Sony Pictures ©2019 CTMG
Have you sufficiently recovered from the events in Avengers: Endgame? I hope so, because it’s time to check in on Peter Parker. Spider-Man: Far From Home picks up 8 months after the events in Endgame. Although you should have seen Endgame before heading to the theater, they did provide a bit of exposition in the form of a school television announcement. We now know that those who dusted during Thanos’ snap returned to earth the same as when they left. Those who remained continued to age. They also gently touched on the consequences of that “blip”, such as those who vanished finding themselves unexpectedly homeless. Those five post snap years had consequences that are likely to show up in future Marvel films.
Sony Pictures ©2019 CTMG
In the case of Peter Parker (Tom Holland), he just wants to go on his class trip to Europe, tell MJ (Zendaya) how he feels about her, and get over the death of Tony Stark. A teen vacation comedy, however, does not a Marvel film make. Enter the Elementals, four weather-themed forces set to destroy the earth, and Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a mysterious hero ready to defeat them.
Sony Pictures ©2019 CTMG
That class trip gets complicated when Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) shows up to solicit Spider-Man’s help with defeating the Elementals.
Sony Pictures ©2019 CTMG
Remaining a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is no longer an option when Peter’s friends are put at risk. He now has to battle dangerous forces, maintain his secret identity, and still find a way to let MJ know how he feels.
Sony Pictures ©2019 CTMG
In Far From Home, we get a villain who could have easily gone very wrong, but Marvel somehow managed to pull it off. That’s not to say that Mysterio was handled perfectly. The introduction of his motivation was clunky at best. That motivation was also surprisingly weak.
Sony Pictures ©2019 CTMG
Where Far From Home excels is in portrayal of the awkwardness of high school, and the conflicts that come from being both a superhero and a teenager. Peter Parker’s grief over Tony Stark is palpable, and Iron Man’s presence is there throughout the film. This gives some emotional depth to a film that still manages to deliver the humor you’d expect from a Spider-Man film. Did the film make me cry? No. Did I enjoy almost all of it? Absolutely. Did I laugh out loud more than once? You bet.
I’m relatively confident that fans of Homecoming will enjoy this film. The tone was similar and the characters (with a few exceptions that to enumerate would lead us into spoiler territory) are consistent. Far From Home is a better than solid entry into the Spider-Man franchise, and a great peek at what we can expect entering the next phase of films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Sony Pictures ©2019 CTMG
Spider-Man: Far From Home has a run time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, with a PG-13 rating for sci-fi action and violence, language and suggestive comments. As is typical for Marvel films, there’s plenty of action and fantasy violence, but nothing is particularly explicit or bloody. There are plenty of explosions and rubble, but not a lot human casualties. (At least not shown on-screen.) If you want to bring a younger Marvel fan to the movies, you’ve already heard most of the bad language in the film watching the trailers. There’s a moment with Peter in his underwear that’s mildly suggestive. Overall, this is standard MCU fare, and you can feel comfortable taking those under 13 to see Far From Home as long as you haven’t taken issue with their other films.
And we’re over a decade into the MCU and this still needs to be said. Stay put until the movie is over. Spider-Man: Far From Home contains a mid credit and an end credit scene. Both scenes hit on some pretty big future plot points, so they’re worth staying for. This is better than an ant playing the drums…I promise.
Spider-Man: Far From Home is in theaters now.