After all the mass destruction and resurrection in Avengers: Endgame, Marvel fans spent months wondering exactly what would happen next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) once the epic battle had finally concluded.
It's time the characters in the Marvel blockbuster had a holiday break, and perhaps the viewer, too. With all the trauma we went through from the last couple of Avengers movies, it seems like maybe we all needed something a little bit more fun and lighthearted. And that's what we get in Spider-Man: Far From Home, the first Marvel movie to arrive since Endgame that has managed to deliver all that and more.
Despite a slow start and predictable story beats, the latest film from Sony and Marvel's partnership comes through as one of the most creative and entertaining movies in the ever-expanding MCU.
Directed by Jon Watts, Far From Home follows the story from Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), and picks up shortly after the events of Endgame, when the world is suffering from the effects of Thanos' Snap (now referred to as the Blip) -- the catastrophic event, we saw in Infinity War, that wiped out half the world's population.
The world is also grieving the loss of Tony Stark, Black Widow and others among Endgame's departed, as shown in the hilarious clip from a memorial video tribute at the high school in the beginning of the film. Now, five years later, the victims of the Blip have all come back. And this brought some comedy to the plot, as they nonetheless remained exactly the same age as at the time they left, while the other half are five years older.
Peter Parker (Tom Holland), at the same time, begins to feel fed-up and rejects his superhero gifts. Refusing the position people gave him as Ironman's replacement, Peter only wishes to go back and be just a normal teen and spend more time with MJ (Zendaya), the girl he likes.
Abandoning his spider costume at home, Peter is on his way to a vacation in Europe with his schoolmates, only to be tracked down by MCU vanguard Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who wants to recruit him to work with new superhero Quentin Beck aka Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) to take down the group of mysterious monsters that will destroy the Earth.
The movie also focuses on the romance between Peter and MJ, and suggests the complications inherent in keeping his superheroic identity hidden from her. The exception is his best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), the only person aware of his double life. Peter's romantic dreams, and his conflict with the Avengers status, are the key dramas of the story.
As much as it's an action movie, Far From Home is also a feel-good movie that avoids the glaring flaws Endgame had. While some moments in the story are quite predictable, the storytelling is engaging enough to keep audiences on the edge of their seats, with one particular dreamlike trippy action sequence standing out as the mind-blowing moment in this movie.
Holland continues to impress, perfectly portraying an awkward boy with incredible superpowers. The comedy in Far From Home is also spot-on. I can't recall a single joke that fell flat. It has the same goofy atmosphere as Homecoming, without taking away from the story. Batalon is still great as Peter's hilarious best friend Ned. His funny scenes as a confident nerd who gets coupled with Betty Brant (Angourie Rice) are funny and so delightful to watch. Gyllenhaal, as always, brings a layered performance as Mysterio, which leads to an interesting twist in the second half.
Far From Home may feel like a typical movie about teenagers dealing with teenager stuff who happen to do some super-heroing on the side, but the plot is well written enough to prevent the movie from being boring or generic. It's the kind of film that was made to make people just go and escape into this world and have fun. Highly recommended is that everyone view this film in Imax. It's gonna be worth your money.
