After the events of Avengers: Endgame, there has been a lot of anticipation for what comes next for the MCU. Originally, we were led to believe that Endgame was the actual end of “The Infinity Saga” (i.e. Phase 3), but then we were told that Spider-man: Far From Home would be the actual end.
Spoiler-alert: Tony Stark dies in the end of Endgame. As Tony kinda sorta became a father figure to Peter Parker in Spider-man: Homecoming, and a big part of Endgame is how hard Tony took Peter’s death in Avengers: Infinity War, it made some sense that Far From Home would have to “tie up loose ends” for Peter (oh yeah, he comes back in Endgame…duh…) as he wrestles with a). the lack of Iron Man, b). the idea of him replacing Iron Man, and c). the fact that he was dead for 5 years and was then brought back to life…but still in high school.
The neat thing about the character of Peter Parker, from the very beginning when he was created by Stan Lee, he’s a relatable young person who is trying to deal with having super powers like any of us would. He isn’t “larger than life:” he’s “just like you and me.” So in many ways, it’s a fitting way to wrap up Phase 3 in seeing how the world is now, through the eyes of a young man who is still trying to find his place in this world.
This movie is set up where Peter and his friends go on a class science trip to Europe over the Summer, but of course, bad things happen and he has to put on his costume to deal with the threat. Nick Fury is back to try and explain to him that he has a responsibility to stand up and pick up where Iron Man and the other Avengers left off. At the same time, he just wants to be a kid and go on his trip! Jake Gyllenhaal shows up as Mysterio, so for a time, Peter figures that the weight can be lifted off his shoulders, allowing Mysterio to pick up the mantle and take care of saving lives until Peter is ready to step onto the global stage.
Of course, anyone who knows literally anything about comics knows that Mysterio is a bad guy, so eventually, Peter figures that out, has to step up, and saves the day.
Honestly, I was a little disappointed in this one. I enjoyed it for the most part, but there were more aspects than usual that left me wanting. For example, the Mysterio stuff looked cool (his power is to cast illusions…and honestly, the way they explained that for this movie without it just being straight-up magic was pretty good…), but there was so much CGI that it got distracting. I know there’s a lot of CG in these movies, but for some reason, this one looked overkill to me. Secondly, Peter is in love with MJ now, all the sudden. He had zero interest in her in the last movie and we haven’t seen her in other movies since, so why the sudden “I need to tell her how I feel?” It just didn’t feel earned with how the last movie was left. Lastly, this movie was pretty predictable. We knew Mysterio would be a bad guy, we knew Spider-man would save the day, yada, yada, yada. I know these MCU movies are probably predictable for many people anyway, but again, this one just seemed more by-the-numbers. Star Trek Into Darkness was also predictable because anyone who knows Star Trek knows that Khan is a bad guy, but they story took enough turns from the original Star Trek II that the viewer didn’t quite know how it would resolve.
Again, it was a fun ride. I definitely don’t regret seeing it. It had some funny moments, some good one-liners, the acting was great (Tom Holland is still an inspired choice to play Peter Parker), the set-up for future MCU movies was interesting (both post-credit scenes were actually pretty story heavy rather than throw-away funny scenes).
I just could have used more twists and turns along the way…