Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) Review

"Don't ever apologize for being the smartest one in the room."

-Quentin Beck

While on a class trip in Europe, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is planning on finally telling MJ (Zendaya) how he feels about her, but is interrupted with an assignment from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).  Peter is torn away from his trip to help Fury and a mysterious new superhero, Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), to stop a group of dangerous beasts called Elementals.

What Works:

The best part of the movie is far and away Mysterio.  He's my favorite Spider-Man villain and I was extremely excited to find out he was going to be in this movie and he did not disappoint.  Gyllenhall gives a wonderfully charismatic performance and he is a blast to watch every time he is on screen.  I couldn't get enough of him.

The illusion sequences with Mysterio are amazing to watch.  They are incredibly visually stimulating and ooze pure creativity.  They are a bit more bonkers than your typical MCU action sequence and a nice change of pace.

I loved the development between Peter and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) in this film.  They haven't always been on the same page, but they have some really nice moments here bonding over the death of Tony Stark.  The most emotionally powerful moment in the film comes from a scene with the two of them.  Happy is a great character and I loved seeing him get more to do than usual.

The opening sequence is truly brilliant setting up the world post-Thanos.  It's a really bizarre universe these characters now occupy and I love watching the explanation come through a student-news broadcast.  I wish they had done a bit more with these weird possibilities, but it was still a great way to kick off the film.

Finally, the mid-credits scene is probably the best one the MCU has ever done.  I won't say what it is, but it brings back a familiar face with some game-changing consequences.  I can't wait to see what the fallout is.

What Sucks:

I'm not a big fan of Peter Parker as a character and have never been able to relate to him.  In a majority of the movies, his big conflict is balancing his personal life and his superhero life.  He frequently neglects his personal relationships to save the day.  I understand that this is the point of Peter Parker as a character, but I don't enjoy that aspect.  Most of his problems could be solved by simply taking a day or two off from being a hero and taking care of his personal life.  It seems so simple, but Peter doesn't see it that way and I find it frustrating.  That is definitely the case here and I spent most of the movie wishing he would just tell Nick Fury to shove it and go back to his trip.  Simply put, this is not a conflict that interests me and I found myself very annoyed at several points during the film.

There is a lot of comic relief in this film in the form of Peter's classmates and his chaperones and most of the humor falls flat.  The worst moment is when Happy and several of Peter's classmates become trapped and make awkward confessions that are supposed to be funny, but just aren't...at all.

Finally, there is a sequence where Peter nearly gets one of his classmates killed when he misuses a drone.  I hated this scene.  Peter is genius and to see him misuse some new and powerful tech so carelessly felt out of character.  And watching him try to distract everyone on the trip with him from the drone was incredibly silly and just more humor that doesn't work.

Verdict:

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a fun and entertaining movie.  I don't love Peter Park as a character and the humor is more miss than hit, but Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic, there are some really cool sequences, and solid emotional moments.  For the most part, this movie has got it going on.

 7/10: Good