SPIDER-MAN: Far From Home (2019) – My rating: 7.5/10

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics’ character Spider-Man, co-produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and the twenty-third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Jon Watts, written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Parker is recruited to face elemental threats from another dimension while he is on a school trip to Europe. I really had no interest in seeing this version of Spider-Man but wanted to write about the film hoping it would be of some interest. I didn’t love it;  see my thoughts explained in the last paragraph below.

Spider-Man: Far From Home opens in Ixtenco, Texas, with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) investigating an unnatural storm. While there, they encountered a horrifying creature, Earth Elemental. Quentin Beck / Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a master of trickery and illusion who also claims to be a superhero from Earth-833 in the Multiversearrives, arrives and successfully fights off the creature.

Meanwhile, in New York City, the Midtown School of Science and Technology restarts its academic year to accommodate the students who were among those resurrected in “the Blip” eight months earlier. The school organizes a two-week summer field trip to Europe, where Peter Parker (Tom Holland), still distraught over Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey, Jr.) death, plans to confess his growing feelings for classmate Michelle “MJ” (Zendaya). Despite being forewarned by Harold “Happy” Hogan (Jon Favreau) that Nick Fury is trying to contact him, Peter, looking forward to his school vacation, chooses to ignore the call. Avoiding any communication with anyone from Stark Enterprises, Peter and his friends travel to Venice and are among those attacked by the Water Elemental, which proceeds to wreak havoc on the city. Mysterio arrives and destroys the creature while Peter secretly attempts to help.

When Tobey Maguire was featured as Spider-Man, the aura was more adult-oriented. With each change of the Spider-Man actor, the aura changed to reflect a more youthful audience.  While the film was full of adventure, excitement and well-acted, it’s gotten a little too youthful for me.  The silliness and cockiness, often a big part of being a teenager, no longer appeals to the likes of my generation.  The plot has more twist and turns than one could imagine.  I didn’t particularly like Fury’s attitude as he tried to convince Parker to be a man by stepping-up and participating, now that the world has changed as a result of “the Blip”.  I felt going after Peter Parker to help fight the Elementals was ridiculous, as he could have asked a different agent.  I’m sure the kids will love Spider-Man: Far From Home — it has grossed over $603 million worldwide, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 2019 and was positively reviewed, with critics calling it a “fun and satisfying sequel” and praising the performances of the cast, particularly Holland and Gyllenhaal. If you haven’t seen Infinity: Endgame, you should see it before Spider-Man: Far From Home, as many spoilers are through-out the film.  Check It Out!

 

AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019) – My rating: 7.8/10

Avengers: Endgame is a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team,The Avengers. The film is produced by Marvell Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Avengers: Endgame is the sequel to 2012’s “The Avengers”, 2015’s” Avengers: Age of Ultron” and 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” , it is also the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Avengers: Endgame is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Endgame picks up with the surviving members of the Avengers team, along with their allies working to reverse the damage caused by Thanos during the Infinity War. I for one, anticipated Endgame with bated breath. While I thought this was a decent sequel, I was somewhat disappointed.

Thanos (Josh Brolin) used the Infinity Stones to disintegrate half of all life across the universe, leaving us devastated by the deaths of our beloved super heroes. The world has waited in anticipation for the reversal of Thanos’ actions. Avengers: Endgame, part two of Avengers: Infinity, begins three weeks after the completion of Thanos’ dastardly deed, with Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) returning to Earth from deep space, carrying a spaceship containing Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) inside. Now the remaining Avengers, which include; Bruce Banner / The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Rocket (Bradley Cooper’s voice), Thor (Christopher Hemsworth), Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and James “Rhodey” Rhodes / War Machine (Don Cheadle), must find a way to go back in time to fix what Thanos has done. Using Nebula’s knowledge, they find an injured Thanos on an unguarded planet. Their plan is to retake the Stones and reverse his actions but find he has already destroyed them to prevent further use. An enraged Thor beheads Thanos, who is now an ordinary person without the powers of the stones.

**** SPOILERS ****

Five years later, Scott Lang / Ant Man (Paul Rudd) escapes the quantum realm and meets Natsha Romanoff / Black Widow and Steve Rogers / Captain America at the Avengers’ compound. Scott explains that he experienced only five hours while trapped, which to him theorizes that the quantum realm allows time travel. The three heroes travel to ask Stark, because of his genius, to help them retrieve the Stones from the past so they can reverse Thanos’ actions in the present. Stark not believing this could be done refuses, mostly out of fear he’d lose his daughter, Morgan (Lexi Rabe). After having a short chat with his wife, Virginia “Pepper” Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Stark relents says good-bye to his family, then leaves to work with Banner, who has merged his consciousness with the Hulk’s body, hoping to stabilize travel in the quantum realm. Banner and Rocket go to the Asgardian refugees’ new home in Norway, to recruit a beer drinking, drunken, overweight Thor and Romanoff heads to Tokyo to recruit Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), who has turned into a ruthless vigilante following the disintegration of his family.

