Tom Holland returns as Spider-Man in the Avengers: Endgame *and* Spider-Man: Homecoming followup AND acts as a prequel to Spider-Man: I Need a Home! **AND** Venom 2: Carnage Boogaloo… ok those last two were fake 😉
Hey Everyone! This is it, the last stop of the Spider-Man review marathon! Here we have the latest installment in the MCU and Spidey franchises (with it being the highest grossing one ever for the ladder of the two) in Spider-Man: Far From Home. As always, I’m gonna put an exne (Is that an actual word? Pleas tell me it is…) on the plot summary and leave y’all (ew) with the IMDb link. So, it’s time to quote Mario because “Letsago!!!”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6320628/
YAYZERS!!! I’m so glad to end the marathon with yet another excellent version of Spider-Man onscreen. Just like what Sam Raimi did back in 2004 with Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man: Far From Home builds upon its predecessor in every which you could imagine so I mean, no DUH this be awesome! Welp, that about does it then, I’ll see you guys for next review!
…dang nabbit! I guess you’re still reading this then?! Huh, well… I should probably get to that whole “reviewing movies” bit, which is kinda’ my big shtick here! So, I suppose we start with the most Spider-Man character who be back for this movie (Cover you eyes non-movie seers… need to work on a better name for that: JK SIMMONS IS BACK AS J. JONAH JAMESON MO F-ERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And oh yeah, Tom Holland is still pretty spectacular here too! (Dare I say, ultimate?!?! …I iz sorry) Holland had already been doing a phenomenal job at embodying the character with every appearance, yet he somehow manages to elevate that to an 11. Every single time you see him onscreen, you don’t see an actor playing a role: you simples see Peter Parker trying to deal with the struggles of having to still be Spider-Man (or the Illustrious Night-Monkey!) during his European vacation. So yeah, Holland does everything in his power to make this version of Peter Parker at a bizarre turning point in his life as believable as possible, which turned out VERY well in my opinion. Heck, there’s even a couple moments where I see some truly Oscar-worthy acting with how far his emotional range can spread in a matter of seconds and when you combine that with the amount of charisma Holland has, it’s hard to take your eyes off him… in the good way mean.
Weird right??? A movie called Spider-Man: Far From Home‘s best strength just so turns out to be the title character. Granted, that DEFINITELY isn’t to say that he is the only awesome part of this movie. In fact, I’d say that Holland has that same quality that Tobey Maguire had with his *two* great performances, in how he literally has great chemistry with just about everyone who he comes across onscreen. Not the least of which would be his actual love interest in the movie: Zendaya as MJ. Zendaya already does a great job on their own at owning the quirky realism of this version of MJ, on top of the pitch perfect essence of an awkward introvert who doesn’t really know to together. When together with Holland, they actually do make for a very cute and compelling pair.
Now granted, if you compare them to say, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in their Spidey movies, it may not be the biggest romance you have ever seen. But that is also kind of the point, since this is a high school romance movie and that awkwardness of not knowing how to really express your romantic interests makes it work. (kinda like that’s how it was intended in the first place, not that I would know from experience of course………. MOVING ON!) There;s everyone else who came back from Homecoming and like before, nobody ever misses a beat. And then, there is, Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio.
NOW FOR ANYONE WHO HAS NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE, I AM GOING TO BE DELVING INTO SOME MASSIVE-ish SPOILERS IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO IN FRESH, THEN PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SKIP IT!!!
