Movie Review: Spider-Man: Far From Home

Our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is back in 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' and we were in for the ride.

The film opens with a hilariously high-school TV station's "in memoriam" montage to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" for Tony Stark and others who died in the fight against Thanos. Shortly after the events of Endgame, and the event the students at Midtown call "The Blip," Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is preparing for a few weeks of not being Spider-Man as him, and his classmates embark on a two-week field trip in Europe. Peter's plans on tour include having fun with his friends and telling MJ (Zendaya) how he feels about her. It's what an ordinary high school kid would do.

It's not long before Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) interrupts Peter's plans. Fury needs his help to stop beings from a different earth, known as the Elementals, from destroying our Earth. That's when Peter is introduced to Beck aka Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a man from one of the many realities in the Multiverse. Beck's faced the Elementals before and wants to help Nick Fury and Spider-Man defeat them.

Poor Peter wants to spend time with his crush and tour Europe. Instead, he gets roped into the saving the world again and trying the fill the shoes Tony Stark left behind.

'Far From Home' is a blast. It's a high school romance movie with superhero sprinkled throughout. Zendaya and Tom Holland have incredible onscreen chemistry. Zendaya is an excellent quirky MJ. She's just the right amount of awkward with the perfect quick-witted responses to make MJ standout in this sequel.

Holland continues to be the best Spider-Man. He's believable as a nerdy high school kid having the courage to tell his crush how he feels. He's also believable as a graceful superhero trying to step up and be an Avenger. Even when Holland isn't in the suit, Peter talking about the weight of being a superhero feels authentic in a way it hasn't with previous actors. He has a great scene with Happy discussing how much he misses Mr. Stark. It's a teary-eyed heartfelt scene that fits perfectly with the character and the film.

Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic as Mysterio. This film allows for Mysterio to have a much more layered back story and for Gyllenhaal to be as animated as he wants to be. It was good to see Gyllenhaal finally make an appearance in a Spider-Man movie and it was well worth the wait.

Marvel Studios does a brilliant job of tying their films together and making them feel like one continuous story. There are moments from Endgame and previous Marvel movies throughout this film. It's a crafty way to keep us involved and feeling like there's a payoff for investing in these stories.

Aside from the great performances and engaging story, 'Far From Home' has some of the best Spider-Man action scenes. The third act has a few views that are as intense as they are imaginative. Director Jon Watts does a fantastic job capturing the feel of the Spider-Man comics and bringing it on the big screen. The story is always moving and is the perfect balance of action and comedy.

'Spider-Man: Far From Home' is an excellent follow up to Endgame and the perfect sequel to Homecoming. Everything is bigger and better. It's a skillfully told story that showcases Holland and Zendaya's acting and onscreen chemistry. Holland could play Spider-Man until he's 40 and everyone would be OK with it. The two post-credit scenes leave the door wide open to whatever challenges will be facing Peter Parker next, so be sure to stay behind for that.

While 'Far From Home' delivers a solid superhero story, it still doesn't defeat my favorite 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,' the most exciting of Spidey yet, but it still is worth going to see. I would give this film 4 out of 5 stars.