Spider-Man Is Far, Far From Home

Spider-Man: Far from Home: Rated “PG-13“ (2 hours, 9 Minutes)

Starring: Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau

Director: Jon Watts

So, here we are, the Avengers’ Infinity War with Thanos has finally reached its Endgame. (SPOILER ALERT!) The good guys won, but at such a high cost (we won’t delineate them here, but only because we know there are a couple of you who still haven’t seen the second part of that epoch — we’re looking at you, Maggie!). Hence, it is all over, save for the tears (and there are plenty of them). Still, as the decade of Marvel films has reached its conclusion, it is this film that can be considered a coda for those 22 extraordinary films.

Needless to say, it is only right that the era of Marvel’s “Avenger Family” of films that began with Iron Man end with Spider-Man (especially when you consider that it was Sam Rami’s trilogy of Spider-Man films beginning in 2002 that truly put Marvel Films squarely on the map. Yes, yes we know that X-Men debuted two years earlier in 2000, but given that comicbook superhero films were considered all but dead as the ‘90s closed out, Marvel all but completely gave away the rights to X-Men to Fox just to get it made, and it wasn’t until Rami’s Spider-Man was released that gave the company any leverage at all in getting its own studio launched with Iron Man.)

Unavoidable aside, some spoilers to Endgame will unfortunately be touched upon in this review but only in as a peripheral a fashion as possible because of the way Far from Home plays out. You have been warned.

Thus, we now have Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) as the reluctant heir-apparent to the legacy of Tony Stark/Iron Man, only Peter is still a 15-year-old high school student, and frankly, wants to enjoy being a 15-year-old high school student. So, when his class is slated to spend the Summer tooling around Europe for a couple of weeks, he — very understandably — chooses (unwisely, perhaps) to “ghost” S.H.I.E.L.D. superspy, Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) who has been repeatedly calling him, and head out with his class

Peter Parker’s world has changed quite a bit since the events of Avengers: Endgame. and with everyone asking who’s going to be the next Iron Man, he can’t help but think about his father-figure and mentor, Tony Stark. Which needless to say is only compounded by images of Stark and Iron Man posted wherever he goes. So, being all of 15, he does what any love-struck teen does, Peter ignores Fury’s calls, and heads out on an adventure to Europe with his schoolmates where he plans on telling MJ how he feels about her.

As can be expected, everything turns upside down with the arrival of creatures called the Elementals and Quentin Beck (A.K.A. Mysterio), the one man who claims that he — and he alone — can stop them. Not being one to be ignored, Fury catches up with Peter when the class arrives in Venice, Italy for their first leg of their trip, and gets Spidey to partner up with Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) who claims to be from an alternate Earth which was destroyed by the Elementals, to take down the creatures before they harm anyone else. But Peter doesn’t really feel that he is prepared to step up as Tony’s surrogate and become a “replacement” Avenger, putting the world’s needs before his own self, so he declines and returns to his classmates.

Once again, Fury has other plans, and has one of his agents take over as driver and gets the trip re-routed to Berlin from Paris (where it was originally slated to go) so as to divert Peter to the location of the next presumed appearances of an Elemental. While on the road Fury has another agent hand over Tony’s glasses which connects Peter to EDITH (voiced by Dawn Michelle King), the AI network that connects Peter to all of Tony’s tech. Instead of empowering Peter and lifting him up to Tony’s level, EDITH (“Even Dead, I'm The Hero” One last joke from Tony) Peter is still, understandably, something of the teen klutz.

As the rest of the film progresses we see the Peter Parker with whom this writer grew up reading in the comics — a well-meaning, but often-times tripping over his own good intentions hero, who eventually rises above his own foibles to save the day (seriously kids, no spoiler there). Holland ideally embodies the teen Peter coming into his own as a heroic icon and Full-fledged Avenger who is still beset with the issues, concerns, and daily life of a “normal” teen.

The film also gave us a boatload of cool eye-candy, and Easter Eggs (Mysterio, Earth 616, the Elementals, and so much more). We are constantly amazed how well these MCU films are, and the attention to the smallest of details that the producers put into them. Clearly the folks surrounding the films have not only read (and enjoyed) the comics on which they are based, but they have an overall, extended master plan on how all the films will eventually fit in with each other as they eventually become produced.

Nothing is haphazard, and all of it fits neatly together. A true delight to someone like yours truly who has spent a lifetime reading the comics upon which the films are based. So, yeah, we highly recommend this film and look forward to Phase 4 of the MCU.

Oh, and before we forget, you should sit through all the credits of this film, as there are two (yes, two!) post film end-credit clips. One mid-credits, and a second one at the end of the credits that will surely blow some folks minds. Enjoy, effendi.