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***You’re still here, ok, lets talk about how awesome Mysterio in this movie! I guess he does bring a weird little issue (that can be true of a lot of other adaptions from source material) is that if you know even the slightest bits of Spider-Man lore when it comes to Mysterio, then the twist is well… not really a twist. With that being said, I still absolutely love what Jake Gyllenhaal does in bringing this character to the big screen. His energy is purely magnetic from his “portrayal” of the hero of an alternate dimension fighting another (conveniently) world-ending threat, right into the reveal where he pulls out the rug of his loony passion to fake the next Iron-Man. It is just fantastic! I never knew how they would translate his illusions to the big-screen and the way they did it with drones was extremely well-done (The scene where he uses his illusions to fend off Peter is flat-out the best and most inventive scene in the movie by far!). On top of that, they also managed to include a TON of brilliant commentary wrapped around the essence of Mysterio whether it be the obvious knock on big-blockbuster filmmaking all the way down to the depths of fake news. Everything they did with Mysterio, including how they incorporated it into Peter’s journey, was just awesome. I may ever-so slightly prefer Michael Keaton as the Vulture from Homecoming (and when I say slight, I mean the smallest teense you could ever see with the world’s largest microscope), but Gyllenhaal still did excellent work living up to the the lengths of Keaton and Molina.***
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Alright, are all the non-spoilerites back??? Good, great, here we go! All of the good-will that came from how much fun Homecoming was back here and ramped up a notch. The blend between the fun of the John Hughes-esc high school is blended near-perfectly against the stakes of supeheroism. The action here has seen an upgrade with a much more fast and fluid nature that keeps you on your toes, but never comes close to becoming “too big for its own” good (which oddly makes it more exciting). Jon Watts’ direction has also seen a massive step-up in how well he is able to capture that action, the insane visuals, the light-hearted high school fun, and interesting character studies all into one seamless package. Above all else, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers returned with a great script that encapsulates so many fun and clever ideas, intermixed with everything that you need to make Peter’s journey make for a great Spider-Man story overall (alright, that “need to make this make” sounded less hoaky in my head- I swear!).
Does all of that awesomely cinematic Spider-Man quality sound familiar to you? If it does then yup, you have also seen Spider-Man 2 (or have read my review on that- plug plug PLUG! ;)) and know all of its excellent qualities as well. Trust me, they are DEFINITELY not the same movie, but both of them are excellent Spider-Man movies and are always neck-in-neck for my heart of the best live-action Spidey.
Of course, there are some minor gripes that I have, so let’s just get those over with real quick. Again, there is that “kinda issue” involving knowledge of a certain character giving the viewer an automatic hint towards where the plot is going. As a part of that, the movie does have some more defined shifts in focus that will definitely bother some. For me personally, the different focuses in of themselves were not annoying; rather, the moments when it shift are definitely noticeable and are slightly jarring. Also, there are some clear and noticeable moments/elements (No I did not mean elements as a pun- shut up!) to this movie that are just, bizarre… that’s about it though!
Spider-Man: Far From Home is just an awesome good-time that I know I can rewatch endlessly, is high up in the rakings of my favorite MCU and Spidey flicks, yet somehow it only place around the 12 to 13 mark of my overall best for 2019. Honestly, when a movie this great (with *clearly* no Spider-biases on my part… clearly…) is that low in the ‘Best Of’, then I think that’s pretty telling of how AMAZING 2019 was for cinema. All aboard the Tom Holland Spidey 3 hype train!!! …whenever that happens… and assuming that Sony doesn’t get cocky again (should’ve listened to Han!) and include something on the level of Emo Peter dancing or Electro dubstep… PWWWWWEEEEEEAAAAASE!!!
Rating: 9.5/10 and I loved it!
Welp, that’s it! I have reviewed every single Spider-Man movie to date for my first-ever review marathon. To anyone who has read of all of these posts, or even just one, my thans could not be greater! …than my responsibility!
…anyway, if anyone is interested in a review of Venom as a part of this to help to extend this little Spidey escapade, then please let me know (god help me if you do)! Otherwise, I plan on getting to at least one of the several new releases from the past couple weeks (such as Da 5 Bloods, The King of Staten Island, or huh… that Artemis Fowel movie… *unenthusiastic* yay!), along with a brief reaction to upcoming reveal of the Arms-fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. “See, I TOLD y’alls that I liked more than just pure movie stuff- there’s that ‘& Other Nerdy Stuff’ tagline for a reason!”
And once again, this goes beyond saying at this point, but #BlackLivesMatter
Anywhooesers, if you enjoyed this review, the Spider-Man review marathon, or just like the fact that we are officially in summertime (despite uh… everything else going on… you know), then please feel free to let me know in the comments below. And as always, I think you should all know who I am at this point…
I’m Alex, Your Friendly Neighborhood Film Nerd!!! (And for the last time, “WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!)
Spinning the Cineweb 