We had big expectations for Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), the triumphant return of the Tom Holland version of Spider-Man. This one takes him out of the friendly neighborhood.
It starts with Nick Fury and Maria Hill (Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders) in Mexico, investigating a tornado with a face. When it appears and starts tearing things up, a flying man with a silvered globe for a helmet appears and subdues it. Meanwhile, Peter Parker and his friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) are getting ready for a school trip to Europe. Parker is very stressed about the whole Snap thing, and losing his friend Iron-Man - he needs some time off. He also has a very specific plan to reveal his love for MJ (Zendaya). Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) shows up to try to get Parker to talk to Nick Fury, but Parker blows him off.
In Venice, another monster shows up - this time a water monster. Parker helps the mysterious helmeted man subdue it, and Fury finally catches up with him. He gives Parker a pair of sunglasses with the interface to an artificial intelligence system controlling a massive weapons satellite. He also introduces him to the mysterious man, who turns out to be Jake Gyllenhall, a hero from another dimension who is fighting the monsters. The Italians are calling him “Mysterio”.
SPOILER! Actually, that last line was the spoiler. Suppose a bald guy turned up in a Superman movie, acting like a hero, and called Lex Luther. It’s no big surprise when he turns out to be evil. Mysterio may not be as famous, but he’s pretty well known. His origin story is that he was creating illusory monsters and defeating them to gain fame and fortune, but that only works for one story. So the twist isn’t much of a twist for most viewers (as far as I know).
But that’s OK. Half the fun is Parker’s school trip, which Fury has started stage-managing behind the scenes to get Parker where he needs him. Then there’s his relations with MJ, which are pretty much going nowhere until she figures something out. Actually, this part got a little tedious - I wish he had been a little less dweeby about the whole thing. Also, MJ seems to have lost a lot of her prickly stand-offishness and is merely awesome. But, of course, she is awesome, so I guess that’s OK too.
There’s a lot of good laughs, great action, and fun side characters (Happy is maybe dating Aunt May? Played by Marisa Tomei, it makes sense). And Mysterio is a great villain, even if you know the twist. But this outing wasn’t as much fun for me as the last. Maybe the mixture of John Hughes style teen romp and superhero action didn’t work as well this time. Maybe I can’t really see Holland as 16, the age he seems to be playing. Or maybe you just can’t take the Spider-Man out of the Neighborhood.
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