‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’- A Delightful Mix Of Human Charms and Clever, Post-Truth Era Superheroics [Review]

Young teenage superhero Peter Parker wields great power and great responsibility while grappling with grief in Marvel’s superbly entertaining and terrifically written “Spider-Man: Far From Home”; a surprisingly substantive and relevant post-truth movie about uncertainty, trust and who and what we place our faith in. This narrative is far, far removed from the traditional Spider-Man origin story built on a great personal tragedy, and the name Uncle Ben is never uttered. Nevertheless, beginning from a post-“Avengers: Endgame” world, where beloved mentors have been killed and a still-shell-shocked planet reels from the aftereffects of the Thanos snap and the unsnapping—now known as The Blip—there’s certainly some faint, but resonant echoes of the classic story, that spin off into some wildly clever, inventive and surprising places.

In ‘Far From Home,’ which puts some real thought into the concept of the post-Endgame planet, the world is still in recovery from its emotional trauma and upheaval. Thanos wiped out half the population, a cataclysmic event, and then five years later, everyone returned, destabilizing the world all over again. ‘Far From Home’ tackles this ordeal with tremendous disarming humor in an introduction that, not unlike “Ant-Man & The Wasp,” finds hilarious comedic opportunity in large swaths of catch-up exposition. But an early takeaway, beneath all the amusing gags, is how discombobulated the world is, and thus ripe for manipulation. Meanwhile, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is overwhelmed, eager to get away from superheroic power and responsibility and spend time living like a normal teenager again. The world is desperate for a new Iron Man, the hero it still mourns, but Parker, nursing a now-amplified crush on weirdo MJ (Zendaya) has decidedly called “not it” and jumped at the chance to book his ticket overseas and escape it all on a school field trip.

Meanwhile, there’s a new hero in town, Mysterio, aka Quentin Beck (a fabulous Jake Gyllenhaal who expertly grasps the shifting tone of the movie and is inspired casting), who is chasing down a new global threat. This dovetails in a story about Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) who hijacks Peter Parker’s summer Euro vacation, attempting to enlist him to help Mysterio battle against some earth, wind and fire multiverse foes from another Earth called Elementals.

But appearances can be deceiving, and nothing is what it seems to be on the surface. What is meant to be a distracting getaway to clear his head, turns grave and perilous for Peter Parker and friends. Thus, ‘Far From Home,’ half diverting teen comedy, half superhero film—also about successors to the throne, tough choices and he who is uneasy to wear the crown—twists and turns with tremendously ingenious ideas sprung from the origin story of the Mysterio character that can’t really be discussed here without revealing secret motivations. That said, Mysterio’s central powers, hypnotism, magician tricks and illusions are employed to great effect thematically to discuss what’s real, what’s phony, and what should be trusted. The era of fake news and many applications of duplicity aren’t the first things that come to mind when you think of a Spider-Man movie, but they’re used to first-rate effect and come to a fantastic logical conclusion in a riotously fun post-credits scene.

The idea is expertly threaded throughout too, from the legacy of Tony Stark, seemingly everywhere, that puts great trust in Peter Parker despite his insecurity, to the suspicious, conspiracy-theorist MJ to the deceptions behind a clandestine Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) relationship, the notion of belief systems and how they’re challenged, rethought and even rebooted is everywhere.

‘Far From Home’ packs in pronounced and convincing texture about self-doubt, the need to believe in something and how that’s exploited by the devious, but never forgets to be, first and foremost, enormously funny, delightful, action-packed and enjoyable. Balancing the post-Endgame psychological fallout of a topsy turvy world that has thrown everyone for an emotional loop, ‘Far From Home,’ also manages to be winningly romantic, awkwardly goofy in that perfect teenage way and even adorable. Inventively shaped (amusing throwback nods to “Iron Man” and ‘Civil War‘) by director Jon Watts and writers, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, ‘Far From Home,’ pulls off the trick of fitting perfectly within the Marvel formula, but providing enough surprises that it feels totally fresh. In other words, Kevin Feige has a big hit on his hands yet again.

Ultimately, “Spider-Man Far From Home” turns all its intelligent themes into a triumphant story of self-belief for Peter Parker. Fed up with the lies, Spider-Man finally makes the important choices he’s avoided, and it culminates in a rousing third act that is thrilling, full of stakes and emotionally resonant. Be cynical about Marvel’s formula all you want, it’s still very much present, but the web of deceit they weave here, and the manner of which Peter Parker creatively spins out of it, is some top-notch summer moviegoing that shows their dominion is not about to end any time soon. [B+]