THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Although Avengers: Endgame could have been the perfect finale for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, producer Kevin Feige knew that there were more stories to tell in the colossal franchise. So before Phase 4 officially began during the 2020s, Phase 3 concluded with the most shocking epilogue for the Infinity Saga.
PLOT
Spider-Man: Far From Home takes place months after ‘The Blip’, whereas The Avengers brought back half of the universe that Thanos wiped from existence five years prior. The result were not only did Blip victims remain un-aged, but there were sacrifices of the lives of a few heroes: Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, The Vision and allegedly Steve Rogers. Peter Parker, another Blip victim, is going to a trip to Europe with his science class and wants to express his newfound feeling for Michelle Jones aka MJ. As the superhero Spider-Man, the public questions if he up to lead the Avengers like Iron Man did. This creates peer pressure for him as he deeply misses his mentor. Although he wants to take a break of his responsibility, Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) packs one of his suits anyway. The class first stop at Venice, Italy, where Peter buys a necklace, hoping to impress MJ. The fun ends when a creature made up of water attacks. However, it is quickly destroyed by a new masked figure with mystical abilities that Pete’s classmates would name ‘Mysterio’. At night, Parker would encounter Nick Fury, who he's been avoiding since before leaving NY. The former SHIELD Director reveals that what happened in Venice is not new as there were two similar events he discovered. One he saw firsthand came from the ground and there were reports of a cyclone with a face. He takes him to his hideout and gives him high tech glasses that belonged to Stark named 'EDITH' (Dawn Michelle King). Spider-Man would meet his associates Dimitri (Numan Acar) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), along with Mysterio himself whose real name is Quentin Beck. Beck claims that he came from another universe as did the figures that have been attacking the world. These figures are known as 'Elementals' due to each having abilities based on primary elements of the planet. Since Mysterio has destroyed the other three, there is only one left, the Fire elemental. Fury insists Spider-Man to help Mysterio destroy it because other heroes are unavailable. To ensure his involvement, he hijacks his vacation by sending them to Prague, where the last Elemental is set to strike. At a pit stop, classmate Brad Davis (Remy Hii) walks in on Peter changing in front of a woman, unbeknownst that he is Spider-Man getting a new suit and the woman is aligned with Fury. Because he likes MJ too, he intends to show a picture to her of what happened. But Peter uses EDITH to hijack the phone and delete it. Fury also sets up the classmates to go to an opera, in order to avoid the conflict that will occur at the city's carnival. Peter does sneak out but MJ, Ned and Betty Brandt follow to enjoy the carnival. When it arrives, Spider-Man does save civilians while Mysterio destroys the monster that took his family. Despite success, Fury does not think that the young hero is stepping up to the plate as a hero. Because of the continuing pressure and desire to be stress free, Parker gives Beck EDITH, thinking that Stark passed it to him to choose one worthy of succeeding Iron Man. Just as he leaves, it is revealed that the new hero is no hero at all. Beck is a fraud as he is not from another universe and the Elementals are not real. Everything that was shown in public were the use of hologram projectors and all the damage was caused by drones. Beck was an employee of Stark Industries when first creating the advanced projectors, but was fired by Stark himself when he found him unstable. Out of spite, he aligned with other disgruntled former employees, including William Ginter Riva (Peter Billingsley), a former acquaintance of Obadiah Stane, to go forward with the masquerade of a superhero. Having EDITH is integral for him because with it, he can increase the scale of his illusions and fraudulently become a superhero. Before the class returns home early due to the conflict they've encountered, Peter asks MJ out to a walk in order to finally share how he feels. Before he could say so, she claims how she is aware that he is Spider-Man due to how he is always absent during serious events. She shows him the projector that he took down at the carnival, unaware of what it is. When it goes off, the projection plays and Peter understands the lies he was told and the mistake he made. He does admit to MJ who he is and has her and Ned take cover for him, saying that he's seeing relatives in Berlin when he's actually going to Berlin to warn Fury of Beck. Little did he expect that he would be trapped by Mysterio as he puts him through multiple illusions to get him to confess on who he shared the truth to. Once he spills it, Mysterio gets him hit by a train that takes him all the way to a Netherlands prison. When he wakes up and discovers where he is, he calls