Directed by Jon Watts

Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Marisa Tomei, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Jake Gyllenhaal

There’s a very specific moment part way through Spider-man: Far From Home, (a slow camera turn) that shows the story’s twist, and changes the movie from the standard one we were watching. It’s a double edged sword though, because after this revelation, not much else about it is compelling. It’s odd, this movie seems to exist entirely for this point, and yet afterwards it just seems so silly. It’s a one trick pony, but at least it’s an enjoyable ride. Far From Home is a good movie, I think. But I think I liked Homecoming a good bit more. We’re back on the side stories of the Marvel characters, and maybe Phase 4 or whatever we’re in is doomed to be more of the same. But I’ll say the two post credits scenes give me hope, so much hope, that this movie wasn’t just a sequel.

The opening is strange. Nick Fury and Maria Hill (she had a name this whole time?) are in Mexico in the aftermath of a storm, one where the locals claimed they saw a face in the cyclone. An elemental creature arises and attacks them, and a mysterious man comes to help. Hard cut. Now a memoriam to the fallen from Endgame. Tony, Cap, Natasha, Vision. Another cut to Peter’s high school, it was the kids recognizing the dead from the battle with Thanos on the morning announcements. The snap is now being referred to as “the blip”. They’re now dealing with half the students and teachers and parents not having aged in 5 years, while everyone else did. A kid named Brad is now their age. He’ll cause trouble for Peter later.

But Peter’s school is having a trip to Europe. Finally a vacation for Spider-man. After the death of Tony, the world has been asking who the next Iron Man will be. The stress and sadness has been too much for Peter. He wants to leave his Spidey suit at home, and confess his feelings for MJ. The trip should do him well.

Maybe I’ll stop going by the plot now, cause you may want to find stuff out for yourself. But the mysterious man is Quentin Beck, and it’s pretty cool how he gets the name Mysterio. Also even cooler is how Jake Gyllenhaal says, “My name is Mysterio”, which carries so many meanings once you get deep enough. I like Gyllenhaal in the role, a few scenes he seemed so perfect for it, but the rest…well I can’t say more.

But I love this take on MJ. Even if she isn’t actually Mary Jane, who knows anymore. Zendaya is so good. The sarcastic and squinty eyed mannerisms she has are amazing. I liked her a lot in Homecoming, and now that she has more screentime I can see she’s one of the best parts of these newer Spidey films. Her awkward shyness and morbid fascinations with dark material are so wonderful for this modern take on Peter’s love interest.

Far From Home has a lot of comedic elements, but is not as much of a comedy as Homecoming was. The humor this time around doesn’t always land, although some of it is very funny, some of it just fills up space. The two teacher/chaperones did make me laugh a couple times, but they are not nearly as humorous as they should be. This movie focuses more on Peter’s journey to fill the hole left in the world from the events of Endgame, with a smaller scale villain.

And the villain? Well, he’s good mostly I guess. Good motivation, but not enough to carry the film. Also the action scenes mostly are not thrilling. You’ll see why. It’s all connected. The one scene that blew my mind involves Peter’s spidey sense, but it’s called something else in this movie. But that’s about it.

Far From Home is an acceptable followup from the end of phase 3. I think it’s a decent sequel to Homecoming, though it ends with more promise than does most of the runtime. What I mean is I don’t think this movie will have high rewatch value, or serve a purpose outside of its two post credits scenes. But the glasses Tony has left for Peter are great, and what EDITH stands for is something I won’t dare spoil. And Tom Holland and Zendaya work so well together, and Jacob Batalon is back as his reliable best friend Ned. All these young actors have such great chemistry, I think it goes so far in thinner movies like this. The movie was again directed by Jon Watts, and has only 2 of the 6 writers from Homecoming. I wish they had made it as funny as Homecoming was, and that the action wasn’t so boring and straightforward this time. But I guess, overall, that I liked more than i didn’t. The cast really is so charming and I can’t take away from that.

But those post credits scenes. Ho-lee-shit. I screamed at the first, which wonderfully mirrors the end of the first Iron Man movie. And the second? It makes me excited for what’s to come, and shows who was on vacation all along.