Spider-Man: Far From Home: Review

After the box-office smash of Avengers: Endgame, it’s fair to say that whichever Marvel film came next would have a bit of a mountain to climb. The challenge falls to Spider-Man, who is off on a globe-trotting adventure in Far From Home, the climax of Marvel’s Phase Three. It goes out on a fun picture with an enjoyable cast, even if it lacks a degree of menace and story focus along the way.

It’s the cast that make this adventure such a fun one

It’s eight months after the events of Endgame, and Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is still struggling with the loss of his friend and mentor Tony Stark. His school organises a field trip to Europe, where Parker plans to confess his feelings for classmate MJ (Zendaya) and avoid heroics. But his intentions are shifted when he is tracked down by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who needs him to fight elemental threats from another dimension. Alongside him is another new hero recruited by Fury, the master of illusions Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) – but, as the duo take on the creatures throughout Europe, Parker starts to realise that there may be more going on that meets the eye.

It’s the cast that make this adventure such a fun one. Holland once again captures that breezy teenage charm and the innate sense of heroism that makes Spider-Man such an enjoyable character. In the absence of Downey Jr., he gets to play off both L. Jackson’s Fury – gruff as ever – and Gyllenhaal’s cool mentor-esque hero. As the film goes on, he gets to be increasingly manic and hammy, and it’s fantastic to watch. The snarky nature of Zendaya’s MJ is heavily cut down this time round too, and it makes her scenes with Holland feel genuinely sweet. Even if Far From Home has some faults, it nails the romance aspect beautifully.

The character drama is really good, but the superhero elements lack the same punch

There’s a story event at the end of the second act that’ll come as a surprise if you’ve never read a Spider-Man comic (or, indeed, ever seen a movie before), delivered in a long expository speech that feels like a long expository speech, and it’s this scene that highlights the major issue with this film. The character drama is really good, but the superhero elements lack the same punch – the threat isn’t too threatening and, in comparison to Michael Keaton’s Vulture in Homecoming, it feels like a step down (he was also incredibly developed, something which cannot be said of the villainy here).

There’s a lot going on in this film – high-school drama, teen romance, Parker’s relationships with the adults in his life, answering leftover Endgame questions – and the superhero elements are under-served because of this. You can also find some hints linking to the issue of fake news, but it’s never really developed enough to be a cogent plot angle in itself (although it does lead to a fantastic mid-credits scene, which is unabashedly fan-service but no less brilliant for it).

Where it struggles is as a superhero film, or even in trying to figure out exactly where it wants to focus, and it does result in a muddled experience

On the whole, though, the pieces making up Far From Home work well. Michael Giacchino returns as composer, amping-up the heroism of his Spider-Man theme and providing a synth number that suits Mysterio perfectly. There are lots of laughs, even despite a reduced role for Jacob Batalan as Peter’s best friend Ned Leeds, and it does mostly succeed at hinting at the future of the MCU (even if, almost to its detriment, it cannot let the Iron Man franchise go). It also looks particularly scenic, although it tends towards the Marvel issue of heavily-utilised and somewhat clunky CGI effects at points.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a very enjoyable and fun film, one which benefits greatly from a strong ensemble cast. Where it struggles is as a superhero film, or even in trying to figure out exactly where it wants to focus, and it does result in a muddled experience if you think about it too much. It showcases both the best (the characters and their heart) and the worst (generic CGI villainy; a somewhat confused story) of the MCU.