Spider-man: Far From Home

Well this really was a treat. After the enjoyably grim Endgame, Marvel/Disney have given the fans a bit of much-needed light relief.

The film follows Peter Parker on a whirlwind trip around Europe, during which the teenage superhero has to come to terms with the loss of his mentor, raging hormones, and a global threat in the form of elemental monsters from an alternate dimension.

Yes, there’s a lot going on, but the writers have managed to hold it all together (just), without wandering too far from the main ‘beat the bad guys’ plot line.

The dialogue’s pithy and expertly delivered, and the acting is top-notch (Tom Holland portrayal of a kid who’s way out of his depth is spot on), and unlike Marvel’s last few outings, it’s not all that violent. Yup, it’s very much a children’s film, and to be honest, I’m hoping that won’t always be the case now that Disney is holding the pursestrings. (I mean, Disney and Deadpool? How’s that going to work?). But here, and now, it works. As I said, after Endgame, we needed a bit more fun, and Far From Home arrived not a moment too soon.

Still, the film wasn’t perfect, not for me anyway. I think it shot around Europe way too fast, so fast that it was hard to distinguish one country from another.

Though this is obviously Venice …

And there wasn’t that much interaction with the Europeans. I think the only thing that the movie told us was the Dutch are very nice people (even though they’ve produced some of the most harrowing TV cop shows I’ve ever seen).

But the other point is just a tiny, tiny niggling one.

Having known a few teachers in my time, one thing I’ve learned is that they’re terrified of field trips. They spend every other minute counting children, then counting them again, then getting someone else to count them to make sure they haven’t miscounted. So I find it hard to believe that two teachers would fail to notice that one of their charges was slipping away every day to save the world from other-dimensional destruction … Yes, out of the whole two hours, that’s the bit I found hardest to believe. Everyone else will probably get over it.

Anyway, Spider-man: Far From Home. Nine out of ten. Go see it.

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