Spider-Man: Far from Home

August 7, 2019 - Teenage Peter Parker is getting more comfortable in his Spider-Man suit, but is he ready to handle EDITH? We find out in this follow-up to Spider-Man: Homecoming. Tom Holland returns as the young superhero who has a thing for Zendaya, Jacob Batalon is his best friend, and Jon Favreau is back to flirt with Marisa Tomei. Samuel L. Jackson and Jake Gyllenhaal also star.

The movie is set in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, which (spoiler alert) saw the demise of Tony Stark/Iron Man. Young Peter has had enough superheroing for a while. He's ignoring calls from the head of SHIELD, Nick Fury. All he wants to do is tour Europe with his high school classmates and tell MJ (Zendaya) how he feels. He's not even planning to take his spidey suit, but Aunt May (Tomei) sneaks it into his suitcase. Also in his suitcase, a pair of glasses bequeathed to him by Stark.

No sooner do Peter and his classmates arrive in Venice, then a giant water creature wreaks havoc on the city. Venice is saved only thanks to the efforts of Peter and a powerful but unknown superhero (Gyllenhaal) who the media dubs "Mysterio." The two team up again in Prague to defeat a giant fire monster. That's enough to convince Peter that Mysterio, a.k.a. Quentin Beck, is the one who should have Stark's glasses. Whoever wears them has access to EDITH, the program that controls Stark Industries' full range of weaponry. Peter initially feels good about the decision but soon realizes he's made a very big mistake.

Overall review: **** Much like the first film, there's not much to complain about here. The subject matter is timely, and there's a plot twist that I didn't see coming (although, it may not be much of a twist for someone who's familiar with the Marvel universe). I'm looking forward to the next installment.