So we’re finally at the final Marvel movie for Phase 3 and it was a pretty enjoyable sendoff.

Ever since Spider-Man has been in the hands of Marvel he’s had some pretty good movies. They’re not as memorable as the original Spider-Man trilogy or as spectacular as Spider-verse but they are nowhere near the train wreck that The Amazing Spider-Man movies were. This latest Spider-Man falls into the same category as Homecoming as it’s a fun quirky movie and the only real highlight is the characters, as they’re very down to earth and help give the movie some heart.

It’s best to note this film takes place about a month or two after Endgame and does acknowledge that, in the five years that half of the universe was not alive, the surviving students would have aged up. It kind of sucks that they don’t explore this further.  They only reference it for comedy purposes and we just have to accept that every character from Homecoming has been dead for 5 years and they treat it like it was just a phase. I was also disappointed that they completely skipped over Aunt May learning that Peter is Spider-Man. They made it a huge deal at the end of the last movie and now she’s packing his lunch box and ironing his suit ready to go and fight the super-powered monsters.

This story once again focuses on Peter’s need to have a girlfriend in his life while still fulfilling his purpose as Spider-Man. The superhero side of it lacked interest until it became more personal. The normal life side is just nonsensical. Why do these students go on a trip to Europe other than to facilitate a wacky road trip movie where everyone except for the characters important to the plot appears to be taking stupid pills? I think I would understand if they were continuing the literacy quiz club from the first movie and were there for an international competition instead of a sight-seeing tour.

I do like the Peter and MJ/Michelle dynamic. (It seems this movie forgot her name is Michelle not Mary Jane.) It’s an improvement over the Peter and Liz will they/won’t they storyline from the last movie and, to be frank, a million times better than Peter and Mary Jane from the original trilogy. It’s nicely set up, both actors have great chemistry with each other when they finally decide to break the ice and talk. Lastly, before we go into spoilers, Mysterio is my favourite character in this movie. Why that is I’ll explain in a bit, but Jake Gyllenhaal was fantastic.

Spoilers

I believe whenever a story is about some guy out saving the world, it’s way more interesting when the thing they’re protecting or fighting for is something very personal. Examples could include Quill from Guardians 2, The Bride from Kill Bill and Tom Cruise from Mission Impossible III. I found the movie way more interesting when Beck is revealed to be the villain. I wasn’t the least bit shocked. Even with prior knowledge of the character, I had a feeling this is where things needed to go. I also guessed MJ would figure out Peter’s identity. Seeing Homecoming again made it obvious to me plus the trailer with the Endgame clues kind of gave it away. Even though these reveals were somewhat expected I still think they were well handled.

I’m glad they took The Vulture approach and made Mysterio just an ex-Stark employee wanting to show his art to the world and fine with taking some casualties with him if that’s what it took to cover his tracks. Mysterio I think is my favourite Spider-Man movie villain as he has a really strong motivation and feels like the biggest challenge Peter has had to deal with. Even in death (presumably) he still finds a way to create havoc for Peter. Lastly, I highly recommend watching the post credit scenes as they are unexpected and, unlike many other post credit scenes, are not just throwaway.

Spoiler-Free

Spider-Man: Far From Home was fun. It’s nowhere near amazing as it has the feel of your standard Marvel movie. It’s more a great continuation of the first movie where it’s a good character piece with some fun quirky humour and cool action set pieces to spice things up. Overall it’s a much more entertaining film than Captain Marvel, but it’s not as emotionally enthralling as Avengers: Endgame. A 7 to 8 out of 10. If you’re a Spider-Man or Marvel fan it’s definitely worth your time. I have been The Blog Complainer, signing out.