The recent news that Spiderman may no longer be part of the Marvel film universe would be a shame if it's true. Tom Holland is the best big screen web slinger of all time, more than owning the screen in his second stand alone adventure, SPIDERMAN: FAR FROM HOME.
Fun, spectacular, but ultimately a little bit too much of everything we've grown to expect, the film around Holland isn't short on talent, but groans with an underlying stink of familiarity.
After the events of "EndGame" our characters are dealing with the fall out of half the population having disappeared and then returned 8 months before this chapter takes place.
The shadow of Peter Parker's mentor Tony Stark looms everywhere and Peter heads off to London on a school trip to escape all things superhero. Alas........
Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) come calling as a nasty new villain descends on London. What are the odds!
Jake Gyllenhall is excellent as Mysterio, a hero from an alternate universe who has come to Earth to battle an evil force bent on destroying the planet.
The film takes off from there, with more story line twists and turns than most Avengers films. Zendaya (The Greatest Showman) is terrific as MJ and Jacob Batalan is perfect as Peter's best friend Ned.
The action scenes are beautifully staged and rendered with every bit of its $160 million budget on screen.
Maybe I'm just getting a little burned out on Marvel movies, but as the film wore on, I enjoyed every minute, but it started to seem very familiar and even it's surprises failed to wow.
A post credits scene that should have been a WOW just kind of got an "okay, that's kind of cool" from me and the second post credits scene made me roll my eyes because now I have to rethink the whole damn thing and how it fits into the film series...LOL
I think I'm just burned out on the massive overarching story behind the decade plus run of Marvel films. It's a series I love, so dont know why I'm kind of grumpy about this installment.
Holland is flawless. He's the perfect Spidey. Gyllenhall is excellent. This was the first Spiderman movie to gross over $1 Billion worldwide.
It looks great. It's fun.
So why am I less than excited as I walk out of the theatre?
I need a break from the Marvel universe. I'll give it an appreciative B+ and look forward to the long break before the next installment.
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