Friendly Canadian Reviews: 'Spider-Man: Far From Home'

Greetings!

As you could gather, this post contains spoilers, so proceed with caution! ⚠

I recently saw the new Spider-Man movie, and I liked it! I had good seats at the theatre, so that was a bonus. And the popcorn tasted extra fresh...

First off, the movie is funny. It has a cute, innocent sort of humour that I would say would be kid-appropriate. Actor Tom Holland is endearing as a teen Spider-Man. I thought he did a really nice job, and I enjoyed the writing of his lines ("but I'm not 21!") and his purposefully awkward delivery. Jacob Batalon returns as Ned, Peter Parker's bumbling best friend. Once again he was effortlessly funny and enjoyable to watch. I felt the real star was Zendaya; she reminded me exactly of myself 15 years ago as an angsty yet well-meaning teen. I really enjoyed her acting, even down to her "hunched" posture. I thought she stole scenes, and thought she looked really pretty, especially considering she looked like she wasn't wearing much makeup. I appreciate the natural beauty look, and I'm glad to see female characters portrayed like this more lately (like Daisy Ridley as Rey in the Star Wars franchise, or Tessa Thomson as Agent M in MIB: International).

Now for a bit of a critique; hey, I'm nice but I have some discernment!:

• Ned's trip-long fling seemed convenient to the story line. It was pretty funny and cute though.
• It was pretty obvious Jake Gyllenhaal's character "Mysterio" (Quentin Beck) was going to be the bad guy. Even though I knew he was a bad guy, I still didn't mind it. Perhaps the creators assumed we knew he would be the bad guy? Maybe it was even in the trailers. I don't know, I only saw I think one trailer, and a few Pinterest-style one minute ads. All in all, Gyllenhaal was pretty entertaining as the character; he certainly seemed a bit unstable. Looks like he had fun playing him.
• Quentin/Mysterio's motivations weren't all that clear, or threatening. But the way he manipulated the fatherless and, well, now pretty much role-modelless, Peter was pretty spot on. I guess coming off the last two epic Avengers movies, pretty much any other movie's stakes are going to feel pretty low. I mean, how can anything compete with Thanos wiping out half of all life in the universe? And then the desperate, last-ditch attempts of changing that reality in Avengers: Endgame? The deaths of one major franchise character (Iron Man) and of the prettiest woman in the franchise (Black Widow) made for a gripping and compelling movie.

Spider-Man is definitely a lot more light-hearted! Nice for date night, I felt. Not so much end-of-days, dramatically breathtaking epicness as in Avengers. Certainly I left the theatre with a lot less angst and not as many questions (though I did marvel—pun intended?—at the cg, which was cool, especially the drone-created effects). Like how did Quentin/Mysterio (why am I having so much trouble just picking one name LOL) have so many alternate realities filmed to trick Peter with? The scene (his death) on the bridge? Like how does one film that? And knowing you're going to die and filming something to blackmail Peter with? I'm like, is he even dead, or was that part of it too? The glasses said all the illusions were off, but were they *really*? What if the glasses were/are an illusion? Or more likely, what if Mysterio/Quentin had the glasses programmed to not work for Peter? After all, Peter ceremoniously gave them over, and the glasses asked him many times if he wanted to do that. When he put them back on in the bridge "death" scene, the glasses were basically nonchalantly like, "Oh hi again, Peter." So even if the glasses are back in Peter's possession, how is he to truly know they are working for his benefit? Ok so maybe I did leave with *some* questions. Like, what about the adorable relationship of Peter's aunt May and Happy? Gotta say, I loved that! Super cute and funny, and well-acted.

Overall I really enjoyed the movie! I liked seeing locations all around Europe; it brought me back to my own Euro trip in my early 20s. It was interesting seeing some of the sights, like a Venice clock tower, get "destroyed." The use of the drones and tech was an interesting, modern take on weaponry and illusions. I was genuinely gripped when Spider-Man was fooled and then seriously injured by the physically and psychologically tormenting tech illusions. I loved how he basically used the force (Peter tingle, lol) to defeat Mysterio/Quenten Beck. I love intuition, it really is so powerful. Happy to see it portrayed in the film.

It was pretty crazy how the real identities of Nick Fury and Maria Hill weren't revealed until post-credits... Classic Marvel! 🎥

So yeah, I liked the movie and I wish all the actors and crew a healthy, happy and prosperous life! And I wish that for you too.

If you haven't seen it yet, enjoy!🍿If you've seen it already, I hope you enjoyed it, and that perhaps this story reminded you of fun times!

Wishing you all the best,

Megan