This review is going to be a little hard to write. Not because the movie is bad or anything, but because of a little film that came out a few months ago called Avengers: Endgame. Far From Home is, in a way, a follow-up to the last movie that featured the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and, because of that, a lot of crucial plot points deal with spoilers from Endgame. By now, pretty much everyone has seen it, but for those who haven´t, I'm sorry, I'm going to have some pretty major spoilers. Don't worry, I'll try to mark where to not read if you haven't seen it. With that out of the way, let's get started!
Spider-Man: Far From Home is directed by Jon Watts and stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jon Faverau. Following the events of Endgame, Peter Parker (Holland) now has to step and take on new threats in a world that has changed forever. The only issue is that he's on vacation. With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the review!
I just want to start this review by saying that, sadly, this movie isn't as good as Spider-Man: Homecoming. But that doesn't mean it's a bad film at all! Let's start with the cast. I'm going to get some hate for this but, Tom Holland is the best Spider-Man that's been put to screen. Yes, even better than Maguire. Actually, I'm just gonna clear the air here: Maguire wasn't even that great of a Spider-Man. The movies were good, yes, but he's not the best. Hell, I put Garfield above him, too. I know, I'm gonna get a lot of flak for that, but it's my opinion. Back to Holland. He's fantastic as Peter Parker. He acts just like a teenager, because, well, Peter Parker is a teenager. I loved seeing him try to balance his teenage life with his superhero duties. It's like they plucked the illustration right out of the comic and put it on the screen. One of the best qualities about the wall-crawler is that, no matter how many times he gets knocked down, he always manages to get back up. That's what makes Spider-Man, Spider-Man. Tom Holland does a phenomenal job of showing that here. To be honest, Peter Parker has a rough life: His parents are gone, his uncle is gone, and on top of that, he's a teenager. ***SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME BEGIN HERE** Too make matters even worse, Tony Stark got killed battling Thanos. The closest thing he had to a father-figure besides his uncle is gone and he has to deal with it. This movie does a really good job of showing that. Literally everywhere he goes, whether it be a video or a painting, he is constantly reminded of Tony and he feels that he can't live up to him. ***SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME END HERE*** Holland isn't the only one that brings it. The rest of the cast is great. Zendaya has much more to do here than she did in the last film. She plays MJ, a classmate that Peter likes. Her and Holland have great chemistry together. The same goes for another classmate Ned (Jacob Batalon). It felt like the director just left the camera recording while these actors were having a conversation. That's how great their chemistry was. Gyllenhaal is also really good here. He plays Quentin Beck a.k.a. Mysterio, a hero that is working with Nick Fury (Jackson) to fight a bunch of elemental monsters. It's cool see an actor that's usually in indies join the MCU. He does a really good job here. Him and Holland have really good chemistry with each other and their back-and-forth was really good. ***SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME BEGIN AGAIN HERE*** Peter is sees another father figure in Beck, like he did with Tony. Beck is kind of like a cool uncle and understands where Peter is coming from. It was really interesting to see that relationship unfold. Nick Fury is back and as stern as ever. He is a stark contrast to Tony (pun very much intended). Where Tony would joke around with Peter, Fury tells him how it is. It was really good to see Happy (Faverau), Tony Stark's old bodyguard, back again. It was nice the bond between him and Peter. In Homecoming, Happy wanted nothing to do with him. Here, he cares a lot for Peter and is there to comfort him. There's a moment between them that was very touching. It was shown a little in the trailers, but I don't want to spoil any more. ***SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME END HERE*** It was also really cool to see everyone's reactions to the events of Endgame. Several things are addressed from that film. I'm not going to get too much into because of spoilers. I absolutely loved the visuals and action in this movie. Some sequences seemed like they were ripped straight from a comic book. I felt like I was swinging around with the Web-Head and trying to save people. It never gets too hectic. It was very well done. Even though this movie has very impressive action scenes, it's the smaller sequences that I enjoyed the most. There's one scene that deals with Peter's inner struggle that is just fantastic and is one of my favorites in a Spider-Man movie (again no spoilers). There is also quite a bit of humor in this movie. Several times my friend and I were dying of laughter. This kind of leads to the bad.
While most of the humor worked, there was some that didn't. There's a small sub-plot with Ned that, while funny at first, wore thin after a while. Another thing that I didn't really care for in this movie was the pacing. It takes a little while for it to really get moving. Some characters are kind of forgotten and then, once they reach a certain place, the movie really kicks up a bit. There's a few plot points that are repeated from Homecoming. Some parts are pretty much copy and pasted. It doesn't completely ruin the movie though. Another thing I didn't like was Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), or, more specifically, her reaction to Peter being Spider-Man. At the end of Homecoming she sees Peter changing out of the suit and then the movie cut to the credits. Here we see a little bit of her reaction. She seems completely fine with it, which is a little odd to me. In Homecoming, even in Captain America: Civil War, we see that she worries over her nephew. While she still worries for him, it's nowhere near as much as I had thought. I mean, he's 15-17 years old, and almost dies on numerous occasions. Despite all of this, she's fine with him continuing to be a super hero. It just seems a little off to me. These are minor gripes though.
Before I wrap the review up, I just want to say two things: 1.) I'm sorry this review is a bit of a mess. It was hard to write while avoiding Endgame spoilers, so I had to work them in. 2.) Thanks for everyone who takes the time to read my reviews! It really means a lot to me and I love hearing that people take the time out of their busy days to read them. Thanks guys!
In conclusion, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a really fun movie and a great closer to Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The cast (particularly Holland and Zendaya) are amazing, I really liked seeing the aftermath of the events of Endgame, I loved seeing Peter grow even more and watching him dealing with his internal struggles. It also helps that the visuals and action are great, and the humor really works for the most part. Sadly this is held back by some pacing issues, some jokes that don't work, some reused plot points from Homecoming, and May's reaction to her nephew being Spider-Man. While it's not as good as Homecoming, it's still a very good entry in the MCU. As always with Marvel movies, make sure to stay for the post-credits scenes. The first one is fantastic, while the second one got me a little mad. If you want to know why, be sure to DM or e-mail me! If I were to rate it, I'd give Spider-Man: Far From Home an 8/10. I'm really excited to see where Spidey goes from here!