It's been awhile since I've reviewed anything from the MCU. The franchise is a behemoth that even, after 23 films, shows no signs of losing steam, with this summer's Avengers: Endgame shattering almost every box office record (#1 domestic and worldwide seem to be out of its reach though, which may speak to the rewatchability of that film vs. the front-loaded hype leading into it). Spider-Man: Far From Home reportedly brings a close to the longest of Marvel's phases, the 10-film long Phase Three that kicked off in 2016 with Captain America: Civil War (which also happened to be Spidey's debut into the framework of the MCU).
Because this is an MCU film it is also audience's first chance to see the aftermath of events of Endgame (I should also note from here on out there will be Endgame spoilers as the fundamental plot is near impossible to discuss without referencing. So consider this your warning). With half the population restored after Thanos' mighty snap, the film reckons with the impact this cataclysmic happening would have on the general populous. Which is to say it's treated pretty humorously. In a great intro, a school news report details a school game where half the participants vanished, and then footage of those people reappearing in the middle of another game 5 years in the future.
Perhaps the real weight of what it means to have disappeared for 5 years, only to be thrust back into existence, will be handled in a more serious film. Here the biggest upset is a classmate that our heroes knew as a puny freshman has grown into a handsome upperclassmen, technically younger than they but physically their equal.
Far From Home concerns Spider-Man's (Tom Holland) class trip to Europe, while dealing with the death of Tony Stark, which looms large over the world in various murals that remind Spidey of the shadow he lives in. During the class trip, elemental beings begin terrorizing the various locations the class visits, and a new character named Mysetrio (Jake Gyllenhaal) emerges to battle these new beasts. There's also Peter's fascination with MJ (Zendaya), whose name is Michelle because the fact that she was MJ was a reveal in the last Spider-Man movie for some reason, and they couldn't call her Mary because that would've been too obvious. His attempt at courtship is sidelined by every turn as Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) shows up to hijack Peter's trip so he can help battle these earth-ending elementals.
Most of the film is great fun, as Peter deals with these beasts in various locations, from Venice to Prague to London. It's fun to see Spider-Man out of New York, although this also means the film is robbed of what makes Spider-Man movies so thrilling: the swinging through towering skyscrapers. Spider-Man is not well equipped to handle evil doers outside of the big apple, which is readily apparent here.
The film is a special-effects bonanza, which is to be expected, but it also has some great surreal sequences that come close to matching the more bizarre elements of Doctor Strange (2016). Not to mention the villain this time around is a better villain than your average MCU heavy, simply because they are not just the "evil version" of our hero (see: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man, and Doctor Strange for a sampling of villains that are just the heroes but evil).
Whether this will satisfy Spider-Man fans is a different story; we're too deep into the mythology of the MCU for these films to exist on their own now, unless they take off to space where they can ignore the events of Endgame. That movie was too cataclysmic that any earthbound MCU film for the next couple years will have to revolve around it in some way. It takes until the mid-credits scene for Spider-Man's status quo to be fully set up, and while I've enjoyed this spin on the origin story (indeed the past 3 years of films have been one long origin story for Spidey), I'm ready for Spider-Man to shed the weight of Iron Man and the MCU and start doing his own thing. Being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
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