Re-Visiting the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Spider-Man: Far From Home

 "Spider-Man: Far From Home" (2019)

"Captain America: Civil War" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming" brought Spider-Man in to the MCU and the first Spidey sequel has a pretty distinguished place in the MCU. It is the first movie post "Endgame" and it closes out Phase 3 of the MCU. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was also the last Marvel property until "WandaVision" premiered in January.

Principal photography on "Spider-Man: Far From Home" began in July 2018 and concluded in October 2018. The film stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Zendaya as MJ, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Jon Favreau as Harold "Happy" Hogan, J.B. Smoove as Julius Dell, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Martin Starr as Roger Harrington, Marisa Tomei as May Parker and Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck/Mysterio. The film was written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. It was directed by Jon Watts. "Spider-Man: Far From Home" was released on July 2, 2019.

Web swinging would be terrifying.

I'm going to just say this right from the beginning. "Spider-Man: Far From Home" is the best live-action "Spider-Man" movie. I will die on this hill. Don't come for me. If we are going "Spider-Man" film overall, I would give it to "Spider-Man: Into the Multiverse." But as far as live-action movies go, as a Spidey fan for a good portion of my life, this movie does everything right. 

A lot of the success of "Spider-Man: Far From Home" and this iteration of the character really hangs on Tom Holland's portrayal of Peter Parker. He just feels like he stepped right out of a comic book. This love lorn take on Peter is great and is so freaking charming, I can't stand it. Zendaya shines even more as MJ and she and Holland have such amazing chemistry. Her modern take on MJ feels very grounded and very real. I love that she figures out that Peter is Spider-Man and when he admits it, she freaks out. This feels super real and it's just one of the many reasons this movie is so great. 

Jake Gyllenhaal is a great addition to the cast as Quentin Beck/Mysterio. First, Gyllenhaal is serving major hot dad vibes with that beard. If you're a Spider-Man fan, you know that the other shoe is going to drop eventually with Mysterio and it does, but the movie plays the whole thing really well. Holland and Gyllenhaal play off each other really well and build a great rapport with each other. It gets to the point where you kind of are hoping that maybe Mysterio will turn out to be a decent guy, but then the reveal happens and it great. The reveal that Beck and the others working with him are all disgruntled STARK employees is pure genius. The flashbacks weaving them back throughout Marvel history even back to the original "Iron Man" film is a lot of fun. And it is completely in character that Stark would take something like Beck's VR tech, use it for a personal therapy session and name it BARF. Just perfection.

Fishbowls.

I had a conversation with a fellow MCU and Marvel fan while I was re-watching "Spider-Man: Far From Home" and he brought up some interesting points in regards to Peter's characterization in the MCU. He said that "a well funded, financially secure Peter Parker feels off" and thought that Pete's personal narrative kind of became overwhelmed with his relationship with Tony Stark. I can see those complaints but I respectfully disagree. I think the MCU is taking the "ol' Parker luck" and looking at it from a different lens. What happens when Peter is backed by one of the richest men in the world with cutting edge technology at his disposal. The answer is that things just go bad for him in new and different ways. In "Homecoming," it was Pete misusing the tech because he didn't understand how it worked or getting over confident and putting lots of people including his classmates in danger. 

In "Far From Home," it manifests in his relationship with Beck. Peter is known for making emotional, snap judgements about people that ultimately come back to bite him in the ass and that is absolutely what happens here. This just feels like a modern incarnation of Peter's bad luck that isn't something that we've seen a million times before. Then there is his romantic life. Watching Peter's plans to be alone and confess his feelings to MJ be thwarted at ever turn is classic Peter Parker. Throw in, newly hot Brad and you have a recipe for classic Peter Parker lovestruck shenanigans. And if you're jonesing for a beaten down, everyone against Spider-Man Peter, it seems like the next film will be right up your alley.

Night Monkey!!!

I have to talk about the single best sequence in any "Spider-Man" movie ever. I'm of course talking about the Mysterio VR sequence. It is pure perfection. It feels like something that was pulled directly from the pages of a comic book or from the '90's "Spider-Man" animated series. It just is so good. I want to watch it over and over again. The giant Mysterio. Peter in his fishbowl. It's so fucking cool. I never thought in my life I would see something like that and I'm so happy that I did. Even if the rest of this movie was total shite, I would still probably really love it for this sequence alone. 

There are a lot of little things that I love about this movie. I love the school news report that opens the movie. It feels so real. The Whitney playing over the "In memorial" montage, the footage of people re-appearing after the blip. Chef's kiss. The awkward flirtation between Happy and May. The emotional stuff with Peter dealing with Tony's death. The mid credits scenes are some of the best because they propel the Spider-Man story but also where the MCU is going in Phase 4. The appearance of J Jonah Jameson (once again played by JK Simmons *squee*) with the altered footage of Spider-Man killing Beck plus the reveal to everyone of Spider-Man's real identity raises the stakes for "Spider-Man: No Way Home." Then, the post credits scene revealing that the whole time Fury and Hill were Talos and a Skrull companion tasked with giving the EDITH glasses to Peter. It answers a blind spot the movie seemed to have. Why would Hill and Fury trust Beck so implicitly right off the bat? The reveal that the actual Fury is in space is great too. Are we getting an actual SWORD in the MCU? Stay tuned.

Next up, we officially enter Phase 4 with the first Disney+ MCU television series, "WandaVision." 

So, let me have it! What do you all think of "Spider-Man: Far From Home?" Hit the comments with your thoughts and opinions.