Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) Film Review

Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME

Starring Tom Holland (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Jake Gyllenhaal (Quentin Beck / Mysterio), Zendaya (Michelle Jones), Samuel L. Jackson (Talos / Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Soren), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), Jacob Batalon (Ned), Marisa Tomei (Aunt May), Tony Revolori (Flash Thompson), and Angourie Rice (Betty Brant) with a post-credits scene featuring JK Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and another featuring Ben Mendelsohn as Talos and Sharon Blynn as Soren

Directed by Jon Watts

Produced by Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal

Written by Chris McKenna and Eric Sommers

Music By Michael Giacchinho

Distributed by Sony Pictures

Run Time: 2 hours and 9 minutes

World Premier: June 26, 2019, the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, California

Opening Weekend Box Office: $185 million (North America)

Worldwide Box Office: $1.1 billion

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures

Memorable Quotes from Spider-Man: Far From Home

“If [Spider-Man] Homecoming is about a kid that believes he’s ready to step up and the world is telling him he’s not, Far From Home is about the world telling him that now, it is time for him to step up, and him starting to wonder, ‘Wait … maybe I’m not ready for this.’” – Jon Watts

“[With Spider-Man: Far From Home], we were taking advantage of the fact that a purple Titan named Thanos, with a magic glove with Stones in it, can disappear half the Universe. So much craziness had happened in the MCU we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if Mysterio, the illusionist and the liar, and the person who could spin anything, takes advantage of that and is able to concoct this story of being from another dimension / [Universe} ?’ And that Molten Man and Hydro Man and these Elementals come and take over and have the audience sitting there going, ‘Oh yeah, that sounds right in the MCU – I believe that could happen.’ But then it’s all fake for another reason: the connection to Stark Technology.” – Kevin Feige

“[Spider-Man: Far From Home] was always about Peter stepping out of Tony’s shadow, Peter stepping up to become his own hero, and doing it in classic Peter Parker style – which is making mistakes at every turn.” – Kevin Feige

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Fun Spider-Man: Far From Home Facts

In July of 2017, rumors surfaced that Spider-Man: Homecoming co-stars Tom Holland and Zendaya had begun dating. In 2021, Holland and Zendaya publicly confirmed that they were in a romantic relationship.

Spider-Man: Far From Home commenced filming on July 2, 2018. Filming wrapped on October 16, 2018.

Spider-Man: Far From Home takes place on the MCU (Sacred) Timeline in the year 2024; eight-months or so after the end of Avengers: Endgame. Though Far From Home was released in theaters in the Summer of 2019, several Marvel Studios productions that have come out since actually happen chronologically before Spider-Man: Far From Home including 2021’s Loki (and also after; if you know, you know), 2021’s WandaVision, 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and 2021’s The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home meanwhile, picks up right where Spider-Man: No Far From Home ends in the Fall of 2024, with the final shot of Spider-Man swinging through New York City taking place at Christmastime in 2024 (running concurrently with the 2021 Marvel Studios Disney+ series Hawkeye).

Spider-Man: Far From Home was the first MCU feature-length production to not feature a came from Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee, who passed away on November 12, 2018, at the age of 95.

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Spider-Man: Far From Home reveals that Michelle Jones, Ned Leeds, Betty Brant, Flash Thompson, and Aunt May were all victims of Thanos’ Snap in Avengers: Infinity War.

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker’s briefcase boasts the initials “BFP.” this stands for Benjamin Franklin Parker, Peter’s late Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben has never been directly mentioned in the MCU up to this point, as Marvel Studios decided against telling Peter Parker’s origin story for what would have been at the time, a third time in 15-years, but those of us who know the traditional Spider-Man story know what those initials mean, and we know what Uncle Ben meant to Peter Parker.

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, during the charity fundraiser scene, a promotional poster for professional wrestler Crusher Hogan can be seen. In Amazing Fantasy # 15, the debut comic book issue for Spider-Man, a masked Peter Parker stepped into the wrestling ring with Crusher Hogan. Interestingly, Amazing Fantasy # 15 was published in 1962 when a young Terry Bollea was just 8-years old. 15-years later, Bollea would begin wrestling professionally. In 1978, Bollea appeared on a radio show alongside Lou Ferrigno, who portrayed Marvel’s The Hulk in CBS’ The Incredible Hulk television series. Seeing Bollea and Ferrigno up-close and together, the radio hosts noticed that the 6’7, 295-pound wrestler that boasted 24-inch biceps was even bigger than television’s Hulk. This inspired Bollea to adopt the nickname of “The Hulk” for his wrestling matches. In 1979, professional wrestling promoter Vincent J McMahon began promoting Bollea as “Hulk Hogan” in the WWWF. As Hulk Hogan, Bollea would become the most popular professional wrestler on the planet during the 1980’s, driving the genre to then-unprecedented heights. In 2002, during Spider-Man’s 40^th Anniversary, Hulk Hogan’s greatest teammate and rival “Macho Man” Randy Savage would wrestle Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker as the character “Bonesaw McGraw” in Sony’s Spider-Man film, in a somewhat strange case of art imitating life.

