{"id":7405,"date":"2019-08-06T21:13:22","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T02:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retromaggedon.com\/?page_id=7405"},"modified":"2021-09-20T19:29:33","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T00:29:33","slug":"spider-man-far-from-home-2019-review","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/retromaggedon.com\/index.php\/movie-reviews\/spider-man-far-from-home-2019-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Click here<\/a> to visit our movie review section for more!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

~Review by Grawlix (August 2019)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t envy the position director Jon Watts was placed into with Spider-Man: Far from Home<\/em>. I mean, how does one even begin to follow a movie like Avengers: Endgame<\/em>. Granted, Far from Home<\/em> was well in the can before Endgame released, but still, Watts had to know what he\u2019d be coming after, both thematically and in terms of budget. So, Watts (or more specifically, the writing team of Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna) decided to go small. Not like they really had much of a choice, when you think about it. How could they possibly go bigger than Endgame<\/em>? But still, Avengers<\/em> dealt with time travel, quantum dimensions, and an entire war between heroes and aliens? Far from Home<\/em> hinges on a high school field trip.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight months after the events of Endgame<\/em>, things have apparently calmed down enough that most people have settled back into some semblance of normality, and Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and his class embark on a field trip across Europe. Peter just wants to be a kid again, for a while, and confess his feelings to his crush, MJ (the mononymous Zendaya) in Paris. Of course, this being the Marvel Universe, things never stay simple for long, and since the Earth is suffering from a shortage of superheroes after Endgame<\/em>, it falls on Peter\u2019s relatively inexperienced shoulders to pick up the slack when the next round of superhuman hijinks inevitably occurs. This time around, the nexus of these hijinks is Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a, \u2026er, mysterious character, with an even more mysterious backstory. I don\u2019t want to say too much because, even though anyone familiar with Spider-Man\u2019s supporting cast will be able to predict most of what comes next, the movie\u2019s advertising managed to keep most of the twists well-guarded and I don\u2019t want to spoil anything for those who genuinely don\u2019t know (I went to my screening with my brother, a Spider-Man neophyte, and he didn\u2019t have a clue).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve said this about a lot of Marvel movies, but I felt it was a bit more noticeable here, that Far from Home<\/em> really feels more like a cog in the wheel of the mighty MCU machine, dependent on prior movies to provide necessary context for what\u2019s going on. I hasten to add that this isn\u2019t really a problem, per se. Whoever is in charge of editorial and continuity in the MCU has done a bang up job of maintaining consistency, from a timeline that can comfortably reference prior episodes (even factoring in the time travelling) to making sure the same actors keep returning to  play the same characters (franchise contracts must be bulletproof these days). But there were times in Far from Home<\/em> in which various metaplot threads felt like they were getting in each other\u2019s way. There\u2019s the Endgame<\/em> fallout which also dovetails with leftover plot threads from the Ironman<\/em> movies. Jon Favreau\u2019s Happy Hogan is a constant presence as is Nick Fury (the Immutable Samuel L Jackson) and both seemed determined to drop as much responsibility as possible onto our teenage protagonist, regardless of the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, far be it from me to complain about action in a superhero movie, but given all of the high school drama that Far from Home<\/em> talks up in its opening reel, and given that Spider-Man has one of the best and most diverse supporting casts in comics, it is a little off-putting how quickly the movie dives into the deep end with SHIELD and Stark et al. There\u2019s an amusing subplot with Ned Leeds and Betty Brant (Jacob Batalon and Angourie Rice, respectively). The neurotic, put-upon teachers accompanying the class are always good for a laugh, and even Flash Thompson\u2019s (Tony Revolori) affable dickishness adds some spice to the mixture, but overall it sometimes feels like FfH<\/em> is trying to cover a bit too much ground for its own good, leading to strange incongruities like a surprisingly casual attitude toward Spider-Man\u2019s secret identity, even though Peter specifically notes this as a concern. There are also a couple scenes in which Peter nearly exterminates his entire class, which are usually played for laughs, but did strain my suspension of disbelief regarding how much power would realistically be entrusted to a teenager, even in a superhero context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the visuals, I mean, it\u2019s Marvel. It\u2019s Disney. Do we really need to belabor them at this point? Whoever\u2019s in charge of parceling out the effects assignments clearly has their job(s) down to a science. They might not be smashing planets together in this one, but the effects look great, and not only do they cleverly update some classic ideas for a modern audience, but they also tie them to the existing MCU more smoothly that I would have expected. The varied European locales are a nice bonus too. Normally when a series or franchise inexplicably relocates to across the pond it\u2019s a sign that a budget has been cut (Ghost Rider: Spirits of Vengeance<\/em> is the first example that springs to mind) but here it just gives more varied scenery for the action scenes. The thematic purposes become more and more trifling as the movie roars on, but hey, destroying famous landmarks is a hallowed action movie tradition at this point, and Far from Home<\/em> gives us our money\u2019s worth in this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far from Home<\/em> is a fun enough romp, and I was consistently entertained, but it also feels like an odd note on which to close out Phase 3 of the MCU. There were plenty of big moments, this is a summer blockbuster, after all, but there weren\u2019t many memorable moments of the type that stick with you after you leave the theater. A little surprising, really, considering that this movie technically marks the end of the shared Sony\/Marvel Spider-man collaboration. Probably the most significant takeaway from FfH<\/em>, for me anyway, was that we finally got an in-universe acknowledgement that after everything that\u2019s happened in the MCU up to this point, people are jaded. There\u2019s really no such thing as farfetched in this reality any more. Really, it would be the case that any sort of confirmed superhuman activity would represent a paradigm shift that would rock the entire world to its very core. Naturally, things would be a bit different in a comic book universe, but it\u2019s understandable that after superpowers, alien invasions, magic, and the death and subsequent rebirth of half the population of the planet, people might finally be getting a bit numb to it all. And, I don\u2019t know. Maybe I\u2019m getting a bit jaded too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Grade: B<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early going promises a more personal, close-up superhero movie, but by the end it\u2019s throwing the kitchen sink at the action. And while I love kitchen sink action, this soon after Endgame<\/em> it just feels like something\u2019s missing; the Wow factor that takes things to the next level isn\u2019t quite there. Spider-Man: Far from Home<\/em> is a solid superhero film that delivers the requisite thrills and spills, but while it\u2019s good, it\u2019s not exceptional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid and post credits sequences are back on the docket. The Mid-credits sequence in particular is a can\u2019t miss and shows that Marvel still has some interesting plans for the character, so they best get Sony\u2019s lawyers back to the bargaining table and hammer out a new deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trailer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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