Synopsis
Spider-Man is taking a vacation, but trouble seems to be following him, partly in the shape of Nick Fury.
Review
Spoilers will abound because I'm super angry about stuff, we'll get to that later though.
Tom Holland makes another appearance as out web-slinging superhero and he brings the usual optimistic teen back with a twist. We already knew that Peter was reluctant to step up, but then Thanos happened and he didn't have much of an option but to become a hero on a much larger scale than "neighbourhood". In Far From Home though he wants to step back again, Tony's legacy is a hard one to live up to and he just wants to be a teenager for a bit and go on dates... specifically with MJ.
Peter is really feeling the loss of Tony and the way that's portrayed is really well done. Holland reaction to everything is spot on, and the fact that you can see tributes everywhere around him shows you how difficult it is for him to move on. While the acting part of this is perfect it seems like the make-up department were going for "contagious sadness", more than once I wondered if Spidey's red eyes were something more serious than just crying.
As a note on the bit above about Tony's tributes, I noticed there weren't any for Captain America or Black Widow... I know Iron Man made the big gesture but come on!
Anyway, the loss of Tony makes for some wonderful scenes between Happy and Peter. When they have a heart to heart on the plane I cried a bit, luckily I was left with normal looking eyes afterwards.
Jack Gyllenhaal was brilliant as Mysterio. I've seen a few of his films and while I've enjoyed his performances nothing particularly jumped out and wowed me. This role actually felt like it fit. I was impressed with how it panned out at the beginning. Mysterio's connection with Peter and the genuine tone that Gyllenhaal managed to bring to their scenes was a real winner.
Now, bad nerd moment coming up. I had not realised that Mysterio was evil, I wasn't familiar with the character and I didn't do any research into him beforehand so that twist came as a real surprise. I love how the storyline overall went with that but I was not a fan of angry Quentin Beck. I think I prefer my supervillains to be the calm and menacing type on the whole, whereas Beck I very aggressive throughout.
The supporting cast was good as expected and I thought it was nice that we saw MJ come out of her shell a bit more. Again with the make-up though, why did they make her look so tired? Or are we just working Zendaya too much? Ned's little side story wasn't greatly loved by the people of the internet from what I could tell. It did add a little something to lighten the mood, I can't say I had strong feelings about it either way though. Probably my favourite acting came from Numan Acar as Dimitri, absolute genius, I think he only said one word through the whole thing but he didn't need a script to be amazing.
Let's talk about that twist. I'm a little annoyed that it comes just after Gyllenhaal puts on those glasses and becomes the hottest thing on the planet since the Fire Elemental. But the reveal did give me something to like, we don't often see the fallout of the events of previous films, here we do. Beck has his group of disgruntled Stark employees and we get some of their back stories to see how they got there. As I said, I'm not a fan of Beck the villain, but I like what he brought to the table.
There were moments that felt a little odd in the film though. Peter refers to his "web-shooter"... all kinds of no. Also, Brad... there was no real benefit to that character and he didn't give you a reason to either like or hate him even though he's in direct competition with Peter for MJ's affections. He was surprisingly bland and only really useful as a device to explore E.D.I.T.H. but that could have been done in some other way with existing characters. Brad is mainly there to bolster the MJ thing, but Peter is a teenage boy with a secret identity, he has enough anxiety and angst to do that without any help.
I'm really confused about when this all takes place in the grand scheme of things, I guess I actually shouldn't be surprised about that, it is the MCU after all. The unsnappening happens in 2023, the news report says it's 8 months later, that could mean it's August. Now, the school is going on a summer trip, which I can't believe happened so quickly after everyone was back but Betty also points out that they made everyone start the school year over... I just can't believe this all works as a timeline. People, someone tell me what the truth is here!!
I'm aware I haven't mentioned the CGI yet, which is obviously quite hefty in this with all the illusions and drones. It's what you'd expect from Marvel at this point.
I found Far From Home to be very entertaining, there were a few moments that maybe I would have changed but after the first watch I was genuinely really impressed with the movie...
Then the credits happened...
I was fuming. I was so (irrationally) angry about it all that after the five minute drive home my jaw hurt because I'd been clenching my teeth so hard.
JJJ's reappearance wasn't such a surprise as he'd been at the premiere and he was on the cast list but seeing quite how he'd fit in felt like it was going to be fun. I enjoyed the fact they'd turned him into a web-based media outlet and given his out-there stance on Spidey the "crazy man" platform. It was difficult to enjoy that moment though when what he does massively changes the tone of the next Spider-Man film and leaves phase 3 on a massive negative bombshell. Not only does Mysterio orchestrate a plot to ruin Spidey as a hero but he also unmasks him. Historically this never works out well for him which is a bonus, but how with they deal with this in the next instalment?
The second scene also opens up a can of worms. We see that Fury and Maria Hill are actually Talos and his wife from Captain Marvel. The real Fury is somewhere in space "vacationing". Could this be the start of S.W.O.R.D. and an in for the X-Men in the MCU? We can hope. I could also mean the MCU has got their own Zygon rehoming scheme in place which honestly, I don't want to think about.
These end scenes really ruined the film for me. We're going to be faced with the next Spider-Man film spending half the time trying to resolve the actions of that credit scene, and if it doesn't take at least that long to resolve it then I have to wonder what the point of doing it at all was.
I did go and see this a second time in 3D, I still had fun, and it was good to notice a few more little touches throughout the film. I didn't stay for the credit scenes on that viewing though.
What you should do
It's MCU, I'm sure all the fans out there have already seen it or brought tickets by this point. I'd definitely say you should watch it, it's an enjoyable ride. Sadly, you also have to watch the end credits to keep up to date with the franchise.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I wouldn't mind having E.D.I.T.H. at my disposal.
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