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Jake Gyllenhaal’s Quentin Beck / Mysterio claims to be from an Alternate Universe labeled Earth-833. Beck also labels the Universe inhabited by Tom Holland’s Peter Parker as Earth-616. Mysterio is lying of course, as he too is from Holland’s Spidey’s world. In the Marvel comics, Earth-616 is the designation for the Prime Marvel Universe. Marvel Studios, while confirming the existence of the Multiverse in the MCU since the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home, went on to confirm the Prime MCU (Sacred) Timeline as the 616-Universe in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. How Mysterio known this, or whether or not it was just a lucky guess on his part is unknown.

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In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Mysterio’s illusion sequence contains 150 VFX shots. The sequence also features a horrifying zombie version of Tony Stark / Iron Man. The Marvel Zombies first debuted in Marvel Comics in 2005 in Marvel’s Ultimate Comics Universe in the Ultimate Fantastic Four title and would go on to star in a limited series written by Robert Kirkman, co-creator of The Walking Dead. Marvel Zombies appeared again in the MCU in 2021’s animated What If …? series on Disney+.

Spider-Man: Far From Home features the MCU debut of J. Jonah Jameson; a character that is synonymous with the Spider-Man mythology in the comics. Actor JK Simmons portrays Jameson in the film. Simmons also portrayed Jameson in Sony’s original Spider-Man Trilogy from 2002-2007. Jameson shockingly endorses Mysterio and airs video footage from the late Quentin Beck that outs Peter Parker as Spider-Man; an idea that originally came from Amy Pascal.

Spider-Man: Far From Home reveals that the Nick Fury and Maria Hill who work with Peter Parker throughout this film are actually the Skrulls Talos and Soren, who we first met within the MCU in 2019’s Captain Marvel. The real Fury is shown to be working for S.A.B.E.R. off world. The idea of making Fury and Hill Skrulls came from Director Jon Watts. This reveal left many fans wondering / debating how long Fury had been a Skrull, but the 2023 Disney+ series Secret Invasion confirmed that Fury was in fact the real Fury during his previous MCU appearances from 2008’s Iron Man through Tony Stark’s funeral in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

The first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home debuted on December 18, 2018, followed by a widespread release on January 15, 2019. Much conjecture surrounded the first trailer as it was released more than 4-months before the release of Avengers: Endgame. Many fans speculated that the film perhaps took place on the MCU (Sacred) Timeline before Avengers: Infinity War due to Peter Parker’s “death.” A second trailer was released on May 6, 2019, receiving 130-million views during its first 24-hours of release. This trailer revealed that the film did in fact take place after the events of Avengers: Endgame, complete with references to the death of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark / Iron Man.

On November 10, 2019, Tom Holland and Zendaya were both honored at the People’s Choice Awards with Holland claiming the Award for Action Movie Star 2019 and Zendaya claiming the Award for Female Movie Star 2019. Spider-Man: Far From Home was the first Spider-Man film to ever gross $1-billion and was the highest-grossing Spider-Man film of all-time as well as one of three Marvel Studios films to rank amongst the Top-5 films of the year 2019, coming in at # 4, ahead of Captain Marvel (#5) and behind Avengers: Endgame (#1).

The 2023 book Marvel Studios – The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline confirmed where Spider-Man: Far From Home occurs on the MCU (Sacred) Timeline, revealing that several Phase Four MCU projects actually take place before Spider-Man: Far From Home. The primary events seen in both Seasons of Loki, What If …? Season One, WandaVision, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and most of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier all take place prior to the arrival of the Elementals and Peter Parker’s field trip which take place in the Summer of 2024. The 2021 Phase Four film Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up directly where Spider-Man: Far From Home leaves off, but most of the modern scenes in 2021’s Eternals take place in the Fall of 2024, prior to Peter Parker seeking out Doctor Strange for a solution to his problems.

Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures

My Spider-Man: Far From Home Review

Spider-Man: Far From Home was the culmination of Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga; the final chapter of Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Avengers: Endgame was a tough act to follow, just as Avengers: Infinity War had been for Ant-Man and The Wasp, but I liked this film better than Ant-Man and The Wasp, though I did not enjoy it quite as much as Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The film opens by addressing the Snap and the five-years later return of the Vanished dubbed “the Blip.” This was viewed through a comedic lens, which was kind of a buzzkill for me, and the deaths of Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff were acknowledged, and Steve Rogers was announced as being presumed dead as well.

