‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ Review

As the follow-up movie to Avengers: Endgame – only the second biggest blockbuster in history – Spider-Man: Far From Home faced a tall task. But given the success of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and how popular Tom Holland is as the current incarnation of everyone’s favorite web-slinger, there wasn’t much doubt that Far From Home would be up to the task. And that faith proves well-placed, as Far From Home picks up the mantle confidently, and even exceeds Homecoming in doing so.

Given that this is the first movie in the post re-Snap world, fans were eagerly awaiting some sort of explanation as to how the world moved on after billions of people suddenly reappeared after vanishing five years prior. And while it wouldn’t necessarily be an outright spoiler to go into more detail here, it’s definitely more fun to experience it with no prior knowledge. But worry not, as director Jon Watts handles it with the deft touch and humor that you expect of him.

Luckily Far From Home doesn’t spend too much time and energy on this aspect. It needed to be addressed, but it’s not the focus of the movie (though there are a few worthwhile callbacks sprinkled in) so to labor around this event would have bogged down the film. It cuts to the chase and sets up a school trip to Europe, where Peter has grand plans to finally tell MJ (Zendaya) how he feels about her. But of course things can’t go as planned. None other than Nick Fury hijacks the trip, as he recruits Peter to help fight the Elementals, a massive threat from another version of Earth. Assisting them is mysterious newcomer Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), who fought against (and lost to) the Elementals on his world, resulting in its destruction.

And that’s all I can say about the plot without diving into spoilers. There are some fun twists and turns. Some of those you will see coming, but how they’re revealed and where the story goes from those points on makes up for any lack of shock value. But as great as all that is, the characters are where Far From Home truly shines.

It’s not often that you praise an MCU movie for its acting, at least not past maybe one or two characters. But here? Everyone knocks it out of the park. Starting at the top, Holland shows off impressive range and brings surprising depth to Peter. Given the fact that he’s a superhero, it might be easy to forget that he’s still just a teenager. So on top of the standard superhero fare, he has normal teenage life to deal. And let’s not forget that he’s still processing the death of Tony Stark, his mentor and father-figure.

There’s one particular scene where that depth is fully on display, and I’m not going to lie, I got a little choked up. Spider-Man has always been one of the more fun superheroes, and that’s still true here. But any time you can add this kind of emotional component too, it just makes everything that much better.

As counterpart to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Jake Gyllenhaal is equally impressive as Beck/Mysterio. For some reason Gyllenhaal doesn’t seem to get mentioned as often as he should when the subject of best working actors comes up. He’s as talented as they come, and even here in a supporting role in a comic book movie, that talent is on full display. While unlikely, a Best Supporting Actor nomination would be totally deserved.

Holland and Gyllenhaal are the heavy hitters, but a great supporting cast can really make a movie hum. And the studio managed to stack Far From Home with a loaded supporting cast. Jacob Batalon is back as Ned, Peter’s best friend. Their chemistry is still strong as ever and they’re great in every scene together. Ned also has a love interest this time around, in classmate Betty Brant (Angouri Rice). Their relationship is cringey at times, but in an endearing way, that only Ned could provide. Simply put, Ned’s the best.

Martin Starr returns as Mr. Harrington, one of the teacher chaperones. He’s every bit the piece of comic relief as in Homecoming, just with more screen time this time around. J.B. Smoove joins the cast as Mr. Dell, the other chaperone. Smoove’s character is very hit-or-miss. His jokes will likely either all land or all miss for you. Luckily for me, they landed.

And I have to give a special shout out to Zendaya. She has an expanded role and absolutely crushes it. Her MJ more than just “that girl Peter likes” and she’s not the stereotypical damsel in distress. She’s given her own (quirky but lovable) personality, she has agency. I’m really excited for where they can take her character.

But as great as Zendaya is here, why I wanted to mention her specifically is because of her other role, that of Rue in HBO’s Euphoria, one of the wildest shows you’ll ever see. Rue is a 17-year old recovering drug addict, trying to adjust to life back home from rehab. MJ and Rue are similarly aged, but could not be more different. And Zendaya plays both completely convincingly. Her work as Rue is some of the best acting of the year, TV, movie, or otherwise. She is putting her talents on full display and everyone better take notice. Only 22, I cannot wait to see where her career goes.

Lastly, the mid-credits scene. No, of course I’m not going to spoil it. But just know that any hype you’ve seen about it is warranted. It’s not like the Thanos reveal, where mostly only comic book fans immediately knew the significance of that moment. This one slaps you in the face with an awesome “Oh sh*t!” moment.

One of the themes of Far From Home is the question of whether or not Peter is going to be the next Tony Stark, and that’s a meta question as well. Tony and Cap (at least the Chris Evans/Steve Rogers version) are dead and done, respectively. So who is going to anchor the MCU moving forward? Black Panther should be featured, but Holland’s Parker is being pushed as the new “the guy” for the MCU. And after all he’s shown us so far, he (meaning both Tom Holland the actor and Peter Parker/Spider-Man the character) is up to the challenge. The MCU is in safe hands.

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Matt Hambidge