Spoiler warning to those who have not seen ‘Avengers: Endgame.’
Tom Holland is Spider-Man in Columbia Pictures’ SPIDER-MAN: ™ FAR FROM HOME.
The dust of Thanos and his universal reign of terror is finally beginning to settle after the record-breaking release of Avengers: Endgame earlier this year. Earth’s mightiest heroes have been resurrected, Steve Rogers has retired, and Tony Stark made the ultimate sacrifice. Now, as a beautiful crescendo to Marvel’s 11 year labour of love, Peter Parker has returned to close out the ‘Infinity Saga’ and usher in the next era of the MCU.
Spider-Man: Far From Home begins shortly after the events of ‘Endgame’, with Peter struggling to deal with the death of his former mentor, and surrogate father figure. Despite his emotional trauma, Peter leaves New York for a school vacation in an attempt to escape his problems. As revealed in the films promotional material, the trip is quickly hijacked by Nick Fury (another welcome return for this years premiere Marvel guest star, Samuel L. Jackson), as he recruits Peter for a mission against a brand new threat known as ‘the elementals’.
Building off the momentum of the Russo brothers’ multi-billion dollar Avengers extravaganza, this film wonderfully displays the new equilibrium of the Marvel universe. After half of existence was reduced to dust for five years, before being brought back at the exact same age, ‘Far From Home’ gives audiences an interesting insight into how the world has dealt with this. By reflecting this problem through the lens of high school teenagers, this allows the film to use ‘the blip’ in some incredibly interesting and hilarious ways.
Angourie Rice, Jacob Batalon and Zendaya in Columbia Pictures’ SPIDER-MAN: ™ FAR FROM HOME.
One of the more heavily publicised aspects of this sequel, is the addition of the Academy award nominated Jake Gyllenhaal. After narrowly missing out on playing the wall-crawler himself in the early 2000’s, Gyllenhaal now joins the franchise as Quentin Beck AKA Mysterio. As one of the more interesting characters in Spidey’s rogues gallery, this is comic book casting at its finest. While the trailers have heavily undersold the magnitude of his performance, this was undoubtedly in the interest of preserving some of the films biggest twists. Never one to shy away from controversy, Marvel will surely anger some with its secretive plot, but few (if any) will be disappointed with the former Donnie Darko’s commitment to the role. The familiar theme of responsibility is once again explored here, but the lingering shadow of Stark juxtaposed against Beck’s presence is a fresh spin on the age-old-trope.
Tom Holland is fantastic once again as everyone’s favourite web-slinger, embodying the character with a brilliant sense of comfort and ease. The familiarity he clearly has with the role is effortless, yet also never allows him to hold anything back from his performance (yes, much like Robert Downey Jr. himself). The chemistry between both Peter and ‘MJ’ (Zendaya) is undeniable, with the latter further proving herself a charismatic powerhouse of talent. It will be intriguing to watch how their relationship evolves going forward, with the films climax potentially taking things in a very new direction.
Some have claimed that ‘Far From Home’ is superior to Sam Raimi’s legendary ‘Spider-Man 2’. While this may be overstretching the quality of the sequel slightly, there is certainly a lot to be enjoyed. The pacing may be a little slow to begin with, as we’re slowly re-introduced to an MCU without Iron Man, but once it gets going it doesn’t slow down once. Jon Watts does also treat us to some of the most comic-inspired action sequences to ever hit the big screen. This will no doubt please fans immensely, with the addition of some glorious callbacks, hugely unexpected cameo appearances, a clever Power Rangers reference, and some massive ramifications for Peter Parker’s future.
Be sure to stay until the very end of the credits, and expect some very big things from two of Marvel’s most pivotal scenes in a very long time.
‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ is released in cinemas on 2nd July 2nd.
