The dust has barely settled from the emotionally charged superhero-stuffed ‘Avengers: Endgame’, but already we have a glimpse at the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe….
And trust me my friends, the future looks good indeed.
‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ feels an awful lot like the passing of the torch. With the franchise player in the Marvel locker room dead and gone (I’d flag this as a spoiler alert, but c’mon….by now you HAVE to know that Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man didn’t make it out alive, right?) the ‘C’ on the spandex appears to be attached to Spidey. It’s a great choice, not only for the team…..but for the narrative of this film.
See, as amazing (see what I did there?) as the previous batch of ‘Spider-Man’ films have been (2004’s ‘Spider-Man 2’ with Tobey Maguire in the lead role was especially good), filmmakers have never been quite able to nail the character. That is, until Tom Holland put on the tights. Suddenly, it was recognized that Peter Parker is a kid. Thus, he should be PORTRAYED as a kid, anxiety, growing pains et all. And in ‘Far From Home’, that realization HITS home, big time…making for not only a great comic book flick, but a great motion picture, period.
In ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’, Parker, still reeling from the events of ‘Endgame’, looks forward to leaving the Spidey gear behind for a few weeks and to take a trip through Europe with his classmates. He’s also hopeful that such a journey will provide a chance to tell his crush, M.J. (Zendaya) exactly how he feels – y’know, typical teenager stuff. But that darn Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) just HAS to pop up across the pond with a special mission for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, doesn’t he? It seems that earth is facing a new threat from a series of ancient elemental monsters, which chew up the landscape doing battle in Prague, Berlin and London, not only with Spidey, but with a new recruit to the Avengers, Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal).
Now, those who are familiar with Spider-Man comics know full well that not all is as it may seem with Mr. Mysterio…..but hey, I’m limited to one spoiler alert per review, so you’re gonna have to find out what THAT is all about on your own…
As it stands, Gyllenhaal is a sturdy addition to this sequel which is funny, peppy and 100% confident in its stride. For those who thought it was game over for Marvel after ‘Endgame’ – not even close.
