the actors.
Far From Home maintains the energy, the lighthearted tone, the excitement, and teen romance that was introduced in
Homecoming with the film capitalizing on Hollands perfect casting as a young Peter Parker whose struggling to balance out two lives, one that allows him to be an ordinary kid with a crush and the other following the path that Tony Stark laid out for him. His story remains compelling enough that makes audiences want to see what happens to him with the next Spider-Man outing.
Far From Home is the
Spider-Man 2 of the
Homecoming trilogy with the brilliant after credits scene raising the stakes for the next film. For all
Spider-Man and Marvel fans in general, this film is a must see.
Final Verdict: SEE IT
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