Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man must step up to take on new threats in a world that has changed forever.
There is something undeniably exciting about a Spider-Man film. From the early days of Tobey Macguire through Andrew Garfield, the Spider-Man franchise has been one of the most inconsistent consistent movie franchises from my formative years. When the Sony/Marvel collaboration first came to light, it brought with it the implied promise of stability and connected continuity with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spider-Man: Homecoming did a brilliant job of showing us the reality of a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man (emphasis on the "neighbourhood"), and Spider-Man: Far From Home manages to continue this smaller-scale theme despite taking place in more international locations that MIB: International.
If you were to call Avengers: Endgame the final chapter to the third act (phase) in the MCU, Spider-Man: Far From Home is the epilogue. Right from the audio of Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You during the Marvel logo, the audience is immediately reminded about the consequences of the blip. No punches are pulled, and right away they get started on answering some of the many questions that remained, from a community level. Because Spider-Man is all about the neighbourhood.
The film is effectively split into two halves, the first of which is another coming-of-age high school romance story, that builds and develops Ned, MJ, Aunt May, and of course Peter himself, who now has to come to terms with another great loss in his life. The latter half of the film is when we get to see the real action-packed scenes of intensely choreographed fights that we have come to love from Spidey.
The film has a really well-developed cast of characters, and I love the burgeoning onscreen chemistry between Tom Holland (Peter Parker) and Zendaya (MJ). Zendaya's deadpan, overly sarcastic, dark and dry sense of humour hits all of the right notes and adds a surprising amount of charisma. The comedy comes from nearly all of the cast onscreen, and it nearly all lands. There is certainly some on-the-nose physical humour that may only elicit a slight exhalation through the nostrils, but the majority of the gags land, and when you consider how many there are in the film (many of them recurring jokes) it is quite remarkable.
Tom Holland has really hit his stride with Spider-Man, and with his second full feature film (his fifth appearance in the MCU as the character) he is finally able to give us those attributes that we expect of him; the dorky intelligence, the awkward youth, the always-late and often-absent presence as he juggles his personal and superhero lives. A lot of this development does make the first half feel a little bit slower paced, but it still never allows Parker a moment of breathing space, and it allows the twist to hit you that much harder.
As an MCU film, you can expect several appearances and cameos (spoiler: there is no Stan Lee cameo) ,and it looks back at several other films (such as Captain America: Civil War, and the original Iron Man), bringing in extra layers of interconnectedness.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays a character I was unsure of prior to entering the cinema. I knew the absolute minimal information about the character in the comics (mainly just his purpose in the Old Man Logan series), but it was enough information to near enough guess where the film was going to go. Despite this, I was still kept thoroughly entertained, and mesmerised by some of the visual choreography on display. Gyllenhaal does a great job, and boy does he shake things up!
The CGI is largely streamlined and incredibly smooth. It definitely seems to be a common thread with the Sony films; that extra sleek look. But it doesn't detract from the film at all and does help the latter half of the film pop, in contrast to the much more modest first half. The cinematography is top notch, switching from steady to a more handheld view depending on the need, and a lot of inclusion of social media adds that cringe-worthy yet extra-relatable flair, to combat the vibrant colours and exotic locations (well, not exactly exotic, but it's not in the US for once).
Spider-Man: Far From Home is a great laugh-out-loud film that perfectly balances the coming-of-age
element with the superhero lifestyle. This latest iteration of the franchise has really worked out the right amount of antagonists to include in the film and provides the perfect misdirection to throw the audience off the scent.
Marvel end-credit scenes have been criticized a lot about their seemingly unnecessary and increasingly insignificant nature. There are two scenes after the film ends. Definitely stay for the first one, though both will likely have an effect in Phase 4 of the MCU.