I think this is a good place to stop. It is difficult to critique this film because the entire story is a mystery for you to solve or not, so you don’t want to know how it ends or if they accomplish the mission. I was a little disappointed in this sequel. First, I felt Tony Shark deserved much more. I can’t elaborate on this since it would spoil the movie for you. Suffice to say, Iron Man should have a movie all to himself, which would give him the opportunity to explain his actions, past, present and future. I also feel Black Widow should be in that Iron Man movie to boost their fan’s moral, concerning what happened in the Endgame. I must inform you that this three hour and one minute movie is action packed with special effects beyond your greatest expectations. There were so many super heroes, from the present as well as the past, that you will find it hard to keep up. The beginning of Endgame tested our faith in the writers to pull off a Thanos’ reversal, as hopelessness was the only feelings we could muster up. After a long battle of defeats for the Avengers and company, we finally got some hope but it didn’t last long. I personally thought the Endgame could have been better written, as there were too many disappointments. Also, the quantum theory story was a bit hard to swallow. Terms like “your past is now your present” really took a lot of intellect to fully understand. BTW, that quantum statement is longer with deeper meaning; I just can’t spoil this for you by saying anymore. You have to see Avengers: Endgame for yourself. It is definitely worth seeing. The film received positive reviews for its direction, acting, entertainment value, musical score, visual effects and emotional weight, with critics lauding its culmination of the 22-film story. With an estimated budget of $356 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made. It also broke numerous box office records and has grossed over $1.7 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2019, as well as the fifth highest-grossing film of all time. Check It Out!

 

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (2018) – My rating: 8/10

Solo: A Star Wars Story, or simply Solo, is a 2018 Space Western based on the Star Wars character Han Solo. Directed by Ron Howard, it was produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the second Star Wars anthology film following 2016’s Rogue One. A stand-alone installment set prior to the events of A New Hope, it explores the early adventures of Han Solo and Chewbacca. I was excited to see Solo based on trailers and my Star Wars history but wasn’t that happy about  how Solo turned out.  While I continued to be entertained, I didn’t feel as touched or as involved in the story as in the past.  Could it be that there are too many Star Wars movies giving one the feeling that it’s just a competition piece without rhyme or reason?  A money grabber, if you will.

On the shipbuilding world of Corellia, orphaned children are made to steal in order to survive. A young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and his girlfriend, Qi’ra  (Emilia Clarke) escape from a local criminal gang. They bribe an Imperial officer with a stolen sample of coaxium, a powerful hyperspace fuel, in exchange for passage on an outgoing transport, but Qi’ra is apprehended by their pursuers before she can board. Han vows to return and rescue her, he then joins the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet. Han is given the surname “Solo” by the recruiting officer.

In the meanwhile, three years have past and Han has been expelled from the Imperial Flight Academy for insubordination. While serving as an infantryman during a battle on the planet Mimban, he encounters a gang of criminals posing as Imperial soldiers led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson). He tries to blackmail them into taking him with them, but Beckett has him arrested for desertion and thrown into a pit to be fed to a beast – a Wookiee named Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). Able to speak Chewbacca’s language, Han persuades him to work together to escape their confinement. In need of extra hands, Beckett rescues them and enlists them in the gang, which includes Beckett’s wife Val (Thandie Newton).  They then plot to steal a shipment of coaxium on the planet Vandor. The plan goes awry when the Cloud Riders show up with their leader Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman), resulting in the deaths of two crew members and the destruction of the coaxium.  Beckett reveals he was ordered to steal the shipment for Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), a high-ranking crime boss in the Crimson Dawn syndicate. Han and Chewbacca volunteer to help him steal another shipment to repay the debt.

At this point, the film picks up a whole new adventure.  There are many twist and turns and some surprises you won’t see coming.  Solo is an excellent story with far fewer characters than some of the earlier Star Wars productions. You might note the character Lando Calrissian  (Donald Glover) who was formerly played by Billy De Williams has been replaced with a younger actor.  Also, Han Solo was originally played by Harrison Ford but is not played by Alden Ehrenreich.  Over all I think Solo is missing the grandiose feeling usually displayed in these type of movies but still is a very good film.  Solo is definitely not worth seeing in 3D but is worth seeing in the regular standard format.  Check it out!