Spider-Man: Far From Home, review: Marvel’s follow-up to Endgame is a satisfying palate cleanser

Tom Holland has a sparky energy as the conflicted teenager Peter Parker, who has to face the fact that he’s one of the last heroes left to defend Earth

Dir: Jon Watts. Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, Samuel L Jackson, Marisa Tomei, and Jon Favreau. 12A cert, 129 mins

What comes after the end? It’s the question that’s been hanging over the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since the release of Avengers: Endgame was sold to us as the final chapter in a series of 22 interconnected films. But, already, the dust has settled and a successor has emerged: Spider-Man: Far From Home, which serves as a sequel to 2017’s Homecoming and a direct follow-up to Endgame. It also officially concludes what Marvel has termed “phase three” of its franchise and, with the studio yet to confirm any future release schedule, provides our last stop before we march off into the great unknown.

It’s a lot to place on the shoulders of a 16-year-old kid from Queens who can shoot sticky stuff out of his wrists. And yet, while Far From Home is distinctly mid-level Marvel fare, there’s a lot to be said for the fact it isn’t crushed under the weight of its own ambitions. It feels comfortably like the end of a chapter, the beginning of a new one, an epilogue, and a palate cleanser all at once. It also works perfectly well as a film about Spider-Man.

It’s hard to picture how the universe would deal with half of all living things suddenly getting snapped out of existence, then snapped back five years later, as happened in Infinity War and Endgame. Far From Home takes the smarter route of not really tackling the idea at all, instead funnelling all those possible feelings of loss and confusion into Peter Parker (Tom Holland) himself. Not only is he still mourning the death of his mentor, Tony Stark, but he now has to face the fact that he’s one of the last heroes left to defend Earth, despite still feeling like “your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man”. There’s a lot of room here to get meta with the film and argue it’s a reflection of Marvel’s own nervousness over whether Holland’s version of the character will be able to carry the franchise in future, with big-hitters like Captain America now gone. Either way, it’s a solid concern.

All Peter really wants to do is, at least for one summer, act like a normal teenager, go on a school trip to Europe, and finally confess his feelings to his crush (Zendaya’s MJ, who once more nails the weird girl persona, making her one of the underrated highlights of the entire MCU). That isn’t in Nick Fury’s plan, however, since he’s expecting Spider-Man to show up when duty calls like any of the old Avengers would have done. And Fury (Samuel L Jackson) does not take kindly to being ghosted by a teenager. Thankfully, a potential solution to Peter’s problems arrives in the form of Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), an interdimensional hero with a crystal ball for a helmet and the ability to propel himself around using clouds of green gas. His arrival allows Peter to live a little longer in the delusion that he’s still the scrappy side character we first met back in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.

Far From Home draws a lot from Peter’s internal conflict, in a way that allows the film to embrace its own conflicting identities. Admittedly, the best moments (by far) are when it’s just a straight comedy about teenage misadventures in Europe. Holland has the sort of sparky energy that would make him a natural fit as the lead of a John Hughes movie and he’s surrounded by a strong supporting cast (Jacob Batalon, Angourie Rice, and Tony Revolori all reprise their roles to humorous effect). Although Gyllenhaal’s role is fairly sombre on paper, he’s clearly having fun with what he’s given, much like Cate Blanchett did in Thor: Ragnarok or Tilda Swinton did in Doctor Strange. This is the bug-eyed, explosive version of the actor we might recognise from Okja or Nightcrawler.

The rest veers into MCU-by-numbers and, although director Jon Watts does take some commendable risks during the film’s action sequences, it doesn’t take long before we get trapped in a repeating cycle of “massive CGI fight” followed by “expository scene in a makeshift meeting room where everyone talks with their arms folded”. Characters and ideas occasionally get lost in the mix, with Mysterio’s own backstory feeling a little limp and underdeveloped, considering the wider ramifications it implies. Maybe these are just the inevitable casualties of a film that’s expected to hit so many different targets. But to its credit, it’s surprising how well everything holds together, and how joyful it still manages to be. Despite all the work it’s doing, Far From Home won’t let you see it break a sweat.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is out now