Spider-Man Is 'Far From Home' and Far From Done

Avengers: Endgame was the culmination of 22 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But there was still another film to close out Phase 3. And that film is Spider-Man: Far From Home, which I'll review briefly in non-spoiler details before the spoiler warning.

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

While I do believe that this film could have been released later in the year, so that people who don't always see movies right away would have a chance to see Endgame, I feel that Far From Home is a pretty good epilogue to that story. It spends a decent amount of time talking about what resulted from the end of Endgame. I definitely feel that it is an improvement over Homecoming, which felt like it was trying too hard to connect to the rest of the MCU. Here, though, the connections somehow feel more natural while a thrilling new Spider-Man story is told.

It is possible that I might prefer this one over Spider-Man (2002), but I still prefer Spider-Man 2, and (my favorite) Into the Spider-Verse. I feel like those films do a better job fleshing out the relationships between the characters, while also making stories that have consistently good quality, and not too many cheesy moments. I feel that a problem of Far From Home that was also prevalent in Homecoming is the lack of any attention to Uncle Ben Parker. There is a subtle reference to him in the form of the initials BFP on Peter's suitcase, but he feels very absent. As a fan of the Spider-Man mythos, I really like having Ben Parker as Peter's source of inspiration for all his heroism. I don't need to see a flashback of him dying, but a flashback or reiteration of Ben's advice would be nice. While I am now okay with how Peter is following in Tony Stark's footsteps, I don't like how Stark seems to be Peter's main source of inspiration.

Far From Home also has humor that works most of the time. A few gags feel like they last too long, but the humor works most of the time. The supporting cast (particularly Happy, MJ, Ned, and Betty) are given memorable, funny moments. Some viewers might feel put off by some of the characters not feeling like what they are used to seeing in other Spider-Man media. But we've seen the other films, as well as the multiverse in Into the Spider-Verse. So there's room for different interpretations.

Some surprises got me, while others felt predictable to me. But those surprises that I found predictable might work for some viewers. I'll delve into the spoilers below.

The Mystery of Mysterio

Going into this movie, I was familiar with Mysterio's role as a villain in other Spider-Man-related media. So it did not surprise me to see that he was a villain all along. But since I kept hearing that there was some big twist, I kept wondering if there was something bigger going on. During the scene where Quentin Beck sits next to Peter on the rooftop, I wondered whether it would turn out that he's actually a future Peter trying to prevent elementals from destroying the Earth. I'm not sure how I would've reacted to this, but part of me doubted this speculation of mine, because we'd already seen an older Peter and time travel so recently via Into the Spider-Verse and Endgame respectively.

It turns out that Mysterio, like Vulture in Homecoming, is another former working man who feels cheated by Stark. And there are other employees who feel the same way and are working with him. One of them was even present in the first Iron Man film. In a way, this is idea is still repetitive. And when Fury asked Peter who else knew about the drones with projectors, I knew right then that he was an illusion of Mysterio. I was fooled momentarily when it looked like Fury shot Mysterio, but when he asked the question again, I knew it was a trick. Regardless, I still enjoyed seeing Mysterio's illusions, which gave the film a cerebral flavor. I'd seen and enjoyed a similar "mind fight" sequence in X-Men: Apocalypse, but Far From Home took that concept a step further. I loved the visual elements of these sequences, including Spider-Man fighting multiple projections of himself, and Spider-Man in a snow globe.

I also love the fact that Mysterio acknowledges that people will believe anything in this far-fetched world that Earth has become within the MCU. In a universe filled with aliens, magic, and time travel, of course people would be fooled by the prospect of him being from another universe.

Credit Scene Surprises

The predictable surprises aside, I will say that the mid-credits scene definitely surprised me. I vaguely recall seeing an image of J.K. Simmons' J. Jonah Jameson on a giant screen in New York as I scrolled through social media, but I was not sure if it was real. Even though part of me kept in mind that this would be a possibility, I was surprised when I saw Simmons back in the role onscreen. I literally shouted "YES!" from my seat. Having seen Simmons nail the role in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, it was a joy to see him back. I had heard rumors that J.B. Smoove would be playing Jameson, and I could actually imagine him doing a take on the role. It turns out that he plays a teacher named Julius Dell. With that off the table, I watched the film, not expecting any Jameson appearances, and I was extremely satisfied when Simmons' face showed up.

But that was not the only surprise in the scene. Before the film was released, I had predicted that it would end with Peter revealing to the world that he is Spider-Man, echoing the ending of Iron Man and a moment from the Civil War comics. As it turns out, the world DOES find out that he is Spider-Man, but not in the way that I expected. Instead of revealing it by choice, the world sees a video clip of Mysterio (prior to his death) revealing Spider-Man's identity. I think that this is a pretty bold choice. Something like this has never really been explored in a Spider-Man film, but now we'll get to see it!

The post-credits scene also has somewhat of a surprise. I say "somewhat" because I'd heard the theory floating around about Nick Fury being a Skrull. This speculation was extrapolated from his line in Captain Marvel, "If toast is cut diagonally, I can't eat it." In Avengers: Age of Ultron, he is shown eating a toasted sandwich that has been cut diagonally. Some believe that the Fury we've seen in anything other than Captain Marvel has been a Skrull the whole time, while others believe that perhaps he's only been a Skrull post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In Far From Home, we see that Talos and Soren have taken his and Maria Hill's places, and that Fury is commanding a Skrull ship. While this may be confusing at the moment, there is no doubt that this will be clarified in a future film.

Conclusion

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a movie that poses this idea of Peter Parker becoming the next Iron Man, but it also plays with this idea that he just has to be Spider-Man. These ideas can seem at odds with each other as Peter reminds Happy of Tony. Either way, Spider-Man has been a Marvel icon, so it makes sense for him to become the face of the MCU now that Iron Man is gone. There's also a moment toward the end where he carries a shield and swings an object in a way that's reminiscent of Captain America wielding Mjolnir in Endgame. It is clear that Spider-Man is a major player in the future of this film franchise, and I look forward the seeing what happens next. To some, it might seem like his journey is moving too fast, what with more people learning his identity at a quick pace. But we've had years of movies where his secret has been well-kept, so this is refreshing. At this moment, I would give Far From Home the following score:

9/10—An amazing (pun intended) addition to both the MCU and Spider-Man films in general. There are still more Spider-Man adventures worth telling, and I am here for them.