Happy Hogan to pick him up. When he tells him what's happened, he breaks down because of the constant failure and not understanding why Stark picked him as his successor. Hogan gives an answer by saying he picked him because he knew he would be the hero he needed to be. Once this cheers him up, Parker builds a new suit and heads to London where his classmates are. They are only there because Beck caused his own hijack by sending them there. His next illusion is to form a fusion of the Elementals that only he can stop. When Hogan warns Fury, he catches on that things aren't what they seem. Spider-Man makes his move by passing through the illusion/drones to get to Beck. As that happens, MJ, Ned, Betty and Flash Thompson are watched over by Hogan when the drones attack the city. As they hide in a medieval tower, Spider-Man masters his senses dubbed 'Peter Tingle' to overcome the drones. When Beck is shot in the crossfire, the web slinger gets EDITH and destroys the remaining drones. MJ goes to find Peter and when she does so at the bridge where Beck hid over, they both confess their mutual feelings towards each other and share their first kiss. Once returning to NY, they have their first date whereas Peter takes her for a swing. The date ends during the mid credits scene where TheDailyBugle.net reveals a video anonymously sent to them showing doctored footage of the London incident, Mysterio framing Spider-Man for it and revealing his identity to the world. The film ends with a post credit scene revealing that Skrulls Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) and Soren (Sharon Blynn) were posing as Fury and Hill the whole film. While the whereabouts of the real Hill are unknown, the real Fury is residing in a new spaceship getting built by Talos' Skrull army.
THOUGHTS
I remember getting the chance to see this in theaters when it first came out in 2019, and the last thing I can remember was that this film was a ball. Director Jon Watts had a lot of weight to carry this time around and I think he delivered again. This film may not be better than what we got from Homecoming but it is definitely gonna be as memorable due to being more impactful. Even after concluding an 11 year arc, we're still invested here with what's at hand and it doesn't look like slowing down will ever happen. With more unique action sequences, moments where either laughing or dropping your jaws over, it was hard to not like this film. It's clear that we wouldn't be invested with the 23rd film in the franchise had Tom Holland not delivered another great outing of the iconic superhero. While I can't say this is his best because this interpretation of the character has an arc that is far from being concluded, it remains memorable because we see the character at his most vulnerable. He has peer pressure on living up to big expectations, but wants to take a step back so he can grieve. He wants to enjoy his youthful life like Tony once insisted, but must now accept that superheroes don't exactly take breaks as much as they'd want to. Once he realizes that being your own hero is more important than people's expectations, the weight on him is released and he is more focused on his responsibilities. Besides that, another aspiring aspect about him is how even when his go to weapons are not useful, he improvises and doesn't give up. So when he grabs stuff from the bridge to defend himself from the bridge and masters the Peter Tingle to stop Mysterio, it was probably the most definitive Spider-Man moment of this film, on par to the rubble scene from Homecoming. Even though Holland is playing the titular lead, that does not mean the rest of the ensemble don't keep things interesting. Because MJ is the new love interest, I think Zendaya stepped it up with this role. She caught my eye this time because I finally get her. Once she admits she has feelings for Peter as he did for her, it's clear that her observance and dry humor is an act of being shy. She likes being brutally honest because doesn't know how to communicate like he does and her observance created her feelings toward the protagonist. Although I would've not minded bringing back Liz, this relationship is convincing because it doesn't feel one sided. I enjoyed Jon Favreau a lot here returning as Happy Hogan because of how he gives Parker the advice he needed. The funniest moment he had besides having romantic feelings for Aunt May is how he tries to do a shield toss like Captain America and fails horribly. I mean that one gets a big laugh out of me every time. Jacob Batalon ain't here as much as before, but he still found a way to be a hilarious highlight. Seeing how quick he connects with Angourice Rice's Betty Brandt is just as funny as the May & Hogan fling. Samuel L Jackson gave an interesting perspective of Nick Fury, because it's Talos pretending to be him. The hints are hard to catch so when you catch them, it's easy to see how he is slightly trying too hard to be tough, which is the point. It was a great twist that he wasn't involved at all because this could be a clever way to build up Secret Invasion. I was annoyed on how Tony Revolori had an over the top approach of Flash Thompson