Spider-Man: Far From Home – Film Review

Spider-Man: Far From Home has a tough job being the first film after Avengers: Endgame so I’m happy to report that MCU fans will come away satisfied.

*Contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame*

Tom Holland returns as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, who goes on a trip to Europe with his high school, but his plans to woo MJ (Zendaya) are derailed by the emergence of a new threat – the Elementals – who show up in Venice and Prague. He doesn’t want to be the lead on the mission – he doesn’t believe he’s capable of being the next Iron Man – but Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) force him to work alongside new superhero Mysterio/Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), who’s not all he’s cracked up to be.

I don’t want to spoil anything but I will say that this film presents a different and refreshing kind of villain and the perfect one to follow up Endgame. After the evil of Thanos in the past movies, it would be hard to find a new threat menacing or challenging enough so it takes a different route. This means the final showdown was more interesting than usual because it brought us something different visually, not some crazy CGI monster vs superhero fight.

While the superhero action was good, I actually preferred the scenes where Holland was Peter. The high school/teenager stuff is where the film really excels. It is awkward and funny and the ensemble cast of fellow students – also including Ned (Jacob Batalon), Betty (Angourie Rice) and Flash (Tony Revolori) – are hilarious. I just cared for him more as Peter, wrestling with the responsibility of his powers, reluctant to be the next lead Avenger, and dealing with the loss of Tony Stark. His relationship with Happy (Jon Favreau) and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) was lovely to watch too.

Holland is the perfect Peter Parker. He is funny, he brings the quips and one-liners, but he also has heart and was quite emotional at times. He really makes you care for Peter. He has regular teenage worries but is also dealing with really heavy stuff. It’s so odd to see Gyllenhaal in superhero gear but he was awesome as Mysterio. His character is different and interesting. I also loved seeing Jackson once again as the no-nonsense Fury, while Zendaya has much more screen time and is suitably weird and awkward. MJ’s storyline with Parker was cute, as was Ned and Betty’s fun romance plot.

The locations are cool, the script is littered with jokes, it is visually stunning in places and the mid-credits reveal is very important going forward (there’s a post-credits one too), but I didn’t like it as much as Homecoming. I LOVED Homecoming and thought it was amazing, whereas Far From Home was just good, perhaps because it feels like a stepping stone between films? Regardless, I still enjoyed it a lot and MCU fans will come away satisfied.

In cinemas Tuesday 2nd July