Spider-Man: Far From Home (5 Stars)

The first 23 films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are referred to collectively as the Infinity Saga. The six infinity stones are shown repeatedly in the films, though their significance isn't always clear to the uninitiated. What I mean to say is, those who have read the comics written by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin in the late 1980's and early 1990's know what the stones are supposed to be, but then they have to work out if they're something different in the films. Those who haven't read the comics can only scratch their heads in confusion.

We see the first stone, the Space Stone, in "Captain America" (the fifth MCU film). Starting in "The Avengers" (the sixth film) we see Thanos beginning to gather the stones to give himself great power. In the comics the united power of the stones makes him a God, but in the films they merely combine to become a super-weapon. He succeeds in gathering all the stones and using his weapon in "Infinity War" (the 19th film). The Avengers use the weapon against him in "Avengers Endgame" (the 22nd film).

Now we have "Spider-Man Far From Home" as a sort of epilogue. Thanos is dead and the stones have been scattered throughout the universe. Now we see the aftermath of the "Blip", as people have come to call it.

50% of the Earth's population disappeared, probably in 2018. The exact year of the disappearance is unclear, but what we know is that five years later, probably 2023, they returned without having aged. This causes more confusion in school than anywhere else. Children who were the same age are now five years older than one another. Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, is one of those affected. It's 21 years since he was born, but he's still 16. This leads to ethical problems. Is he allowed to drink alcohol or isn't he?

Fortunately for Peter, the girl he loves also blipped, so she's still the same age as him. In the film (and in school) she's only referred to as MJ. That was the nickname of Peter's girlfriend and future wife in the comics, Mary Jane Watson. The film's producers have stated that in the MCU Spider-Man films MJ's nickname stands for Michelle Jones, but until that's verified in the films themselves I choose not to believe it.

MJ is cute, in a girl-next-door-ish sort of way.

The actress Zendaya Coleman was actually 22 when the film was made, but she looks like a 16-year-old in the film.

Tom Holland, who plays Peter Parker, is also 22. Let's hope they keep their young looks so they can make another few films together.

The super-villain in this film is Mysterio. He was one of Spider-Man's oldest and most deadly enemies. Incidentally, Sam Raimi wanted to cast Bruce Campbell as Mysterio if he'd been allowed to direct "Spider-Man 4".

He looks remarkably similar to the way Steve Ditko drew him in the comics. That's not something we can take for granted. The Marvel films get almost every costume wrong.

This is a better film than "Spider-Man Homecoming", though not up to the level of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films. Where will the Spider-Man franchise go from here? We need continuity. We don't want a reboot and yet another Spider-Man any time in the next few years.

Success Rate:  + 5.1

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