As things move along, we get caught up with Peter Parker and we see him mourning the loss of Tony Stark while in the midst of a concerted push for the heart of classmate Michelle Jones.

Meanwhile, an Elemental creature emerges in Mexico, prompting the presumed Nick Fury and Maria Hill into action. They receive an unexpected assist from the self-labeled superhero Quentin Beck / Mysterio. Beck goes on to claim to be from an Alternate Universe, declaring that his world was destroyed by the Elemental creatures and that three more Elementals would be arriving to wage war against Fury and Hill’s Earth. Beck offers to work with Fury and Hill against the incoming invasion, and they readily accept his offer. In the meantime, Fury is looking to make contact with Peter Parker / Spider-Man.

Parker is less interested at this point of his life in being a superhero and more interested in pursuing MJ. He is also working closely with his Aunt May to enhance his reputation as Spider-Man, including charity events. In the comics, Aunt May had a really difficult time coming to terms with Peter’s secret life, but she eventually came around to emerge as one of Spider-Man’s biggest fans. In this film, Marvel Studios skipped all of the drama and jumped right in with Aunt May being a cheerleader for “Team Spider-Man”, and I loved Marisa Tomei in this role and the fun and energetic relationship she and Peter appear to share as this film opens.

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Midtown School of Science and Technology students are bound for the United Kingdom for a two-week field trip, and this is a big deal for Peter. He does not want to even take his Spider-Man costume to Europe. He just wants to enjoy a vacation with his friends like a normal teenager and romance MJ along the way in any way that he can.

Peter and his friends’ first stop is Venice, Italy. There, the second Elemental creature emerges, prompting Mysterio into action. Mysterio conquers the creature and emerges as a worldwide hero for his efforts. From there, the presumed Nick Fury tracks Peter down and informs him that the late Tony Stark had willed his revolutionary E.D.I.T.H. glasses to Peter. Parker is humbled by the gesture, and is introduced to Beck, but Parker is not interested in joining Fury, Beck, and Hill on their campaign. The presumed Fury is not willing to take no for an answer, however.

Fury sabotages field trip plans and diverts Peter and his friends to Prague, where Beck has predicted the next Elemental creature will attack. In Prague, Peter is gifted with a black stealth suit and when Beck’s prediction proves right, Parker swings into action as Spider-Man to join Beck’s fight and defend his endangered classmates. With the battle won, Fury lashes out at Peter for his selfishness, despite the successful outcome of the battle, leaving a dejected Peter to pass the E.D.I.T.H. glasses on to Beck, believing Mysterio to be a hero more deserving of their advantages.

It is here where we learn that Mysterio has been deceiving Peter and Fury and Hill all along. He is not from another Universe, and he is not a superhero. Mysterio is a disgraced former employee of the late Tony Stark’s at Stark Industries. Beck was actually the mind behind Stark’s B.A.R.F. program (seen in Captain America: Civil War), but Stark was unconvinced about Beck’s brilliance and mental stability and relieved Beck of his duties at Stark. Since that time, Beck had been plotting his revenge on Stark while tweaking his technologies. Beck’s master plan involved the use of advanced projectors that would cast a series of holographic illusions to simulate the powers of himself and the Elementals, essentially creating a threat and then providing the solution. A perfect window of opportunity opened for Mysterio with the death of Tony Stark, and he made his move first in Mexico, then in Italy, and then in Prague. While emerging as a global superhero, Beck manipulated the presumed Nick Fury and Maria Hill, and Peter Parker as well, in an effort to steal Stark’s E.D.I.T.H. glasses, only for Parker to be so convinced that he gave the glasses to Mysterio outright. The purpose of the glasses for Beck was gaining control over a band of orbital weaponized drones that had been stationed by Stark. Beck plans to use these drones to increase the scale and magnitude of his illusions in order to establish himself as an Avengers-level hero, emerging as the world’s new Iron Man.

Mysterio’s plan seemed to be going off without a hitch, but during the Prague battle, one of his projectors crashed to the ground and was confiscated by Michelle Jones.

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Peter and MJ share a quiet walk together, the likes of which Peter had been hoping for the entire trip. As Peter goes to tell MJ his true feelings for her however, MJ cuts him off, revealing that she knows he is Spider-Man. Peter is flabbergasted by this news, and MJ casually explains how obvious it had been and then shows Peter the projector she found in Prague. This allows Peter to put all of the pieces of this complex game Mysterio had been playing together, and he realizes that all of the Elemental attacks had been caused by Mysterio.

