#MovieMonday: Spider-Man: Far From Home: A Solid Four Out Of Five

In April 2018, our hearts broke.

Left with one hell of a cliffhanger, we were forced to wait till 24 April 2019.

Endgame.

Where once again, our hearts broke. Into 3,000 fragments.

But here’s the thing; while the aforementioned films might have served as a form of closure to Marvel’s ‘wretched’ phase 3, they’re ultimately not. No, instead, the honour would belong to Spider-Man: Far From Home…

A film that diverts somewhat from the cruel wretchedness of Phase 3, and at the same time leaves fans pining for the next phase like ‘JUST GIMME IT ALREADY’.

#MovieMonday: Spider-Man: Far From Home 

Taking place after the events of Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home follows our grieving teen hero, Peter Parker/ Spider-Man, as he tries to shelve the haunting image of his dead mentor aside with a much-needed vacation overseas.

But hey you don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s a synopsis of the movie, courtesy of everyone’s favourite movie app:

Peter Parker returns in Spider-Man™: Far From Home, the next chapter of the Spider-Man™: Homecoming series! Our friendly neighbourhood Super Hero decides to join his best friends Ned, MJ, and the rest of the gang on a European vacation. However, Peter’s plan to leave super heroics behind for a few weeks are quickly scrapped when he begrudgingly agrees to help Nick Fury uncover the mystery of several elemental creature attacks, creating havoc across the continent!

Directed by Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming), the 2 h 9 min Fantasy/Sci-fi teen superhero flick was created against a budget of 160 million USD, and first premiered in Hollywood on 26 June 2019 before getting a worldwide release on 2 July 2019.

You can view the official trailer here:

Review wise, the film’s nothing short of a critic’s favourite, garnering rave scores and ratings across the board.

It’s also worth mentioning that the film has already grossed $580 million worldwide, even though it hasn’t even been a week since the film premiered in theatres.

But the question begets;

Is the film truly as dazzling as its critics and box office figures suggest?

Well, let’s find out.

Movie Review

First things first, if you step into the cinemas expecting to relive all the blood-filled angst and glory of Endgame, here’s a piece of advice: Don’t.

Now do not be mistaken; I’m not saying that Spider-Man: Far From Home pales so much in comparison to Endgame, that you’ll be better off not expecting much.

Not really.

Rather, it’s because the Spider-Man sequel, at its very core, is not just about saving the Earth no matter what it takes.

It’s also about a hormonal teen’s constant struggles; with authoritative figures, girls and his powers alike.

That’s right; Spider-Man: Far From Home is more of a teen rom-com than a gritty sobfest, so don’t go expecting Endgame feels to carry over when you step into the theatre.

That’s a mistake I made, and I’m now regretting that. A lot.

Erm… so it’s a teenage rom-com?

Well, to list it as a pure teenage rom-com would be kind of an exaggeration. Rather, I’ll say that it’s more of a Marvel superhero movie…

Done in the vein of a teenage rom-com.

So on one hand, you get this conflicted superhero who just wants to get away from life for a little bit and at the same time fulfil some hormonal fantasies of his. However, a certain guy with an eye patch appears with a huge responsibility in tow, and again Peter’s forced to confront the eternal Spider-Man dilemma:

With great power, comes great responsibility.

Does he actually give up his hormones in favour of the greater good, though? Well, you just gotta watch to find out.

Outstanding aspect wise, I’ll have to say that Spider-Man: Far From Home did its visual effects well.

Really well.

While the first half of the film might be kinda slow (and kinda sparing in the VFX department), the second half seems to rev up the engine, go full throttle and just break every single limit there was on this planet. With visual effects and cinematography comparable to Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Far From Home knew what it wanted…

And it did what it has to.

Also, the pacing of the story is generally alright, even though the film has quite a chunk of events packed in there. Every key event flowed pretty smoothly, and in that regard, I applaud the scripting and editing team for a job well done.

And of course, props to the terrific performances by the cast, especially the primary leads Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal. Tom, in particular, was so convincing in his portrayal that I almost thought some conversations way too awkward to be real, but then that’s probably the point of it all. Similarly, Jake Gyllenhaal gives an amazing performance as Mysterio and was nothing short of phenomenal. He’ll probably do a great job at being Two-Face in the DC universe too, but that’s just food for thought.

But of course… it’s not all good

It’s tough finding the perfect film with no flaws whatsoever, but I would say that Spider-Man: Far From Home keeps the negative things down to a minimum.

For starters, the first half is admittedly pretty slow, and you kind of get the feeling that you don’t know where the plot’s going.

That slight, however, gets eased up by the second half.

And for seconds, the film just doesn’t seem to be the ideal closure to Phase 3, considering what has been going on in the Universe prior to this. Everything seems to be a running gag in the movie, and hate me if you will but it just kinda takes away from everything the Avengers have been working towards the entire time.

Though of course, as I mentioned earlier on, step into the cinemas with a fresh, open-minded mind…

And you probably won’t go through the conflicts I had going on in my own mind.

And so… should you catch it?

For the hardcore Marvel and Spider-Man fans out there, the answer’s a given.

Did you even need my review to get started?

But for the more lax movie-goers who aren’t quite so caught up in the Marvel craze, I would say…

Catch it if you can take slapstick jokes and a movie that’s essentially a teen rom-com in disguise;

Steer away if you value logicality, pure seriousness and a mournful picture of everything Tony Stark represented.

Rating: 4/5

Interesting aspect: Make sure to stick around for both after-credits scenes. The first one will pave the way for the future of the Spiderverse, while the second one will make you rethink the whole movie.