Now you may be wondering why I'm reviewing Spider-Man: Far From Home now, is it because the world ended and we're all trapped in our homes? I'm still working so no, is it because no new films are coming out, I've only reviewed one new release this year so also no. There was a cute story when I wrote this review about seeing it with my nephew about two months after it came out because my local Odeon was still doing weekend screenings of it. I wrote the review, then never published it, I don't really know why, but since 1917, Bad Boys For Life and The Gentlemen aren't out on digital or Blu ray yet and I now have every weeknight and weekend to my lonesome, depressed self, I might as well finally publish that review I wrote about six months ago for Spider-Man: Far From Home.
And I'm just going to say it, my second time watching this film was a bit more difficult than the first, and it's because of the first half. With the film picking up after Endgame, it has to tackle a lot of fallout from the events of that film, and some of it worked really well in my opinion. One of those things is Peter Parker, who not only has to deal with the loss of his mentor, but with the pressure of following in Tony's footsteps, a pressure to fill a void that he doesn't think he can fill, and that leads to some genuinely touching moments in the film when he confronts his fear of letting Stark down. This arc is at the core of Peter's story in this film and it is really good, and as everyone already knows, this Peter Parker is really likable, a nerdy, awkward high-schooler who has to deal with crushes, bullies and occasionally super-villains. In the film he befriends and allies himself with Quentin Beck, who I remember being my favourite thing about the film when I first saw it, having watched it again however, he's fallen to number two behind Peter's arc. Beck, a.k.a. Mysterio is a great villain in this film, and it's been out for months now so screw it, I'm going to spill it on why. For the first half of this film, Beck is a completely different person; he's a noble, selfless hero who will do anything to stop the Elementals, he has a tragic past and comes to fill the void in Peter's life that Tony once filled, as well as a hero for Peter to look up to. But the film doesn't really get great for me until the mask slips and you find out who Beck really is. The film's supporting cast is where things go off the rails for me; Nick Fury is good because he's Nick Fury, he made Captain Marvel somewhat watchable, and Happy is pretty funny too, looking after Peter as best he can while clearly being in love with Aunt May, and that made for a few of the film's funniest and cutest scenes. 
Peter's class however is where things suffer, and it's not even that they're bad; there's another boy that likes MJ and his conflict with Peter can be really funny, Ned is also the same lovable muppet he was in Homecoming, having good chemistry with Peter, but I do think his subplot about being in love with one of his classmates was really cringeworthy. This joke was repeated in practically every scene he was in, and while I understand the joke because I was also in love in high school, it started to get tiresome. Flash is another one that walks the line between funny and stale; his adoration of Spider-Man and contempt for Peter Parker is hysterical and now that Spider-Man 3 is happening, It'll be fun to see where that goes, but that's about all that was funny as his shtick about being an influencer is something I just don't get. And then there's MJ, who I don't remember Peter liking in Homecoming, it's a bit weird, actually; their roles are flipped from that film. Whereas in Homecoming, MJ was clearly the one with the hots for an oblivious Peter, in Far From Home she's the object of Peter's desire, but on top of this odd flip, she's just a funny character, and not in a comedic way. Her way of being super awkward and morbid isn't as charming as it's supposed to be, but more so, she's at the centre of the film's high-school drama portion, and that just doesn't appeal to me, even if it does it well, which it probably does. 
Where this film shines is, like I said before, with Mysterio and Peter Parker; Peter's arc of coming to terms with Tony's death and coming to accept the responsibility he trusted him with is the film's strongest aspect by far, and Beck is an awesome villain. In the film's second half is when Beck shows his true colours and goes full Syndrome; because his villainous plan is to be a hero by tricking people into thinking he is. The twist that the Elementals aren't real and that they're all part of Beck's plan to get revenge on Stark is a great one, even if it's made painfully obvious, A: by the fact that he's too good to be true and B: because there's still half a movie to go. Once he stops pretending to be a hero, his character completely shifts; becoming aggressive, selfish and egotistical, and the games he plays with Peter are truly sadistic. Because his super-power is being able to control what people see; he uses technology to distort reality around himself and his targets, fabricating giant monsters that he then shows up and fights, or preying on his victim's fears and insecurities to fuck with them. This is actually a really interesting idea for a villain, one that speaks to our modern world where truth and reality are not wholly reliable anymore, and where people with the motive and the means to control and dictate what is real can cause massive change, as well as massive destruction. And the film really has fun with his technology too, leading to sequences that feel like they've been ripped straight from Arkham Asylum and its Scarecrow levels.
Beck's games are really funky to watch as he distorts the world around Peter to trap him, or goes on the offensive with frightening visions of his friends dying and a zombie Iron Man coming after him. The first time he does this in particular is my favourite scene in the film, it's a sequence that just keeps escalating to a hard-hitting climax that leaves Peter shaken, paranoid and seriously injured. This twist also makes the film's earlier action sequences against the Elementals more fun, and this time I actually noticed a couple of instances of the illusion breaking and they're really cool to pick up on. All of this naturally culminates in an epic finale as a giant Elemental tears up Tower Bridge and Spider-Man goes after Mysterio. This finale is awesome, I can't deny that, it's visually insane for starters as this massive monster looms over the bridge, and Spider-Man's method of stopping the illusion was great, and Happy's attempts to protect Peter's classmates was also a really fun sequence, one that piles the pressure on Peter to stop Mysterio. Like all MCU films though, it is very CG heavy, and while a lot of it looks awesome, a lot of it also looks a bit rough, and it's naturally most noticeable when it's things like Mysterio and Spider-Man being fully CGI, it's never as bad as Black Panther, but it's more noticeable than it should be, but dodgy CG is only really a factor if the rest of the movie is dodgy, and Far From Home, despite its sloppy first half, kicks all kinds of arse by the end.
Even Dead, I'm The Hero
Spider-Man: Far From Home is a mixed bag; it's a film that feels long, despite being a normal length of one-hundred and twenty-nine minutes, and that is solely because of the film's first half, which tries to juggle an interesting and compelling Spider-Man story with a high-school comedy, one that Homecoming did better and with less cringe. The central romance plot with MJ is something I also found lacklustre, though it's Romeo and Juliette compared to Ned's. All of that melts away in the second half though as the film throws a fantastic villain at you and puts Peter's arc of becoming the next Iron Man centre stage, and while that second half never completely exonerates the first, Far From Home is a film you'll ultimately remember for that second half, and overall, I'd say it's worth watching.
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