Spider-man: Far From Home

YOUR friendly neighbourhood Spider-man has a new spring in his step. After the critical and commercial success of Sony’s third character reboot in Jon Watts’ Spider-man: Homecoming and the hallucinatory multiverse adventure of the animated Spider-man: Into The Spider-verse, things are looking pretty good for ol’ Spidey. Tom Holland has given the character a spin that feels heartfelt and age-appropriate, while Marvel casting director Sarah Finn has surrounded him with a posse of affable pals who feel like real, modern teens. With the high-profile addition of Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio, can this Spidey strike gold twice? In the follow-up, Spider-man: Far From Home, Watts and writers Chris Mckenna and Erik Sommers maintain the light, amusing tone. And once again, they hit a home run.

Peter Parker’s emotional journey in Far From Home is surprisingly uncomplicated, especially for a tale that becomes considerably more so. After the events of Avengers: Endgame, all Peter wants is just to be a teen. That world-saving superhero stuff is too much pressure for the arachnid adolescent, who is still navigating high school life post-“blip” (what the teens dub Thanos’ snap). Especially within the confines of the high school, the logic of the blip timeline never quite makes sense, but Far From Home moves so quickly that if you just let the humour steamroll you, there’s no time or need to puzzle out the five-year discrepancy.

Far From Home rips through a lively European tour from Italy to Prague and London, while Peter wrestles with his fate, in which he seems to have no say. This is a journey about Peter surrendering to his destiny, leaning in to what it means to be a “superhero” in the wake of the Endgame .If Into The Spider-verse explored all the different ways to be Spider-man, Far From Home dives into the heart of what it means to be hero, a responsibility that isn’t always easy. Good thing Spidey is one of the best. – Katie Walsh/tribune News Service