Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) review

(Disclaimer: I apologize in advance, folks, but due to the nature of this being the first MCU film after Avengers: Endgame, I will have to address what is easily the biggest of that film’s spoilers. I have the feeling that most of you reading this have already watched the film (it did just become the highest-grossing film of all time, after all…), but in the slim chance that you haven’t seen it yet, all I can recommend at this point is that you watch Endgame first.)

When we last left the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it had just reached the culmination of its legendary run up to this point with Avengers: Endgame. It goes without saying that the film was a true epic in every sense of the word, effectively providing the franchise’s dedicated fanbase with a satisfying conclusion to what has now officially been designated as ‘the Infinity Saga’. However, as it turns out, it ultimately wasn’t going to be the final installment of this saga. Instead, that honor goes to the follow-up to 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home. As most of you know, Spider-Man’s inclusion in the MCU ultimately came courtesy of a deal between Marvel Studios and Sony. While the latter has held the character’s film rights for the past several decades, the lackluster performance of the Amazing Spider-Man reboot series led to this deal that would see both parties working together to develop a new iteration of the character, who made a phenomenal debut in Captain America: Civil War. Thus, just like Homecoming, Far From Home is an interesting release in terms of its distribution because while Marvel Studios is currently under the Disney banner, both Homecoming and Far From Home are officially Sony productions. And yet, because of Kevin Feige and co.’s involvement in the production, it’s still technically an MCU film at the end of the day, with Homecoming director Jon Watts returning to direct along with most of the main cast from the previous film. And because of this, Far From Home is yet another superb outing for the MCU that brilliantly handles the ramifications of the epic, emotional finale of its immediate predecessor while also giving us a taste of what’s to come for this legendary franchise.

Not long after the events of Endgame, teenager Peter Parker (Tom Holland) returns to his hometown of Queens to resume his duties as the friendly neighborhood web-slinger, Spider-Man. At the same time, though, Peter has struggled to overcome the death of his mentor/father figure Tony Stark. Thus, when Midtown High organizes a summer vacation to Europe, Peter signs up for it, eager to take a break from the superhero lifestyle and hopeful that this trip will give him a chance to reveal the blossoming feelings that he has for his classmate Michelle AKA MJ (Zendaya). Unfortunately for Peter, his superhero life quickly follows him to Europe, and he ends up being approached with a mission by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). The two inform him that due to the cosmic implications of ‘the Snap’, four creatures from another dimension known as the Elementals have arrived on Earth and have caused mass destruction wherever they go. Luckily for them, they have gained a new ally in Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), an illusion-based superhero who is also from the Elementals’ dimension and is promptly given the nickname ‘Mysterio’ by the media. Thus, as Peter now finds himself struggling once again to balance his responsibilities as Spider-Man with his desire for a stress-free vacation, he must also grapple with the biggest question of them all; can he live up to the expectations that have been set upon him and become ‘the next Iron Man’?

In the past, I’ve noted that Marvel Studios does a great job when it comes to the kind of films that they do right after the big ensemble pieces that are the Avengers films. The original Ant-Man followed the grand spectacle of Avengers: Age of Ultron with a refreshingly small-scaled affair (no pun intended) while Ant-Man and the Wasp allowed for some well-earned levity after the devastating finale of Avengers: Infinity War. The same situation applies to Far From Home, but in this case, its effectiveness as the immediate follow-up to Avengers: Endgame stems from the fact that the events of Endgame’s finale directly affect this film’s plot. Simply put, the death of Tony Stark is felt throughout, right down to the fact that tributes to him can be seen in practically every European country that Peter visits. Without spoiling anything from the plot, this film is all about Tony’s legacy and how Peter must now work to maintain it, and as one can only expect from an MCU film, this is where the franchise’s phenomenal sense of emotional poignancy comes into play because of how closely tied the MCU’s version of Peter has been to Tony. Another key aspect of this film is its European setting since Far From Home is the first main Spider-Man film (not counting Spidey’s trip to Germany in Civil War since that’s a Captain America film) that’s not primarily set in New York, and because of this, the new locales offer some fantastic imagery that’s even more amazing when viewed in IMAX. All this helps to bolster everything else that you’ve come to expect from an MCU film; I would elaborate on what that stuff is further but, let’s be frank, I’ve already done that in my previous MCU film reviews.  

Like Homecoming, Far From Home primarily revolves around its younger cast members to great effect. Of course, it’s all headlined by Tom Holland, who continues to be a wonderful iteration of Spider-Man. Not only does Holland perfectly embody the combination of Spider-Man’s wisecracking persona with Peter Parker’s endearing awkwardness, but he also brilliantly handles all the emotional turmoil that Peter’s been going through since Tony Stark’s death. He also continues to have excellent camaraderie with Jacob Batalon as Peter’s best friend Ned, who gets his own little subplot via a budding romance with their classmate Betty Brant (Angourie Rice), as well as some wonderful chemistry with Zendaya as the MCU’s ‘MJ’. As alluded to in the plot synopsis, the film begins to develop a relationship between the two that, in turn, does allow Zendaya to have a larger role this time around. After that, there’s the always reliable supporting characters like Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, and Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders as Fury and Maria Hill. Finally, there’s quite arguably the most anticipated addition to the cast, Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio, and sure enough, he is fantastic in the role thanks in large part to the excellent camaraderie that he forms with Holland. Now for those who are aware of Mysterio’s traditional role in the comics… yes, this film goes exactly the way you think it does when it comes to his overall characterization. Still, the way in which it translates this to tie him into the MCU’s lore is a brilliant method of subverting expectations.

Marvel Studios has been on a roll as of late when it comes to producing sequels that are superior to their already excellent predecessors. That was the case with films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Ant-Man and the Wasp, just to name a few. And sure enough, that trend continues with Spider-Man: Far From Home, which has quite possibly become my new favorite Spider-Man film. Now don’t get me wrong, Spider-Man: Homecoming was a terrific outing for the web-slinger that perfectly encapsulated the character arc of the MCU’s rendition of the character; a young kid who wants to join the Avengers but quickly has to grapple with the reality that he’s still just a kid in a much larger universe. But then you have Far From Home, which takes everything great from Homecoming and amplifies it even further with better action sequences, better visuals, and a tightly-written script which sees Peter Parker now having to face the burden of proving exactly why Tony Stark made him an Avenger. In other words, while I’m sure that I’ve said this plenty of times before when it comes to the MCU, this truly is one of those films that is a pitch-perfect representation of everything great about this franchise. Thus, it ends up being a perfect epilogue to Marvel Studios’ ‘Infinity Saga’, which is quite arguably the most impressive run that any franchise has had in the history of film. And considering all the exciting films and TV shows that Marvel Studios announced at Comic-Con this past weekend, it’s undeniably clear that they’re not even remotely done yet.    

Rating: 5/5!