'Spider-man: Far From Home' is a Fun Ode to Tony Stark

We are used to seeing Spidey swing across the concrete jungle of New York City and it's refreshing to see him in a different environment. Marvel's most recent chapter, Spider-man: Far from Home exists to mix things up geographically, and most definitely for a reason. Like a person bouncing back from a breakup, it uses the rustic canals of Venice, brick roads and bridges of Prague, and the overall different vibe of Europe to change its look as if it is its way of purging the bittersweet outcome of Endgame. And it does so in a light-hearted way.

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Spider-man: Far from Home even begins with a movie-maker-made tribute for Tony Stark--complete with Comic Sans font style, fade-in and fade-out transitions, Whitney Houston background music, and other school-made cliché--establishing right away that there is no room for drama, and they're ready to leave it all to history, while paying respect to the superhero that made Marvel for what it is today.

In a way, it's really mostly about Tony Stark. That everyone--including Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a superhero in a green suit who comes from an alternate Earth--is living their lives haunted by the ghost of Tony Stark.

Even S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury and Maria (Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smoulders reprising their roles) return to track Peter Parker and give him a super assignment that used to be Iron Man's responsibility, which is a fun dynamic since Fury is now obliged to deal with a sixteen-year-old  superhero.

Emphasis to sixteen, since Peter is now facing a detour between living a carefree teenage life and a hectic superhero career. With the recent deaths and retirement of some of the Avengers, his obligations grow larger while his freedom to follow his bliss becomes smaller.

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But what I love about Far From Home is how it treats this never-ending superhero dilemma in a fun and light-hearted way. Director Jon Watts, who also directed Homecoming, levels up the youthfulness of his cast to overturn the saccharine vibe of the previous Spider-man films. Here, Peter Parker is never 'emo' despite his problems, his classmates act like normal teenagers, and MJ is not the stereotypical popular girl.

Which brings me to the cast who all brims with youthful energy that flips over what could have been a bleak episode of coping up with death to an innocent story about friendship and young love. Angourie Rice and Jacob Baton are hilarious side-characters. Even the veterans Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, who is in love with Marisa Tomei's Aunt May, harmonizes with the youngsters tingles. Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio is also an interesting character, and Gyllenhaal, almost as if acting as himself, is awesome to watch. It's refreshing to see him in a Marvel movie, and I thought he would disappoint.

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I'm impressed with Zendaya the most, though. Her deglammed MJ is fascinating to watch, and everything we know about the MJ character is rejuvenated by her new approach which is cute, interesting and fun. Her scenes with Tom Holland are also a delight to watch. No toxicity whatsoever.

I'm happy that there's a balance between the MJ-Peter Parker scenes and the Spider-man-as-a-super hero scenes. But because both sides are just as exciting to watch, one would want more of each story. Then again, what seems to be the goal here is to pay homage to Tony Stark. There's a big shoe to fill for both Spider-man and the succeeding Marvel movies. But with Far from Home's promise, with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger of an ending, we are definitely in for another wild ride.