Once again Tom Holland shines as the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, in an overall enjoyable MCU experience
It’s been quite the year for Marvel and all of their fans. People are still recovering from the events that unfolded in Avengers: Endgame, much like the very heroes that star in the movie. One of those heroes is Tom Holland and his excellent portrayal of Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. Losing someone close to you is never easy, and losing someone who gifted you the responsibility to be the next lead Avenger, even worse. So you can only imagine how Peter is feeling after the death of his friend and his mentor Tony Stark at the end of Endgame. It’s hit him pretty hard, and Peter is looking forward to being a regular teenager this summer and chasing girls and touring Europe with his best friend. You know that’s never the case when you’re a superhero and before Peter knows it, his summer vacation is being hijacked by Nick Fury himself as he is on deck once again to save the world from total annihilation.
Much like Spider-Man Homecoming, this feels very much like a high school teen comedy mixed with ith a superhero movie. I’ll start off by saying I do enjoy this incarnation of the character, but at times I wish it felt a little more mature like the Sam Raimi version because I do believe at times that’s what’s missing from these films. That being said, I love Tom Holland in this role and think he’s doing such a fantastic job, but at times, I wish they would pull back on the immature material. I hope the next solo Spider-Man movie can make a little bit of a time jump so we can see him in a mature relationship with MJ and deal with being a superhero as well as tackling the complications of being an adult.
Jon Watts who directed Homecoming once again does a fantastic job at capturing the essence of this character all while showing us stuff we’ve never encountered in the 6 other solo Spider-Man movies. This time around Peter is battling wits with Quintin Beck aka Mysterio. Most known for having a giant fishbowl on his head. A goofy villain, to say the least, the master of illusion, but when he’s being played by Jake Gyllenhaal, well it’s a home-run, to say the least. Michael Keaton’s Vulture was an adult and I think it’s awesome to see the difference in age with these villains. They could easily make them closer to Peters’s age, but I rather enjoy seeing him do battle with grown men. I won’t really go into much of Mysterio because that will be spoiling the movie, but he’s awesome and is involved in the best Spider-Man sequence we have ever gotten in a movie. He was a really fun villain to see come to life and I hope we get to see more of him in the future. Peter turns immediately to Quintin to replace the mentor role in his life when he believes he is a hero and sees what he saw in Tony. Tom and Jake had terrific chemistry together and I honestly wish somehow Mysterio didn’t end up being a bad guy because Jake is such a great actor and it would have been a cool spin on the character if he was good and became part of the larger MCU picture. Sharing a similar backstory as the Vulture, a disgruntled former employee of Stark Industries, I feel like people will either hate this or love it. Tying in Tony, to Peter villains is a nice new spin on them, and it makes Tony still relèvent in his life. You have to remember that this Spider-Man joined a large universe where Tony Stark was the centerpiece of that universe. It only makes sense to combine his world and Peters.
Zendaya and her portrayal of MJ is top-notch. She matches Peters’s awkwardness to perfection, I just want to see this at a little more mature nature, but overall Tom and Zendaya are right alongside Tobey and Kristin and Andrew and Emma for the Spider-Man power couple. This whole Spider-Man universe is so far removed from anything we’ve really seen before it, I can understand why some fans might be upset. But when you’ve gotten two iterations of Spider-Man before this version, I think it’s not only necessary to switch things up, but it’s very refreshing. At the end of this movie, something happens that you’ll either love or actually despise because just the way the character is built and has been put in front of us since 2000 might make you scratch your head.
Overall, this is just another solid outing from Tom and the entire cast, with some stellar visuals, a really great villain, played by one of the best actors in Hollywood and we got to witness the best Spider-Man sequence in a movie. They build on Peters’s story really well, with what was built in Homecoming and everything that occurred in the last two Avengers movies. There’s so much that’s going to be explored with this character and Tom Holland is going to be Spider-Man for the next 10 years. I’m throwing it out there right now. I want Rob McElhenney as Venom or Dacre Montgomery both would be perfect. Hopefully, McElhenney, let’s make that happen Marvel.
Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Spider-Man: Far From Home = 83/100
I know its kind of a weird thing between studios but would they bring in another Venom while Hardy’s playing the role? (I hope not!) 🙂
I agree about a more mature Spider-Man though. This one seemed to drop hints that it would be. If they do bring in Norman Osborn that could be especially interesting with Peter’s ability to collect father figures for good and ill.
In my never going to happen dreams I’d love to see Vincent D’Onofrio come into this universe as Kingpin or Osborn or we get Deadpool here. Holland and Reynolds could kill that but what a potential fine line to walk with marketing that film! I’ve babbled… glad you liked the film!
Yeah I have no idea what’s going to happen with Venom. I feel like the logical next step is bringing in Norman Osborn. Which I’m all for!