BLOOD WORK: MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE: SPIDER-MAN ~ FAR FROM HOME (2019)

Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come to a close with the 23rd film in the franchise, SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME. While Avengers: Endgame showcased the grand culmination of everything these films had been building towards for the last eleven years, Spider-Man: Far From Home acts as both a final chapter/epilogue as well as hinting at what the future of the MCU might look like.

2019 saw three films set in the MCU released, CAPTAIN MARVEL, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, and this latest Spider-Man. Compared to 2018's MCU releases, BLACK PANTHER, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, and ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, I felt this year's films were lacking. I loved the MCU films of 2018 and felt it was perhaps the highest quality year in Marvel Studios' career. With a year like that I guess it should've stood to reason that the following year wouldn't live up to such a high water mark.

Like any ongoing series or franchise, there are good years and not so great years. Captain Marvel was good but I didn't feel it was great. It met the lower end of the MCU spectrum for me personally. And after much thought and LOTS of civil discussion with others, my dissatisfaction with Avengers: Endgame has only grown. Two big MCU movies in a row have fallen into my lower tier of enjoyment. As such I was dreading Spider-Man: Far From Home. Would this be the year where Marvel Studios falls out of favor with me? Would this be the year that portends the steady decline of the franchise as a whole?

Well, maybe. I'm not a Spider-Man guy. I could do without him altogether. So you know a Spider-Man movie is good when someone like me says that they really liked it! No biases, no fanboy fogged lenses. Spider-Man: Far From Home is easily the best Marvel movie of the year. In similar fashion to how Captain America: Civil War took what happened in Avengers: Age of Ultron and made something really good out of it, Far From Home does the same with Endgame.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

THE PLOT

The world is still adjusting to the gutting of the universe by Thanos and the return of everyone who was dusted five years later. But even more so, the world is suffering from the loss of its greatest hero: Tony Stark a.k.a. IRON MAN. Everyone knows what he sacrificed for them. And with Stark gone and the world a much scarier place than anyone ever realized, everyone is wondering who will be the next Iron Man? Who will save us when another Thanos arises? Peter Parker is wondering that very thing too. He knows it's not him. But when a new threat appears and a new hero emerges to fight it, Spidey finds the hero to hand over the reins to... or so he thinks.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame had placed my opinion of Marvel Studios at a very low point going into Spider-Man: Far From Home. I was expecting another stinker from Marvel. Maybe my low expectations helped me like this film because I barely have anything negative to say at all. Maybe there's an advantage to going into a super hero film where you have no attachment to the character or the source material at all. Perhaps both reasons contributed to how much I enjoyed this movie. If it's characters I like and a story I know, I'll probably be dissatisfied. If it's characters I don't particularly enjoy and stories I know little about then I'll probably like it. Ironic, yes?

After so many Spider-Man films it blows my mind how Marvel Studios made this film and Homecoming feel fresh and different from all of the prior Spider-Man films. One part of that is their choices in villains and how they've brought about their villains. Never in a million years would I have guessed that the Vulture could be so compelling and amazing to see on screen. Mysterio likewise was surprisingly good, not as good as Michael Keaton mind you, but way better than I ever would've expected. I love how Mysterio was tied into small bits from Captain America: Civil War and the original Iron Man! Being tied to all of the Stark Industries employees that Tony had jilted over the years was so cool and felt very right for this film universe.

This should go without saying but just how interconnected the filmmakers have made Far From Home with the greater MCU is astonishing. The same can be said with how Homecoming integrated itself into the MCU as well. Captain Marvel was deeply connected as well but the way that film integrated itself was murky and sketchy at best, some of it feeling unnatural and some of it raising more questions rather than answering questions. All this is to illustrate that there is a skill in integrating subsequent films into a pre-established franchise. And the people behind Homecoming and Far From Home have great skill at it.

I loved Happy Hogan in this movie and it was great seeing more of Nick Fury and Maria Hill. And seeing J.K. Simmons back as J. Jonah Jameson was a dream come true. He is the only J. Jonah Jameson there should be. Perfect. Tom Holland does another great job as Peter Parker but I daresay the show stealer was Jacob Batalon as Ned. The whole supporting cast, from MJ and Betty to the teachers to even Flash Thompson, were great and so much fun to be with. And Jake Gyllenhaal killed it as Mysterio. There was only one little scene where the script felt forced, after Mysterio receives EDITH (I love what the acronym means!) and he proceeds to reveal his entire plan to the audience. It felt a little "Scooby Doo" to me, but in the end it's not a big deal.

And holy cow, both of the end credits stingers have MASSIVE implications! I liked seeing Talos again but yet, two movies in the same year where Skrulls are depicted as good guys, it feels a little too much. It would be like if Marvel introduced HYDRA as a good guy organization and kept doing it in more movies. Everyone who knows who they are from the comics would be screaming, "No! They're Nazis! What the hell, Marvel?" I'm fine with a group a good Skrulls but there should be a larger powerful group of evil Skrulls as well. Again, not a big deal, but c'mon Marvel, the Skrulls can't be all good. They're Marvel's second villain EVER from the Silver Age for crying out loud!

I also wonder: Molten Man, Sandman, and Hydro Man (was the fourth supposed to be Whirlwind?): these guys were revealed to be holograms. Does that mean these characters can be checked off the Spider-Man rogues list as having appeared in a movie? Sandman was in a Spider-Man movie prior and was already checked off, but not the others. Probably not a big deal unless you're a big fan of these Spidey villains (which I am not, but someone out there is, I'm sure), but holograms just doesn't feel right as their only onscreen depictions. But who knows what the future holds for them?

And lastly, for any who don't know, this movie is the final chapter in Phase Three and acts as a great epilogue to the entire MCU saga that started with Iron Man in 2008. This film furthers the line from Pepper Potts to Tony in Avengers: Endgame, "We'll be okay. You can rest now." While Robert Downey Jr. is not in the movie, Iron Man, or at least his presence, very much is. This movie is a wonderful farewell to the MCU while offering hope for the future.

THE VERDICT

Spider-Man: Far From Home sticks the landing and is the best Marvel movie of the year. The cast is fantastic. The story is beautifully integrated into the greater MCU. And it is a wonderful goodbye to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (at least to Phases One through Three). The quality maintained between Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home is neck and neck, a slight edge given to Homecoming thanks to Michael Keaton. From 2017 to 2019, Spider-Man has had perhaps the greatest three years of his career, in my opinion, including Into the Spider-Verse. It's a great time to be a Spider-Man fan (says the guy who isn't! Ironic, yes?).

Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10