SPIDERMAN: Far From Home 3.3***
When the movie starts out the viewer gets
all the emotions back from the ending of Avengers: Endgame which included
Spider-Man and his very special relationship with Iron Man a/k/a Tony
Stark. The movie follows Peter Parker and his high school science class
on their field trip around the world. The film does a great job of showing
how a teenager, here Peter, develops a crush on a girl, MJ, and how nervous
he is about being around her. It's a nice touch to have super hero with
teenage angst about a girl.
When things start going well, a
villain appears and Peter Parker must work with a new hero that people name
"Mysterio." The movie does a great job of keeping the viewer sucked
into the screen with constant, well timed humor and heart-tugging moments.
Once you feel like the movie should be coming to an end, you look at your
watch and realize you're only an hour in. That is when the movie has a
brilliant plot twist and much of what you thought you knew about the movie
was just an illusion. As characters get reestablished in their roles, the
viewer is treated to more thrills, suspense, and fun as the story
unfolds.
Surprisingly enough, the centerpiece of
this film is not the superhero's extraordinary world-saving abilities, but
the budding romance between very ordinary human characters. It might be
more accurate to describe this film as a blend of rom-com and action-comedy
under the disguise of a superhero movie, since the scale of the
"world-saving" and the stakes for the final showdown are more much
limited compared to what happened in Endgame.
I was impressed with Zendaya's performance
as MJ, which finally breaks the stereotype of a superhero's love interest.
Instead of your typical dumbed-down eye-candy, Zendaya's MJ is intelligent,
quirky, interesting, and absolutely lovable. Tom Holland is, at this
point, Spider-Man's alter ego. I cannot really imagine Spider-Man being
anyone else other than him although I liked Toby McGuire in the 1st
Spider-man movie. Mysterio (played by Jake Gyllenhal) is the new
Marvel character appearing for the 1st time in a Marvel
movie. Gyllenhal was born for this role and performed the part
quite well .
The movie makes us cheer for its big heart
in addition to the action sequences. Maybe Spider-man falling in love is just
as important as saving the world. That's something we can relate to.
"Spider-Man: Far from Home" is definitely worth seeing and if you
can, see it at I-MAX in 3D.
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Friday, July 19, 2019
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