Review: Spider-Man: Far From Home

Spider-Man: Far From Home is the last film in what has been referred to as Marvel's Infinity Saga, those being the films that brought us from Iron Man up to here, just after Endgame. As you may expect, it takes place after Endgame (which means spoilers I guess, if you're one of the two people who hasn't seen it) and therefore is about Peter Parker trying to work out where Spider-Man fits in a universe in which Tony Stark has died. In the meantime though, he's being taken on a school trip across Europe, in which he is asked to help Nic Fury save assorted European cities from some weird elemental monsters, aided by Mysterio, a man from another multiverse with a mysteriously tragic past. From there, we go across your fairly standard Marvel movie beats although this time with the structure of a road trip/"vacation" movie, meaning it's just a pretty fun time all around. I will say that I was able to correctly predict a big... Let's say, moment from the film, just from the first trailer, although I confess that I made that based mainly on information I knew about characters from the comic books. You aren't watching this for that though, this isn't a Christopher Nolan film, you just want a plot to propel stuff along and on that front, Far From Home is doing better than your average blockbuster.

Like Homecoming before it, Far From Home has a large and wonderful cast of actors who do a huge amount of heavy lifting for the film. This time around, I really realised what a convincing job Tom Holland was doing in the lead role because having seen him charming and confident in countless interviews, I believed that I was watching a nervous nerd. Despite that, he is a charming screen presence who I could watch film after film of, more so than I already have. Equally wonderful is Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio, proving that he is very clearly the best actor in this film. Gyllenhaal is one of those actors that I could watch in absolutely anything but given brilliant stuff to work with, he's unbeatable. His material here isn't quite brilliant but he really chews it up, giving a real sense of fun to the fascinating character of Mysterio, a character whose comic book exploits I think I'm going to have to go back and read. As for the rest of the cast, it's still a wonderful supporting roster. Zendaya adds a bit of charm (and Meechee) to a role that could otherwise feel bland, Jacob Batalon is the best friend we all wish we had and Tony Revolori remains the rich kid that it's delicious to hate. There are a couple of people who pop up in the post-credit scenes who I was very happy to see but no, no spoilers here. A fun time with some fun actors then.

Being the kind of film it is, Far From Home also rests a lot on its humour, humour that fortunately worked for me. A little bit of it is pop culture references (always a little hit and miss), a little bit of awkward slapstick and then mainly teen, John Hughes-ish comedy. Brought together, it all works, creating the comedic equivalent of a cocktail: multiple elements are at play clearly and it's probably not a healthy thing to be enjoying on a regular basis but while you're having it, it's very enjoyable. Where the film does a little worse is the action scenes. I've heard conflicting things about how people feel about it but for me, the early action scenes were a little bit boring, picking up more and more as the film raced along, some of them trying things I haven't seen before in a Marvel film. There's a couple of sequences that show some real visual invention but I don't want to talk about them too much for fear of spoilers. What is worth saying is that there is the bizarre visuals of Doctor Strange, only with much more emotion. That said, there's still plenty of unmemorable action films and while there are moments of good action and fun comedy throughout, the Marvel formula requires certain boxes ticked that this film could have been better off not touching.

The best analogy for this film is that it's like its own post-credits scene for the Infinity Saga (which after the gruelling length of Endgame, you could be forgiven for seeing it as): there isn't a huge amount of depth but there's enough splashes of fun that I still had a really fun time. I don't know how long it'll stay with me but for now, I feel confident giving Spider-Man: Far From Home a