Spider-man: Far From Home review: Tom Holland’s film is MCU’s delightful treat post Avengers: Endgame; a must-watch

Star Rating:

Cast: Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Jake Gyllenhaal (Quentin Beck aka Mysterio), Zendaya (MJ), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Marisa Tomei (Aunt May), Jacob Batalon (Ned Leeds), Tony Revolori (Flash Thomson), Angourie Rice (Betty Brant), Remy Hii (Brad Davis), Martin Starr (Mr Harrington), JB Smoove (Mr Dell)
Director: Jon Watts
Writers: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
Producers: Marvel Studios and Columbia Pictures
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Releasing

Directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland, Spider-Man: Far From Home is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming. But more than the pressure of living up to the expectations of the spidey super-hero’s 2017 blockbuster big screen outing, the new release carries on its shoulders the weight of coming right after Avengers: Endgame and being the 23^rd film in the Marvel Cinemtic Universe (MCU). Naturally, all eyes are now rivetted on the youngest Avenger to see how he fares sans his mentor Iron Man – both, onscreen as he takes on the baddies and off-screen at the box office! Read on to find out more…

What Spider-Man: Far From Home is all about:

It’s been eight months since the Avengers reversed Thanos’ snap and brought back the ones lost. Everyone – including Peter Parker’s high school friends – are still trying to come to terms with either being ‘blipped’ or dealing with family and friends who had been ‘blipped’. Peter aka Spider-Man himself is still distraught and grappling with the fact that his mentor and father-figure Tony Stark aka Iron Man is no more. Even his absence looms large and Peter is constantly reminded of him.

Meanwhile, Happy Hogan (Stark’s right hand man and Head of Security for Stark Industries) gifts Peter a special pair of sunglasses that Tony had left for him. Called E.D.I.T.H. (short for Even in Death I’m The Hero, yes that’s Tony Stark for you!), they are equipped with advanced artificial intelligence and are almost like a key to the Stark database as well as carry an access to weaponised drones. Happy also tells Peter that Nick Fury has been trying to get in touch with him. However, Peter who needs a desperate break and a few weeks of normalcy avoids taking Fury’s calls. He is just looking forward to his two-week long school trip across Europe that’ll help him take some time off his superhero duties. But what Peter’s also excited about is proposing to his crush MJ at the Eiffel Tower and gifting her, a special Black Dahlia pendant.

During this school trip, while in Venice, the city comes under attack from some kind of a water-giant. But he is soon defeated by a mysterious superhero, who gets named Mysterio. The same day, Nick Fury meets Peter and fills him in with all the goings-on. Peter is introduced to Quentin Beck, the superhero who had earlier defeated the water giant. Beck had before that defeated the Earth Elemental in Mexico, and the Air Elemental in Morocco. Beck informs Peter that he’s come from another Earth and that these creatures ‘Elementals’ who are attacking their planet are from another dimension. He shares that he lost his family when they destroyed his Earth and they are now threatening to destroy this planet as well. According to him, the fourth and the most powerful attack will be from the Fire Elemental in Prague.

While Nick wants Peter to join him and Beck as an Avenger, Peter struggles with accepting his own worthiness as one. Calling himself ‘just a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man’, he feels that he is not ready enough to attempt to save the world yet. Ghosted by doubts about his own worth as an Avenger, he is reluctant as he feels he may not be able to live up to the expectations of Tony Stark and the others. Also he doesn’t want to miss out on his chance to take MJ to the Eiffel Tower, as it does mean much to him. However, impressed by Mysterio and his fatherly superhero pep talk, Peter finally agrees. He sees glimpses of Stark in Mysterio and starts trusting him. In fact, he feels that not him, but Mysterio may just be the next Iron Man that the world is waiting for. And together they set out to save the Earth.

Yay:

Well, the film hooks you up emotionally right from the word go. It starts with paying a homage to Iron Man and the fact that he is no more hits hard again. The film manages to pick up Peter’s life post Avengers: Endgame absolutely seamlessly. The fill-in from the Avengers is nicely done and the continuation is a gradual flow.

To top this is the utterly adorable 23-year-old Tom Holland playing the 16-year-old Peter Parker with brilliant finesse. He is exceptionally good in the emotional scenes and utterly hilarious in situational comic scenes. His bromance with Ned as well as the romance with MJ are both very cute. He and Zendaya make for a rather adorable and charming couple! His equations with Aunt May, Happy and Mysterio are well-etched and translated equally well on screen.

But what Tom has done most is capture brilliantly the helplessness and the feeling of inadequacy as he is filled with self-doubts about being the next Avenger. The pressures of filling in Iron Man’s shoes are a huge responsibility and his fears of not being able to live up to everyone’s expectations are reflected through the film.

Among performances, all of the cast are top-notch and they play their parts to perfection. Jake especially, seemed to have enjoyed playing the over-the-top Mysterio with all the added drama and charm. He aces his part with ease.

The dialogues pack in a punch each time and the transition between comical, action and emotional scenes are blended well. The director and writers have etched every character with a detailed precision and chartered their graphs well. They have lent in interesting twists (although at times predictable) and left ample scope for more MCU spin-offs.

The action and the CGI effects are one of the best yet. The fight sequences are amazingly choreographed, and at one point in the climax, just when things hit a too-fast pace to understand the action, as if on a cue, the entire sequence is shown in slo-mo and it’s impressive. The scene of Tom fighting it out while being stuck in an illusionary world is noteworthy and well-shot.

Nay:

The film has a few loopholes and the fans will question what exactly happened there, more than once. But giving that out would be a spoiler, so you will have to figure that out on your own! The villain, while we loved, felt too Bollywoodish at times with his megalomaniac plans. Also his sidekicks, were let’s say not evil enough! Hardcore MCU fans may be a tad bit disappointed there. The attack by the ‘Elementals’ and showing them destroy well-known landmarks was a little ‘bruh’ – like haven’t we seen that a multi-dozen times already. The film could’ve been a bit fast-paced in the first half, though it isn’t much of a hindrance so can be overlooked.

CineBlitz Vedict:

For most Marvel fans still trying to come to terms with the heart-breaking conclusion of the Avenger’s: Endgame, Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Far From Home comes as a delightful treat to beat away the blues. The intense action, high school banter, the Aunt May-Happy Hogan chemistry, the Ned-Peter-MJ equation, Nick-Hill dynamics, MJ-Peter romance, all make it one fun roller-coaster ride! And Tom Holland as Spider-Man simply swings his way into your hearts. The movie certainly ups the stakes for the MCU. Spider-Man: Far From Home is a deeply-satisfying experience and an immensely-entertaining must-watch. So go ahead and catch your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man!