Courtesy of Marvel Studios
Spider-Man: Far From Home is the 2019 sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming, as well as Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Jon Watts returns as director and the film stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Samuel L. Jackson, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Cobie Smulders, Marisa Tomei, and Jake Gyllenhaal. In this film, Peter Parker goes on vacation to Europe with class, hoping to take a break from being Spider-Man, but is asked to help Nick Fury and Mysterio stop Elemental monsters. Some fans prefer Spider-Man: Homecoming over Spider-Man: Far From Home, but for me, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a better, more enjoyable movie.
Tom Holland once again is great. Peter Parker is dealing with quite a bit this time around. He wants to confess to Michelle Jones that he likes her, enjoy a vacation and not worry about being Spider-Man. He is also dealing with the death of Tony Stark and if he can live up to that potential. Holland brings more emotion and seriousness to the character this time around. His character grows a lot in this film.
Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio did not disappoint. Mysterio is one of my favorite Spider-Man villains and Gyllenhaal is a great actor, so I was looking forward to his performance. He starts as an alleged hero from another universe, but it turns out he is just lying to everyone. The shift in his performance from a nice, likable hero to a manipulating, sinister villain, works. The costume design for Mysterio looks incredible.
Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders return from previous MCU movies as Nick Fury and Maria Hill. Another thing I was looking forward to in this film is the interactions between Fury and Parker. Jackson is great as always. Fury is different from Tony Stark when it comes to being a mentor to Peter Parker. He is much more strict and tough on Peter. At times, he feels out of character. Of course, the post-credit scene reveals why Nick Fury is out of character in this film.
Zendaya’s Michelle Jones is the love interest in this film and they do a lot more with her character. Zendaya’s performance is better in this film. Once again, Jacob Batalon provides good comedic humor. The one performance that was disappointing in this film is Marisa Tomei as Aunt May. It felt like they turned Aunt May into a comedic character in this film. Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan also provides comedy relief, but has a great scene with Peter where they open up about dealing with the loss of Tony Stark and Happy motivates Peter.
Jon Watts improved the action a lot this time around. The final fight is miles ahead of the final fight in Spider-Man: Homecoming. The special effects work is better as well. The Elemental monster designs and effects were great. The scene where Mysterio is taking down Spider-Man with illusions is amazing and feels like a scene right from the comic books. The mid-credit scene is one of the best. It was great to see JK Simmons portray J. Jonah Jameson again.
My only other issue with Spider-Man: Far From Home is Mysterio having a grudge against Tony Stark. We already got that with Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming. It reminded me of the annoying thing Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man films, which was every villain in those films were created or connected to Oscorp Industries. It would have been fine just having him as someone that wanted to take advantage of a world without some of the Avengers after the events of Avengers: Endgame and be a fake hero no matter what it takes or who gets hurt. I understand some people complain about the EDITH glasses, but I was okay with them being important to the plot.
All in all, Spider-Man: Far From Home improves on some of my issues with Spider-Man: Homecoming. The action is a lot better and the stakes feel higher. Tom Holland continues to do a great job portraying Spider-Man. Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio is a great villain. The mid-credit scene leads into Spider-Man: No Way Home very well. It works as an epilogue to the Infinity Saga of the MCU. It also works as a fun MCU movie that the fans needed after the emotional ride that was Avengers: Endgame and before what will likely be another emotional ride in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
I highly recommend Spider-Man: Far From Home if you haven’t already and to give it another watch if you haven't seen it in a while. What did you think about Spider-Man: Far From Home? Let us know in the comments down below.
Final Grade: A-
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