Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) [Blu-ray]
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Peter Parker returns in Spider-Man: Far From Home, the next chapter of the Spider-Man: Homecoming series! Our friendly neighborhood Super Hero decides to join his best friends Ned, MJ, and the rest of the gang on a European vacation. However, Peter's plan to leave super heroics behind for a few weeks are quickly scrapped when he begrudgingly agrees to help Nick Fury uncover the mystery of several elemental creature attacks, creating havoc across the continent!

Storyline: Our friendly neighborhood Super Hero decides to join his best friends Ned, MJ, and the rest of the gang on a European vacation. However, Peter's plan to leave super heroics behind for a few weeks are quickly scrapped when he begrudgingly agrees to help Nick Fury uncover the mystery of several elemental creature attacks, creating havoc across the continent. Written by Sony Pictures Entertainment

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, September 24, 2019 Spider-Man is the gift that keeps on giving. And Disney wants a bigger cut of that gift. Sony and Disney have fought over revenue sharing for Sony's Spider-Man films and the character's fate within the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe is all but sealed at this point. But if this is to be Spider-Man's swan song as part of Disney's MCU empire, it's a worthwhile one. The film explores Spider-Man in the aftermath of what happened in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame (and its plot is built around major events from both films). The film deals in Spider-Man's faith in himself and the faith others have placed in him while battling a villain who wants to take up the mantle Spider-Man has been given. The film deals in thought-provoking concepts of faith, trust, perception, and duty, forcing the title character to grow into the powers he has been given, not just grow around them.

Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is in desperate need of a vacation. The battle with Thanos that changed the world and left the Avengers team broken and his mentor Tony Stark dead has pushed Parker away from battling evil and in desperate need of a normal life. A school trip to Europe just might be the ticket. He can enjoy a respite with his friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and hopefully, finally, tell M.J. (Zendaya) how he really feels about her. He needs to be a teenager, not a savior. But he can't escape the superhero life. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is on his back and his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) packs his Spider-Man suit just in case. When Venice falls under attack by a mysterious creature, Parker must swing into action. But he's not alone in fighting the villain. He's helped -- and overshadowed -- by a new superhero named "Mysterio" (Jake Gyllenhaal) who claims to hail from an alternate reality Earth. Parker sees in Mysterio a man who can take the mantle as the world's foremost superhero. Parker all but forces powerful Stark tech on Mysterio, happy to give away one of Tony's most valuable items -- an item he explicitly entrusted to Peter -- and thereby give up the responsibility of being a key cog in saving there world. But as the class trip through Europe continues, Peter realizes he may have made a horrible mistake.

The story is tailored to explore Peter Parker's struggles with his identity, his purpose, and his ability. In the movie, the late Tony Stark entrusts him with incredible power and technology, but he believes he's unable, and therefore also unwilling, to wield so much power. He's come to the decision to give it up quickly and without much thought or serious consultation. He drops it on the first person he finds who is willing too take it, the first person in whom Peter sees as worthy of taking up the mantle, of shouldering the burden he so desperately wishes to surrender. Of course, the individual to whom he bestows it is all too happy to take it. Mysterio is not at all who he claims to be, and is in fact much the opposite of Peter: he seeks the power, the fame, the responsibility, all of which he believes to be rightly his. The film explores some secrets that shape his past and embolden his motivations, but the film is otherwise solely focused on the clash between the reluctant hero and the misguided villain and what it is that separates their pursuits and truly defines "heroism." It's an interesting concept that the movie explores to satisfaction within the larger fracases that are a result.

Certainly the movie doesn't allow too long to pass without various visual extravaganzas to remind everyone this is a Superhero film, not just a contemplative character study with more than a few thought-provoking undertones. Spider-Man does not escape the movie without being run through the physical ringer. The battles are large scale and uniquely envisioned, thanks in large part to the villain's own motives and how he achieves his goals. Battles are appropriately large-scale yet also intimately defined, and Spider-Man finds himself not only battling villainy but fighting to save those he cares about; his classmates are in perpetual danger, including once, in one of the movie's best and funniest scenes, more or less inadvertently by his own hand (or voice command as the case may be). The movie boasts effects aplenty, all of which are seamlessly integrated into the live action components. It's a modern spectacle at the peak of what current technology can offer, and the filmmakers use that tech to compliment rather than define the movie, even if it's so vast in scale and intimately integral to the larger, more human stories.

Spider-Man: Far from Home intertwines sincere dramatic content and larger-than-life action. It's a purposeful movie of self-discovery beyond power, and it more than any other Spider-Man film explores the "great responsibilities" that come with "great power," particularly as that responsibility comes from trusting in oneself. The movie is very well acted, the effects are many and seamless, the action is splendid, and the humor is never allowed to overwhelm the narrative. This is a rock-solid Marvel and Spider-Man movie. Sony's Blu-ray delivers superb 1080p video, a fantastic DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack (which is actually vastly superior to the UHD's Dolby Atmos presentation), and a decent smattering of mostly non-vital extra content. Highly recommended.

[CSW] -3.5- This reviewer said it better than I could:
Spider-Man: Far from Home is a highly entertaining sequel as well as a satisfying continuation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Holland really captures the character of a kid overwhelmed with new responsibilities. The jokes were plentiful, and I found myself laughing a lot more than I thought I would. Plus, the action was visually thrilling. If you just keep in mind that this is a comic book movie with comic book problems & solutions, you shouldn't be disappointed.

[V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box enhanced this movie.


º º