I’ve been peak Spider-Fan since Captain America: Civil War.
Even with such a brief re-introduction to the character, the sense of direction he had within the Marvel Cinematic Universe was truthful to my view of ol’ web-head.
What’s that point of view?
He’s a kid thrust into paramount position that would overwhelm the best of us, which he accepts because “when you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.”
Or you know, with great power comes great responsibility.
Following the events of Avengers: EndGame, we see the exceptional Tom Holland return once more as a Peter Parker who needs a holiday, but when you’re Spider-Man, a holiday only takes you so Far From Home.
Our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man decides to join his best friends Ned (Jacob Batalon), MJ (Zendaya), 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 (Samuel L. Jackson) uncover the mystery of several elemental creature attacks, creating havoc across the continent
“Perpetual” can be defined as something never ending or changing, or occurring repeatedly; So frequent as to seem endless and uninterrupted.
And that’s what the engine of the Marvel Cinematic Universe feels like now; It feeds itself perpetually.
Spider-Man: Far From Home is a damn fine example of this, especially being the first follow-up feature to EndGame. Picking up and swinging into a brave new world where the Avengers don’t really exist (…again) after toppling the mad titan Thanos, Peter Parker just wants a break from it all.
And why wouldn’t he! He’s still 16 for heaven’s sake.
But such is his life, where with great power comes great responsibility. Except now it feels like there is greater power with even greater responsibility.
I’ve already said I’ve found Holland exceptional in his portrayal of Parker, and Far From Home is no exception. His ability to dance through the stages of a kid who just wants to feel a little level-headed when he’s constantly over-his-head is wonderful, and the support the cast provide him only helps to evoke this more.
Batalon and Zendaya as his core friends group in Ned and MJ, with Marisa Tomei‘s now-excellently aware Aunt May, Jon Favreau‘s Happy Hogan as the money, and Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders as Fury and Hill respectively, provide this wide net to Spidey’s world that just shows how much he’s touched in such a short amount of time.
Enter Gyllenhaal‘s Quentin Beck.
If Parker needs a break, then Beck is his savior. The “IS HE?” Mysterio is out to remind the world that it needs heroes, and maybe that’s just what Peter needs to. And Gyllenhaal is the right man for it, always diverse in the way he presents the characters he takes on.
Tumultuous events begin to unfold across Europe that take on a life of their own and threaten to force Peter into a position he’s anxious to take, all while happening on the most hilarious high-school trip you could take.
Far From Home is by far my favourite live-action Spider-Man so far. It delivers an accurate tale of the Spider-Man who is just a kid figuring out how to be a hero, a student, a friend and more. Delivering quite possibly the BEST Spider-Action we’ve ever seen; The film is big, fun and dramatic, with so many more questions raised for all the ones it answers.
And boy oh boy…the Mid and After-Credits scenes are really taking us somewhere else in the next Saga from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Summary
Spider-Man's cinematic lease on life continues to grow after the likes of Into The Spider-Verse and Venom, and only grows further after Far From Home.
Hugely fun, endearing and thrilling, with the best Spider-Man action we've seen yet, Spider-Man: Far From Home sends the Marvel Cinematic Universe soaring ahead after the EndGame, signalling that it won't be slowing down anytime soon.
And again...OOF, those credits scenes!
