Somewhere between the gamuts of the overinflated ideas of Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and the monotonous playfulness of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, a spot located dead center where negative culminations finally meet an end has finally been extracted by Marvel Studio’s seventh attempt at bringing the web-swinging champion back to life, ultimately making die-hard fans’ worst fears when it comes to these enterprising Spider-Man movies suddenly disperse. More than anything, Far From Home has decided to firmly recollect its strengths back to to the balanced campiness of Raimi’s original, cult sensations while still relying woodenly on Disney’s bread-and-butter formula. So yes, it’s not quite situated next to the quality of Rami’s first two bestsellers or even near close to nailing the experimental supremacy of last year’s unexpected crowd-puller Into the Spider-Verse, but it has become apparent at this point that Jon Watt’s rebooted franchise is slowly crawling its way back up to those victory titles.
I treasured how Far From Home just embraced the cheese! Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as Mysterio was superlative, to say the least, but riveting. His character’s backstory/reveal is so overly ludicrous and far-fetched yet somehow, that’s what made it so likable! This is truly a throwback-phased, “cartoony” role but not one that would be seen as a schlocky sort of inclusion. This movie gave the big, old middle finger to the rules of “holding back” and just went full in on the “thrills” and the “lunacy.” Like, the absurd Spider-Man on acid/mind-game sequences—you’ll know what I’m talking about when you or if you have seen the movie—are pretty much worth the ticket purchase alone.
What places Far From Home slightly higher in terms of the occasional “mediocre” Marvel quality which I was initially going to label it with—because let’s face it, the coherence and structure of many of these MCU superhero narratives are never mended together so methodically—is the sickly-sweet yet soul-stirring exploration of Peter Parker’s battle between balancing a life of god-like responsibilities and just simply perusing an ordinary teenaged lifestyle. It’s been set and done before, sure, it’s almost a given recipe for Parker’s character, but Far From Home pilots it with enough contemporary propositions to make it seem more warranted than gratuitous.
So, is Spider-Man Far From Home your “average” Marvel movie? Sure. Was it a good time at the movies? Absolutely. Does it need to be anything more than that? Not necessarily. Yes, it would be nice to finally get an “incredible” live-action Spider-Man movie again, but, based on past experiences in the world of Hollywoodized blockbusters, break-out epics can only emerge on a rare, periodic cycle only oh-so-often.
And last comment. Well, actually, final question. How is the latest Spider-Man movie a better Black Mirror episode than anything that came out of Netflix’s fifth season? Awkward…
Verdict: B-
This Movie is a Part of My List: Ranking the Marvel Cinematic Universe From Best to Worst
Best-Marvel-Post-Credits-Scene-EVER! They might as well call the next Spider-Man movie “Peter Wick: Chapter 3,” if you get my drift!
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” is now playing in theaters.
Burning the Celluloid 
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