Hello, readers!
We’re back today with a brand-new movie review: Spider-Man: Far from Home, which made its theatrical debut on July 2nd.
Directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland in his 5th (yes, 5th) time as the titular web-slinger, this film follows Peter Parker post-Endgame while he tries to juggle being both Spider-Man and a normal 16-year-old kid all at the same time.
If you have not seen the film and do not want to be spoiled but do want to know if it’s worth seeing: Yes. A resounding yes.
Now, for the love of Peter Parker, shoo.
SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT.
(THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO TURN BACK.)
Still with me? Ok, here we go…
Everyone who vanished is back, yaaayyy… Including just about Peter’s entire class, apparently. Returning are Ned, MJ, & Flash (which honestly I’m not mad about at all because Tony Revolori is HILARIOUS) along with newcomer Betty Brant, who I believe is in fact Ned’s girlfriend in the comics, and several other classmates.
We find out 8 months have passed since Endgame (or the ‘Blip’, as it’s now being called), and that everyone is just trying to get back to normal.
Peter just wants to chill with his friends and finally tell MJ that he has the hots for her. Luckily for him, Mr. Harrington has organized a science trip overseas! Nothing can go wrong, right? 😉
Wrong.
Apparently the Blip caused a tear in the space-time continuum, sending monsters (called Elementals) to the MCU version of Earth, along with a new hero named Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio. But alas, it’s revealed halfway through the movie that Beck is full of crap and is actually the villain of this piece.
Jake Gyllenhaal was the PERFECT casting for Mysterio, balancing humor & seriousness seamlessly. If you’ve read the comics (or did I like I did & Googled Mysterio the second you heard who Jake Gyllenhaal was playing) you spent about the first half of the movie waiting for the other shoe to drop. If you were like my friend that I saw the film with who knew absolutely zilch about the character, you were all worried about Mysterio during the fight with the lava Elemental and was totally shocked when he was revealed to be the villain. (I swear, the MCU Spider-Man films really know how to pull off a surprise villain reveal. Kudos.)
Tom Holland is amazing as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Tom’s portrayal of Peter dealing with PTSD after Tony’s death in Endgame is heartwrenching.
Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan has returned, and I honestly think he’s become one of my favorite recurring MCU characters. Happy has evolved from a cranky pseudo-babysitter in Homecoming to a true mentor and friend in Far from Home. The scene on the plane where Peter has a breakdown after the Berlin battle and Happy is there for him contains Oscar-worthy performances from both actors. (Seriously, if Tom Holland doesn’t at least get an Oscar nom for this movie there’s no justice in the world.)
(Oh, and I’m totally shipping the Happy/Aunt May romance that was going on in FFH. Please let that continue.)
The fight scenes were great – since Mysterio is a master of illusion there were a lot of surprises.
But the biggest surprises came during the mid- & post-credits scenes.
That mid-credits scene had one of the BEST cameos ever: J.K. Simmons reprised his role as J. Jonah Jameson from the Sam Rami Spider-Man trilogy. Even though Mysterio was defeated, he still had one last trick up his sleeve:
He doctored video footage of the final battle and sent it to Jameson, who revealed Peter’s identity as Spider-Man. I can’t WAIT to find out what the fallout is from that.
The post-credits scene revealed that Fury & Hill were really Skrulls in disguise, and that Fury is on vacation on a beach somewhere. But wait, that’s just a simulator on a spaceship. What movie is it setting up? My guess is Captain Marvel 2 or The Eternals. I think it probably was supposed to be Guardians 3 originally, but that’s obviously been pushed back.
I wasn’t too crazy about the Noir suit (Night Monkey, anyone?) but I absolutely loved the suit Peter designed for the final battle. I will DEFINITELY be upgrading my suit in the PS4 game.
I was really, really hoping that Tony would voice the AI in the glasses once they were passed along to Peter (or at the very least be the voice of his final suit’s AI), but the AI we got in the glasses was *almost* as good: EDITH, or “Even Dead I’m The Hero”. Even from beyond the grave, Tony’s still a lovable smartass. 🙂
While I loved Homecoming, I think I loved Far from Home even more – so much so that I’m planning on seeing it again this weekend, and will probably take my nephew to see it another time in the coming weeks.
Final Rating: 5 Web-slinging Sporks
Did you see it? What did you think? Sound off in the comments below!
The Spork Review 