While I wasn't the biggest fan of "Spider-Man: Homecoming", I was quite excited for the sequel. After all, not only would Peter Parker go international to some European countries, but Mysterio, one of my favourite villains from the comics, would appear! I was so certain that this would be far better than the underwhelming "Homecoming". For a while, it actually was, but the more I watch it, the more I begin to realize how inferior it was. The story picks up months after "Avengers: Endgame" with Peter mourning the death of his mentor and idol, Tony Stark/Iron Man. All he wants to do this summer is enjoy a class trip and get together with his crush, MJ. However, "Nick Fury" begins to hijack his trip as Peter is apparently the only hero available that can aid him and a new ally named Quentin Beck to stop cosmic beings known as the Elementals. With Peter crashing from the stress and pressure from people wanting him to be the next "Iron Man", he passes the responsibility as well as Tony's final gift to Quentin, E.D.I.T.H, a pair of glasses that have access to a satellite filled with deadly drones, an action Quentin was prepared to take advantage of. I have so many mixed feelings on this story. On the one hand, the stakes have gotten much higher than before with the European vacation and Peter's insecurities and stress of being a teenaged hero who wants a short break. However, the overarching story surrounding Fury, Quentin, Stark's legacy, and the plot device that is the E.D.I.T.H glasses have so many holes and inconsistencies that it's headache inducing. The film really wants you to suspend so much disbelief no matter how big or small the plot point is and there's far too many to mindlessly ignore. The tone is about as light-hearted as before with the dramatic moments too few and not really investing as a whole, even though it's far better than the ones from "Homecoming". The drama could have worked if the movie wasn't so goofy and silly all the time. The first film was really funny, but that's because the comedy felt really in place for most of the time. The issue with the sequel isn't that it's not funny, because there are a few good jokes and situations. The problem is that the jokes miss more than they hit due to how forced it is as every character is trying to quip and make goofy reactions or comebacks, which makes the film feel like a cartoon or a really bad rom-com. But even the Spider-Man cartoons don't feel this comedic all the time and it makes the film feel the least "Spider-Man" of the Spider-Man films.
Tom Holland is still great as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, both charismatic and funny but grounded in his youth. I actually think he does a better job than from before, mainly thanks to the arc he is given for not wanting to step up to be a huge hero like Tony. Samuel L. Jackson as "Nick Fury" is great to see and does have some nice comedic delivery as always, but the character is just really unlikeable in this film. I don't get why "Fury" is being such a hard-ass on Parker for no real reason, especially when it's revealed that the laidback Talos was pretending to be him all along. Whether he's defending the endangerment of Parker's classmates or refusing to get any other hero to help out, it makes Fury's appearance in the film have a bad taste to the character. Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck/Mysterio is really good in playing what appears to be a noble and charming hero turned slimy scumbag who wants to get famous. The problem with Mysterio is that the motivation and plans are all over the place. Not only does his goal of pretending to be a hero have many potential drawbacks and issues in the long run, but it doesn't make sense why he needed E.D.I.T.H to have his plan work when he already has plenty of functional drones to begin with. It doesn't help that Quentin is yet another disgruntled Stark employee that Spider-Man has to fight because Tony is busy or dead. When it comes to the side characters, it's a giant mixed bag. For the positives, there's Zendaya's MJ, who is far more fleshed out in terms of personality and interests as well as being she and Holland having cute and believable chemistry. Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan is far more supportive and comedic compared to his stick-in-the-mud mood in "Homecoming". Tony Revolori's Flash is more enjoyable due to being a bit less douchy and constantly live-streaming to people that tend to hate his guts. Lastly, there's the cameo by J.K Simmons who plays J. Jonah Jameson who calls out Spider-Man as a villain from Mysterio's edited footage, who is just so great to see after all of these years. However, the majority of the side cast is pretty bad. Jacob Batalon's Ned isn't as funny or useful as before and the running gag of the sudden romance between him and Betty is just pure cringe in both how stupid and unfunny it is. J.B Smoove and Martin Starr as Peter's teachers try way too hard to be zany and funny that they don't even seem human. Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill is bland as hell because she's the most serious character of the film that the script doesn't give towards. Marisa Tomei as Aunt May has far less screentime, but she's still used as a hot mom gag and her being fully supportive of Peter being Spider-Man just shows how painfully light-hearted these films are. Remy Hil as Brad, Peter's romantic rival who hates him for trying to get MJ feels really out of place, random, and utterly pointless in his inclusion, considering that he never appeared in the first film. Lastly, there's Tony Stark. How is he in the film? Well, he's not, but his impact is left all over the film with some nice visual tributes, but some awful comparisons in how the film tries making Spider-Man appear to be the next Iron Man or how Mysterio talks about Tony being a complete asshole. Because of the constant back and forth of Disney making Tony both good and bad in these movies, his "appearance" throughout the film is just annoying more than anything. Overall, the characters that I like tend to be both well-acted and charismatic, while the characters I don't like tend to both acting like a Looney Tune and poorly characterized in the context of the film and story.