I really loved this sequence between Peter and MJ and how it grew to include Ned and Betty (who were a pretty great couple throughout this film). From here, Peter ventures out to Berlin to warn Fury, failing to realize that he has inadvertently endangered the lives of his friends by revealing Mysterio’s secret.

This leads to a showdown between Mysterio and Peter in which Peter falls victim to a variety of complex visionary deceptions from Mysterio that is visually incredible! This is borderline horror movie stuff here, complete with a zombie Iron Man! I really loved this sequence, which ends with Peter getting hit by a train and left for dead after revealing which of his friends knows Mysterio’s secret (thinking he was talking to Fury).

This leads into what is my favorite Happy Hogan scene in the MCU as he scrambles to protect Peter’s friends and then shares a heart-to-heart with Peter, sharing Peter’s grief over the loss of Tony Stark, and encouraging Peter to be the hero that Tony knew that he was capable of being. This pep-talk inspires Peter to launch into builder mode, akin to his mentor Tony, and fueled with new faith in himself, Peter takes the fight to Mysterio in London, England.

Beck uses E.D.I.T.H. to make the fight quite difficult for Spider-Man, launching a fiery – and very real – attack against Peter via the drones he has taken control over. As the battle wages, Beck is caught in the crossfire of one of his drones, suffering what appears to be a mortal wound after Spider-Man directed the drone Beck’s way. Beck works to deceive Peter yet again, but Peter doesn’t fall for it, and Mysterio dies after trying to fire upon Peter with a pistol. Parker meanwhile regains control of the E.D.I.T.H. Glasses.

Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures

Peter returns to New York City with his classmates and at long last begins a romantic relationship with his beloved MJ. The film ends with Spider-Man swinging Michelle through New York City en route to the revelation that Peter Parker is Spider-Man via video posted by Mysterio moments before his death, presented by J. Jonah Jameson. From there, we learn that Fury and Hill were Talos and Soren and that the real Fury is off world.

There was a lot to like about Spider-Man: Far From Home but there were some things that were misses for me. The humor in many cases didn’t quite land with me, especially the making light of some very serious things, but at the same time, I know these MCU Spider-Man films are shot from a teenager’s perspective and take place in their world, and with my teenage years far behind me, I would expect some things to be off my radar. I didn’t love the ha-ha Blip stuff, and I didn’t like the “Peter Tingle” stuff either. Overall, though, I loved spending time in this world with Peter and his classmates. Ned and Betty were great, Flash was great, and I liked MJ even more this time around and was really pulling for her and Peter to get together and was thrilled when they finally did! Peter and his close circle of classmates were the best characters in this film for me.

Visually, there was nothing to complain about at all in this film. There were loads of action and adventure sequences and the Elementals looked really cool and all of Spider-Man’s costumes looked great! The Night Monkey stuff was hilarious, and I liked the scene on the school bus with Peter learning how to work E.D.I.T.H.

Jake Gyllenhaal was good as Mysterio. I liked him more in the seemingly sincere scenes, but of course, I wasn’t really supposed to like him once his true intentions were revealed. The coolest thing about Mysterio for me was how he looked. The fishbowl helmet looked awesome, and his costume looked really great, and I liked how all of his effects were pulled off and presented as well. I don’t think there was a single fan of Spider-Man that went into this film thinking that Mysterio would actually be a “good guy”, and once Jake went into villain mode, he sure did nail it. I wanted Spider-Man to kill him, so I guess he did what he was paid to do!

I was not really a fan of Nick Fury and Maria Hill in this film. I was therefore glad they were revealed to be Skrulls. They just seemed to bully Peter Parker over the course of the movie and act quite unreasonably in situations pertaining to him. I also hated seeing Mysterio get things over on Fury, as knowing Fury as MCU fans do, this should be damn near impossible. He’s not just a spy, he’s the spy after all, and seeing that it was actually Talos that Beck was manipulating was far easier to swallow.

The debut of J. Jonah Jameson with JK Simmons in the role was the biggest surprise of the movie for me! I loved hearing that familiar voice and his outing of Spider-Man was a major cliffhanger that left me anxious to know what would happen next with Peter, and MJ, and everyone else in his world!

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Highlights of Spider-Man: Far From Home:

Amazing Visuals

Tom Holland is Peter Parker / Spider-Man

Chemistry Between Tom Holland and Zendaya

Peter and MJ Love Story

Mysterio

Iron Man Zombie

Night Monkey!

Mid-Credits Scene with JK Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson

Mid-Credits Scene with JJJ / Mysterio Outing Peter Parker as Spider-Man

Nick Fury and Maria Hill Skrull Reveal

Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures

Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:

Quentin Beck / Mysterio. J. Jonah Jameson. The Daily Bugle. The Blip audible reference. The Peter Tingle audible reference.