- Location: Cinemark Century Point Ruston
- Is it weird that I enjoy the new Marvel Spider-Man movies much more when there's no action at all? Just as the best scene from the previous entry, Spider-Man: Homecoming, featured a quiet conversation with Michael Keaton, the best parts of Spider-Man: Far From Home all involve characters talking to, rather than punching, one another. In fact, the action sequences in both films pale in comparison to those of most other Marvel features, but the writing is so witty and the cast so talented that I can hardly complain. The fact that a set of filmmakers finally got Spider-Man right within my lifetime is amazing, spectacular, and all the other spider-adjectives.
- Many of the memorable conversations in Spider-Man: Far From Home revolve around the subject of young love. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has a plan to win over the wonderfully enigmatic M. J. (Zendaya) while their school group tours Europe, but his romantic rival (Remy Hii) has matured nicely over the past five years. Peter's roommate Ned (Jacob Batalon) boards their eight-hour transatlantic plane flight extolling the virtues of bachelorhood but disembarks hand-in-hand with junior news reporter Betty Brant (Angourie Rice). Even the slightly-less-young Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) have something going, although its seriousness depends upon who you ask. All of these relationships are presented in absolutely endearing and hilarious ways, and I say that as somebody who doesn't usually go for rom-coms. (Maybe the problem all along was not enough Spider-Man!)
- The villain of the piece this time around is Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), who initially materializes to battle a series of powerful "elemental" monsters that have been wreaking havoc on Earth. Claiming to hail from an alternate dimension, Beck demonstrates some impressive monster-fighting chops, but more importantly for both the film series and Peter, he is there to fill in the fatherly void left by the death of Tony Stark. Still, a guy named Mysterio is bound to have a few secrets, and Beck's seem like they could have come directly from producer's notes to the screenwriters. Specifically, he seems really worried about "Avengers-level threats" and Tony Stark's legacy and even personally reviews a few of the movie's VFX shots while wearing a motion-capture suit. I'm glad that the twenty-third film in the Marvel series is willing to engage in some humorous meta-commentary on the true villains of blockbuster series filmmaking.
- I really can't say enough good things about the cast of Spider-Man: Far From Home, which literally has no weak members. All of the aforementioned leads are terrific, and the supporting actors (Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, J. B. Smoove, Martin Starr, Tony Revolori...and Peter Billingsley! And J. K. Simmons!!) add color at every turn. With all due respect to the Guardians of the Galaxy series, no other Marvel movie comes close to being as funny as the two Spider-Man movies, and very few films, Marvel or otherwise, feature such plausible dialogue for young people. Although the film's big action finale occasionally lapses into a confusing tangle of drones and webs, at least the audience can imagine this minor lapse stemming from director Jon Watts and his crew ironing their capes instead of perfecting the final cuts. Regardless, I'd watch it all again without hesitation.
- Also, apparently Nick Fury and Maria Hill are Skrulls, but I didn't stick around to see that post-credits scene. Nothing could have been as shocking as the return of J. K. Simmons!