Jon Watts returns as director and still leaves no impact at all for majority of the film. While Watts tried to poorly homage the direction of John Hughes in "Homecoming", he puts himself on auto-pilot in the sequel, resulting in the film to have this overproduced, studio look. Although Watts tries to offer some type of style by having the European backdrop have a handheld video-recording feel as if you too are on vacation. However, the style is pretty inconsistent considering the genre and production values the film has. It doesn't help Berlin, the Netherlands, and London feel really weirdly artificial at times in that it feels like they were shot on a set rather than on location compared to Venice and Prague. The cinematography by Matthew J. Lloyd is at least well-shot and choreographed for the action sequences and montage sequences as well as Watts's style, but it's fairly average with the editing shortening otherwise neat tracking shots and long takes. I also think Lloyd should have incorporated zoom-ins to fit the vacation-filming style more genuine. The score by Micheal Giacchino actually improves from before with the original theme being more bombastic and Mysterio's theme having a more techno vibe along with a unique soundtrack of European songs and tracks depending on the country the scene takes place in. The visual effects are still really good, but there are some pretty bad uses of green-screen and the climax gets way too CGI-heavy with all of the clutter onscreen. The action sequences manage to improve from the first film for the most part with the fights in Venice and Prague being fun and engaging and the hallucinatory sequence where Mysterio overpowers Spider-Man is one of the best sequences in any Spider-Man film thanks to the comic-like visuals and being perhaps the only tense moment that the Holland interpretation has encountered. However, the climax is a huge letdown once again as it's mainly just Spider-Man fighting off and destroying an army of drones. Not only does it feel mindless since Peter isn't fighting any humans, but it's weird that only small sections of the limitless drone army attack Peter one at a time rather than all at once. It also feels like a downgrade when comparing to the previous scene being one of the best in the franchise and the film clearly being able to afford or write in another sequence like it for the climax. Overall, the filmmaking does improve from the previous entry, but some of the big mistakes were left unscathed in the sequel.
"Spider-Man: Far From Home" is in a very awkward position. On the one hand, the film offers some of the best things of the franchise from a high-stakes premise, the comedy works whenever it lands, Holland, Jackson, and Gyllenhaal offering great performances as usual, the romance between MJ and Peter is cute thanks to Zendaya and Holland's chemistry, Lloyd's cinematography is good at times, Giacchino's score manages to be fairly decent from before, the soundtrack offers a unique track of European songs, the CGI is adequate, and the majority of the action sequences are not just good, but even some of the best in any Spider-Man movie. However, the film fumbles so much in plenty of areas. The story in general has so many holes and inconsistencies in regards to "Fury's" leadership, Quentin's motivation and plan as a villain, the oddity of making Peter appearing as the new Iron Man, and the existence of the E.D.I.T.H glasses in general. The comedy is also hit-and-miss with far more misses than hits in contrast to "Homecoming", the majority of side characters are too silly, useless and badly acted that it wastes the precious runtime of the film, Lloyd's camerawork fails to utilize the style Watts was attempting to use for the sequel, some effects and green-screen can be really bad and noticeable, the climax is so underwhelming that it's boring on occasion, and the direction by Watts tries to have a vacation-style aesthetic, but the huge production values and the lack of skill Watts has as a director leaves a lot to be desired. At the end of the day, the sequel just serves mostly as a mindless, above-average action-comedy romp. "Homecoming" may have its fair share of issues, but at least it had a tighter script and succeeds in being a small-scale film for the most part. "Far From Home" tries going big with the story, setting, action, and comedy, but it should have gone home and scaled down a bit in areas.
Verdict: 5.5/10. The most mid Spider-Man film to date. At least it's better than the The Amazing Spider-Man films...
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