Spider-Man: Far From Home

photo courtesy of ew.com

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

     Tom Holland stars in Spider-Man: Far From Home, the sequel to 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and the immediate follow-up to the MCU’s big showdown, Avengers: Endgame. The movie finds Spider-Man/Peter Parker on a vacation to Europe with his friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon). Peter just wants to enjoy his trip, but when a new threat emerges, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) calls him into action. Together with a new ally named Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), Spider-Man must stop the terrifying “Elementals” before they can consume the Earth.

     Spider-Man: Far From Home is another triumph for the collaboration between Disney’s Marvel Studios (who co-produced the movie) and Sony Pictures (who own the film rights to Spider-Man). It takes most of its cues from Homecoming, following the template that movie laid out, but it also raises the stakes, establishing Spider-Man in the MCU’s upper echelon.

photo courtesy of hollywoodreporter.com

     Like Homecoming, Far From Home stirs up the formula by ditching the familiar New York setting, this time dropping Spider-Man into several major European cities. The new locations give Spider-Man the chance to show off new skills and lend the movie an enjoyable vacation vibe, especially in the first half. Also like Homecoming, the movie invests substantial screen-time in its high school relationships, which is where Far From Home gets its levity, its humor, and most of its best moments. (It’s worth appreciating, by the way, that Far From Home inherits and expands Homecoming’s diverse cast of high school kids.)

     But where Homecoming had a relatively small, self-contained story, Far From Home is more ambitious, pitting Spider-Man against enemies with the power to cause significant, widespread destruction. In so doing, it transitions Spider-Man from what has essentially been a supporting role in the larger MCU into a much more substantial role, one that feels more fitting for a hero who (before 2012’s Avengers) was by far Marvel’s best-known, most popular hero. Accomplishing the transition falls to Tom Holland, who gives a rock-solid, emotional performance here.

photo courtesy of polygon.com

     Even with raised stakes, Far From Home’s script gets the fundamentals right. It preserves Homecoming’s lighthearted tone, and it weaves together the two threads of Spider-Man’s story with commendable craftmanship. And it ultimately includes complex and even challenging themes, though not all of them are developed with complete clarity.

     Visually, Spider-Man: Far From Home features some of the MCU’s most significant images in years. Although the CGI of Spider-Man himself leaves quite a bit to be desired in places, the movie makes up for it with a few downright spectacular sequences. Fans of Mysterio will understand how his famous knack for illusions might factor into some of Far From Home’s more impressive, semi-psychedelic moments. In any case, visual wizardry helps the movie pull off story elements that push the believability of Spider-Man’s tech-based world.

     FINAL VERDICT: With big blockbuster stakes and a charming high school story, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a superior Spider-Man movie.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, some language and brief suggestive comments.

TRAILER