but it works here. The reason is how there is a reason to it: It seems that his parents are mostly absent in his life for whatever reason. The proof is not only does his valet inform him his mother ain't coming to pick him up, but also another scene. When Peter first uses EDITH, he looks through everyone's phone and I briefly spotted Thompson texting his mother, sounding worried because he hasn't heard from her in a while. This revelation is pretty shocking and because of this, he chooses to take out his anger on Parker. And the irony how unaware he is of picking on someone he idolizes makes the dynamic pretty funny. As if Martin Starr wasn't enough as a goofy teacher playing Mr Harrington, JB Smoove's stirred up the pot as Mr Dell and their time together kept the comedic pace intact. Smoove's presence is arguably funnier due to the fact that he is playing the same character from an Audi commercial he did for Homecoming, making a commercial canon. Jake Gyllenhaal is the true scene stealer of this film as the villainous Mysterio. Because of reading the material as a kid, I did see the twist coming but despite that, the actor does a great job convincing viewers the possibility of being heroic. Even though he gives Parker advice, this is only part of his manipulation and it worked. As if that wasn't enough, the big illusion is visually stunning and intense because it shows how far he'll go to get what he wants. Once the cat is out of the bag, he does prove Stark right on being an unhinged person. Even though he got himself killed, he got the last laugh on framing Spider-Man. His last words were 'People will believe anything' and he was right because the world fell for the Elementals and they are falling for the lie about Spider-Man. He was even smarter on namedropping Stark Tech in the video because it will ruin Stark's image. Because of all this, he is a villain that will be more memorable as the franchise progresses. Last but not least, I can't be the only one who lost my mind seeing JK Simmons return as J Jonah Jameson. He is irreplaceable and Kevin Feige knows it because no one could hate on Spider-Man better than this character played perfectly by a great actor. So the combination of Mysterio's last laugh and the return of an iconic character arguably make one of the best cliffhangers the franchise could ever provide. Although this is a good follow up, this movie still has problems of its own that don't make me like it more than the predecessor. First off, I know we need to be exposited about the Blip in the opening because that's important to know but why is that being discussed in the end of a school year? That sounds like something that should've been discussed at the beginning of a school year. If that is what happened and there was a time jump to the end of the year, that should be more clear. When Peter mistook AC/DC for Led Zeppelin, I was livid because for a guy who had multiple pop culture references, it's hard to believe he'd not know the difference between both bands. If this because of his concussion from the train, I'll let it slide. I'm already shook on the customs agent ignoring the suit but why would Aunt May leave it on top of his clothes. She should've hid it under the clothes and Peter wouldn't worry. I know we're supposed to get a gag on Peter knowing it was packed without his knowledge, but I feel like we could've gotten something smarter than this. Is it really possible that no one in Venice spotted Peter displaying his athleticism when the water Elemental showed up? I can believe that Ned saw him but Peter doesn't have a mask. Even if they're running for their lives, I don't believe someone wouldn't notice it in broad daylight. It is a cool easter egg how Flash Thompson reads a Buzzfeed page that the water elemental is supposed to be Morris Bench aka Hydro Man. But it's a shame that they're debunking the character's possibility of being a legit problem. He is a cool character and this is a wasted opportunity. I know we need a backstory for Mysterio's actions but did it have to be having a vendetta over Stark? That is the exact same villain arc as Vulture had for Homecoming and that is god damn lazy. I do admit that the flings between May & Happy and Ned & Betty were funny to see but it's a random way to have Spider-Man isolated. Lastly, what bothered me about May & Happy having a fling is how we still don't get acknowledgement over Uncle Ben. I know we're skipping the backstory because we've seen it in prior incarnations, but I ain't getting over this character until he's name dropped. Peter took his uncle's briefcase for a reason. He's either dead or he broke up with May and I ain't gonna shut up about it until I get confirmation on that case by the characters. However, I do think this movie can still be entertaining once ignoring said flaws. In short, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a follow up that holds up with the carried baggage and succeeds in keeping viewers invested with the future of the respected franchise. If you are curious to see where the future holds for the MCU after Endgame, watch this movie now.
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