It’s the end of an era.

To be apt, it’s the end of Phase 3. While Avengers Endgame was the finale, Spider-man: Far from Home always been referred to by Marvel honchos as the epilogue to the whole Infinity saga.

It weirdly doesn’t seem that way at all…that’s a good and bad thing.

What is Spider-man: Far from Home?

Spider-Man: Far from Home is the latest movie in the newest Spider-man franchise. It stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck/ Mysterio, Marisa Tomei as May and Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan and Zendaya as MJ.

It’s 8 months after the Avengers assembled to beat Thanos and the world is still coming to grips with the returned population. Referred to as ‘The Blip’ (the event that restored those who got snapped out of existence by Thanos), everybody’s still readjusting to friends and family who were MIA for years.

After helping to save the world and losing his mentor, all Peter Parker wants to do now is go on a vacation for some much needed R&R.

Of course, the old Parker luck being what it is, he’s soon dragged into yet another superheroic adventure that involves former agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Nick Fury and Maria Hill as well as mysterious newcomer Quentin Beck (Mysterio) who claims he’s from another reality.

Above all that, the specter of Tony Stark looms. Or rather, the legacy he left behind.

The world knows what Tony did to stop Thanos and in Far from Home, Iron Man is idolized as the planet mourns the fallen Avenger. Huge murals of him dot the landscape, drawings of the armored Avenger decorate the classrooms of Midtown High…the legacy Iron Man/Tony Stark is everywhere and inescapable.

That’s actually the central plot to all this.

Sure, the trailer paints it as a global crisis involving Mysterio (and it is that too) but the reality is the movie is all about Tony Stark and the legacy he left behind. Not to spoil the movie, but a huge part of it deals with Peter’s acceptance of his role as Tony’s heir apparent and how he fits into this brave new world.

Protectors of Earth.

Man and Woman in Black.

In the shadows are Nick Fury and Maria Hill.

They might no longer be with S.H.I.E.L.D. (the MCU doesn’t even seem to acknowledge that the organization is still around, despite Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. being set in the same continuity) but they’re still intent on protecting Earth from potential threats, which Mysterio claims are coming.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio is pretty decent, akin to how he’d act in the comics. Well, the late 90s/early 2000s version of Mysterio anyways.

It’s all smoke and mirrors with him and I love how Far from Home plays to that, even referring to Iron Man and Captain America: Civil War in completely unexpected ways.

Appearances can be deceiving.

While there’s certainly some suspension of disbelief needed to accept the movie’s explanation of how Mysterio operates, it’s not too out of left field to be completely implausible.

What is weird is why Peter seems to have lost his spider sense (or his Peter Tingle as Happy and May calls it) with no explanation why. Maybe its PTSD or something, but the movie never makes it explicitly clear.

It just seems like a happy coincidence since that’d be the one thing that could be useful for most of the movie. While Peter does get it back near the end, its return is anti-climatic and barely explained or touched upon.

Spider-man? No. Night Monkey.

The action set pieces are pretty decent (but forgettable); they seem much more scaled down compared to ones we’ve seen in recent Marvel movies. Even the climax of the film seems subdued and small in comparison to the chaos of Endgame. CGI Spidey looks a bit off in some scenes too, especially those where it transitions to live action.

Spidey’s new suit (which looks a lot like a blend of the Superior Spider-man suit and Spidey’s original Amazing Fantasy getup) looks decent but its capabilities aren’t really shown off. We get to see its new gliding capabilities (courtesy of the armpit webs) and the new taser webs, but not much else.

The armpit webs are a tradition!

For the first custom made suit by Peter created with Stark Industries tech, it seems a bit tame and underutilized.

The movie deftly juggles the main plot with numerous sub-plots rather well, such as Ned and Betty’s romance (in the comics, Ned and Betty were married), Peter’s need to not appear as Spider-Man in Europe (which in turns to him being called the Night Monkey) and Happy Hogan’s gradual shift from overseer/guardian to partner.

As epilogues go, Far from Home isn’t that satisfying, especially if you’re looking for hints on where Marvel is taking its cinematic universe in the future. There are barely any hints of what the other Avengers have been doing so you’ll definitely want to check your expectations.

The movie’s pretty self-contained (apart from numerous Avengers Endgame callbacks) and you don’t even need to have watched Homecoming (though it’ll certainly help with knowing who the characters are) to enjoy Far from Home. In fact, as Marvel movies go, it’s pretty much Marvel spinning its tires…that is until you get to the post credit scenes.

These two scenes have MONUMENTAL impact to what’s coming. The first is a life-changing revelation for Spider-man (and everybody who loves J.K. Simmons) and definitely seems to set up a ‘One More Day’-esque story arc in the future while the second…well, I’m still confused about the second actually.

I’m not sure if it’s introducing S.W.O.R.D. or what but it certainly looks like there’s going to be more cosmic adventures coming to the MCU. You’ll DEFINITELY want to have watched Captain Marvel for this stinger or else you’ll have no idea who the characters are.

It’s a rather weird move to put major revelations into scenes some people might miss but it’s definitely a great payoff to those who wait it out. Plus they definitely got me interested in what’s coming up, especially for Spider-man!

The bottom line.

Spider-Man: Far from Home might not be as epic as Endgame was but what it is a great movie that deals with Endgame’s aftermath in a surprisingly personal way for Peter Parker.

While Mysterio ultimately fizzles out as a villain near the end, the rest of the movie is tight, funny and a refreshingly upbeat affair after all the doom and gloom seen in Infinity War and Endgame.

So yeah, you’ll definitely want to watch Far from Home, even if it’s for no other reason than to catch the majorly important stingers at the end.

TLDR:

The Good
– The humor.
– Decent plot.
– Awesome post credit scenes.

The Bad
– None of the set-pieces really stand out.
– Mysterio is a lame villain.
– Doesn’t give as much info as you’d like about post-Endgame Avengers.

Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.