As I'd hoped, Far From Home was a very entertaining movie. The range of experiences within the MCU isn't exactly vast, but there are movies that aim to have a bit more breezy fun than others, and this is one. The humor is fairly constant, and nearly all the jokes land. This holds true even for the more serious characters brought into this movie from elsewhere: Nick Fury and Maria Hill.
At the same time, the movie doesn't shy away from big, serious emotions either. The story here maintains a really thoughtful continuity with Endgame, picking up on the interesting side questions that movie introduced, and ultimately revolving entirely around the aftermath of how that movie ended. (I suppose I'm being slightly cagey in case there's still anyone who hasn't seen Endgame. Seriously, though, you'd better before you see this.)
Tom Holland remains great as Peter Parker -- which could easily pass without being said, but it shouldn't. He has definitely asserted himself as best in the role (even though I wouldn't necessarily point to any of the past Spideys as being "bad.") Far From Home also gives a bit more for the other "kids" to do, and is better for it. Zendaya is great as MJ, completely charming even as her character is also a bit strange and prickly. Jacob Batalon, who was great as Ned in the first film, continues to be wonderful comic relief here.
The adults have fun too. Marisa Tomei doesn't really have much more to do as Aunt May than she did the first time around, but she seems to be enjoying herself. So is Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan. Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders are both nice to have in the mix too, making comedy out of the way their characters don't fully mesh in the lighter world of Spider-Man.
But Far From Home falls a little short of the high bar Homecoming set. Part of it is the MCU's ongoing inability to consistently offer up compelling villains. Homecoming was one of the few movies to break that trend, with Michael Keaton playing a truly interesting adversary with a point of view and back story you could actually sympathize with. Far From Home gives us a baddie whose motivations are pretty thin and generic. Indeed, it's very hard not to make direct comparisons to Homecoming, and Far From Home notably comes up shorter.
The visual effects are rather spotty too. It's as though all the best artists were busy completing Avengers: Endgame, and so some of the scenes here in Spider-Man: Far From Home had to use the "B Team" instead. There are some moments that look great -- and other unfortunate moments where not even simply placing an actor in a basic green screen environment looks quite right.
You need to stay through the credits to watch the two extra scenes (mid-credits and post-credits). I know, people say this about all the MCU films, and yet I still see half the theater leave every time I go to one. This time, it's worth it. This time, you don't get a weak sight gag you waited 10 minutes for, or an inscrutable tease of a future film that only means something if you've read every issue of a particular comic series. You get a true coda to the movie that launches an entirely new story, a fantastic cameo, and one last plot twist that links back to a past MCU film in a fun way.
Ultimately falling just a bit short of its predecessor, Spider-Man: Far From Home is still a very entertaining movie. I give it a B+. Join the crush this holiday weekend and check it out.
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