Spider-Man: Far from Home
(B or 3/4 stars)
'Spider-Man: Far from Home' (directed by Jon Watts) is the 1st post-Avengers: Endgame film in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and, it works as both an epilogue to that gargantuan saga & as a bridge to future superhero movies. Following those events in Endgame where he helped the other superheroes defeat Thanos, 16 yr. old Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland, aces), is still grieving the death of his mentor, Tony Stark. Fortunately for Peter, all his friends - MJ (Zendaya), Ned (Jacob Batalon) & Ned's now-girlfriend Betty (Angourie Rice, so good in The Nice Guys) - & family (Marisa Tomei's Aunt May) were also obliterated by Thanos' "Snap" (now referred to as "The Blip"), so they've remained the same while others have aged 5 yrs.
This movie spends its first 20 min. showing the teens' 'new normal'. Just then, Peter - preparing for a fun class trip to Europe & hoping to woo MJ - gets a visit from Tony Stark's former head of security, Happy (Jon Favreau), who tells him that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Nick Fury (Sam L. Jackson), is looking for Peter to hone his skills & step-up as a superhero for further protection of the world. To that, there's a new bizarre threat facing us - 4 monsters known as Elementals (air, water, earth, fire) - that could destroy the planet from the inside out. And a mysterious superhero, Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), who's fought these monsters in an alternate universe version of Earth, warns them that the most dangerous of the monsters {fire} will arrive shortly.
Regardless of all this, wanting normalcy, Peter heads-off for Europe with his pals & teachers, but is quickly found by Nick Fury and, after seeing one of the monsters in action, Peter reluctantly answers the call to duty {now also armed with a special inheritance from the late Tony Stark: EDITH, $billion tech-embedded pair of sunglasses}. But all is not as it seems. After one fairly predictable revelation, Peter must contend with a new villain altogether and save the day ... all while hoping to get the guts to finally tell MJ his true feelings for her. Chaos ensues throughout NY, Venice, Prague & London.
So I was slightly underwhelmed by '... Far from Home', all while acknowledging great work by the actors & some enjoyable humor that is sprinkled throughout the 129 min. run time. Watching the film - which includes standard cinematography that fails to 'pop' - I realized that I was watching the cinematic version of 'comfort food'. Potato chips, ice cream, you name it. That's not a slam, per say. The Transformers & Fast & the Furious films have satiated many an audience member providing cinematic 'comfort food' for the masses -- and truly, this movie is better than those aforementioned. Still, the fact remains, while this one is harmless & gets the job done ... there's little that is surprising, unique or ingenious about these MCU films. And at one point I was kinda looking forward to it ending.
Enough negatives for now. I liked watching Peter's "am I the friendly neighborhood Spidey or the next Iron Man?" dilemma play-out. Peter craves normalcy, but knows he has responsibilities elsewhere, too. Tom Holland - who is almost distractingly adorable, haha - is excellent as our disarming, whip smart, but awkward, unsure-of-himself hero. Tobey Maguire is well-remembered as our original Spidey and, Andrew Garfield lent great thespian skills, but Tom Holland simply nails this character; body & soul. His natural charisma is off-the-charts. And his chemistry with Zendaya's MJ is as sweet as can be. Jake Gyllenhaal entices as the enigmatic Mysterio. And the rest of the cast excels, too; aided by wonderful one-liners, quips & zingers.
Weighing everything, I give 'Far from Home' a pass because it provides innocuous summer entertainment that contains uplifting strengths that override gnawing annoyances {exposition dumps} & messy "well, this is gonna happen now 'cause it can" plot points; not necessarily because they make sense or move the MCU forward in any insightful way. I also miss the coherent simplicity of a gadget-less Peter Parker from the movies of old. Now, everything has to be busier & grander in the Marvel Machine. But I digress once more. It's hard to be mad at a film with healthy dollops of adolescent angst, light-hearted banter, heartfelt moments & some clever doses of hologram/drone action {when it's not going overboard}. Just do better next time, filmmakers.
This movie spends its first 20 min. showing the teens' 'new normal'. Just then, Peter - preparing for a fun class trip to Europe & hoping to woo MJ - gets a visit from Tony Stark's former head of security, Happy (Jon Favreau), who tells him that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Nick Fury (Sam L. Jackson), is looking for Peter to hone his skills & step-up as a superhero for further protection of the world. To that, there's a new bizarre threat facing us - 4 monsters known as Elementals (air, water, earth, fire) - that could destroy the planet from the inside out. And a mysterious superhero, Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), who's fought these monsters in an alternate universe version of Earth, warns them that the most dangerous of the monsters {fire} will arrive shortly.
Regardless of all this, wanting normalcy, Peter heads-off for Europe with his pals & teachers, but is quickly found by Nick Fury and, after seeing one of the monsters in action, Peter reluctantly answers the call to duty {now also armed with a special inheritance from the late Tony Stark: EDITH, $billion tech-embedded pair of sunglasses}. But all is not as it seems. After one fairly predictable revelation, Peter must contend with a new villain altogether and save the day ... all while hoping to get the guts to finally tell MJ his true feelings for her. Chaos ensues throughout NY, Venice, Prague & London.
So I was slightly underwhelmed by '... Far from Home', all while acknowledging great work by the actors & some enjoyable humor that is sprinkled throughout the 129 min. run time. Watching the film - which includes standard cinematography that fails to 'pop' - I realized that I was watching the cinematic version of 'comfort food'. Potato chips, ice cream, you name it. That's not a slam, per say. The Transformers & Fast & the Furious films have satiated many an audience member providing cinematic 'comfort food' for the masses -- and truly, this movie is better than those aforementioned. Still, the fact remains, while this one is harmless & gets the job done ... there's little that is surprising, unique or ingenious about these MCU films. And at one point I was kinda looking forward to it ending.
Enough negatives for now. I liked watching Peter's "am I the friendly neighborhood Spidey or the next Iron Man?" dilemma play-out. Peter craves normalcy, but knows he has responsibilities elsewhere, too. Tom Holland - who is almost distractingly adorable, haha - is excellent as our disarming, whip smart, but awkward, unsure-of-himself hero. Tobey Maguire is well-remembered as our original Spidey and, Andrew Garfield lent great thespian skills, but Tom Holland simply nails this character; body & soul. His natural charisma is off-the-charts. And his chemistry with Zendaya's MJ is as sweet as can be. Jake Gyllenhaal entices as the enigmatic Mysterio. And the rest of the cast excels, too; aided by wonderful one-liners, quips & zingers.
Weighing everything, I give 'Far from Home' a pass because it provides innocuous summer entertainment that contains uplifting strengths that override gnawing annoyances {exposition dumps} & messy "well, this is gonna happen now 'cause it can" plot points; not necessarily because they make sense or move the MCU forward in any insightful way. I also miss the coherent simplicity of a gadget-less Peter Parker from the movies of old. Now, everything has to be busier & grander in the Marvel Machine. But I digress once more. It's hard to be mad at a film with healthy dollops of adolescent angst, light-hearted banter, heartfelt moments & some clever doses of hologram/drone action {when it's not going overboard}. Just do better next time, filmmakers.