Rating of
3/4
Far From Home - Review
Matthew Brady - wrote on 07/28/19
“What the fu - !”
After the devastating, yet spectacularly epic “Endgame”, I was incredibly curious about ‘Far From Home’ continuation on an event of a satisfying conclusion. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, Spider-man was always my favorite hero growing up. I think it’s the grounded side to the character that I connect with the most. When the movie began with a “I will always love you” by Whitney Houston, I was both hooked and emotionally moved.
‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ is a solid adventure that’s self aware enough of it’s own cheesy plot. From start till finish I was entertained with some of the jokes and how great of a character Peter Parker/Spider-Man truly is. The movie itself approaches ‘the snap’ with the sense of “meh, not a big deal”, type of humor, but grief is always afloat.
This also contains two post credit scenes that’s one of the best in the franchise. Trust me, everybody’s reaction in the cinema was priceless.
Tom Holland once again made the web shooter his own and with each entry seems to smooth into the character - capturing both the nerdy side with awkward humor, but also having the weight on his shoulders to live up to Tony Stark’s legendary image. I thought Holland is fantastic during the more hard hitting scenes when the situation gets too heavy for Peter, which reminds the audience the human side of the hero.
I also thought the scenes between Peter and MJ were so sweet and quirky. I’m glad Zendaya had more to do this time around than the first movie, and isn’t playing the stereotypical superhero's love interest.
Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio was both charisma and a absolute blast to watch. It’s unfortunate that I can’t go into the reasons why, as fear of taking away the mystery for people who haven’t seen it yet. Lets just say they did the character justice and Gyllenhaal (as usual) did a great job.
Jon Watts certainly has improved in terms of directing action sequences, which I would imagine it being tough for him since he came from a small budget background. While still a bit lackluster in parts, but the set pieces and the execution is much better. The way he directs the Mysterio segments can be best described as a trippy nightmare that some shots have implanted in my head as I’m writing this.
However, my issues with the first movie in terms of cinematography and humor sadly still stands - more bad this time as the journey around Europe with beautiful and breathtaking views. I’ve been to Venice a few years ago and they wasted the opportunity of showing it off. And again, the humor is always placed in the least appropriate parts after something dramatic happens.
There’s a few predicable scenes scattered through out and it’s annoying when the movie acts like it’s a huge shock.
Also, I can’t be the only one that thought the transition of the opening scene with Mysterio to Whitney Houston song “I will always love you”, was a little jarring and out of place.
Overall rating: Despite the issues, ‘Far From Home’ is another solid entry from our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. A few years ago in my ‘Homecoming’ review, I noted about that the heart and soul of the Raimi films were missing, although now with time passed and new thoughts, the heart and soul is always there, just presented in a different vision.
