Spoiler-Free Spider-Man Far From Home Review

I wasn't sure what to expect in "Spider-Man Far From Home" after seeing "Avengers Endgame". Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much. Here are some initial thoughts after seeing it this weekend. As I try to do, I'll avoid spoilers. However, anything that was seen in the trailers is fair game.

First of all, I wasn't sure what to expect with this movie taking place after "Endgame". The trailers made it seem like everything was back to normal, aside from Iron Man being gone. I've had numerous conversations in the past two months about how everyday life would be chaotic and jumbled after the Decimation was reversed by the Hulk. However, I liked that they addressed the aftermath without dwelling on it. I definitely wouldn't want them to take a whole movie or TV series to explain how the average person got back to real life after blipping back into life.

Ever since "Spider-Man: Homecoming" and meeting Zendaya's MJ, I've felt a little weird about it. Maybe I'm just too used to Mary Jane Watson from the Tobey McGuire Spider-Man movies, but I was thrown by this new kind of MJ. The biggest struggle I had was that I didn't particularly enjoy Peter and MJ's chemistry. Maybe it's because they're teenagers and teenagers are awkward anyway. Maybe it's because it's just a new MJ. Maybe it's just because it's new. Regardless, we're likely to see them again (at least once more), so I guess we'll see what happens next.

With Mysterio being introduced in the trailers, I had my theories about what was going to happen. Was he really going to be good? Was he going to be a villain (as I'd seen in the cartoons growing up)? Even with all of my theories and ideas, I was still surprised. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but I guess maybe that's why it worked. It wouldn't have been so fun if I had been 100% correct about Mysterio.

Overall, I thought the movie (teenage/high school chemistry aside) was a wonderful transition out of Phase 3 and into Phase 4. The post-Endgame action provided a smooth segway out of "Endgame" and the big battle for Earth and into the next generation of Marvel movies. The cool thing is seeing what comes next. No release dates have been confirmed, but we know we're getting (at least) a Black Widow prequel (Budapest with Hawkeye perhaps?), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (maybe searching for Gamora?), Doctor Strange 2 (with Mordo's return hopefully), and Black Panther 2 (no clues there yet). Other than those spin-offs, we don't realy know what's happening next. We haven't been this MCU-blind in years. It's kind of exciting!