There's so much to love about this film. The perfect balance of Spider-Man adventures and Peter Parker misadventures, the globetrotting through all of my favorite European cities, the beautiful blossoming of Peter and MJ's romance, Mysterio's devilish and inevitable betrayal, even some exploration into the Snaps fallouts, and, of course, the twists in the credits!
Where to start?
I loved how Peter, despite his adventures into space, becoming dusted (excuse me, blipped), and then returning to life five years later, he's still an awkward teenager trying to find his way in life. He's excited about the European science trip but also nervous because he wants to tell MJ how he feels about her, just like any teenager would. It's clumsy, it's dumb, it's sweet, and it has a happy ending for both of them. I love how MJ figured out Peter's alter ego, following from the hints left behind in Homecoming and that ultimately makes their relationship stronger.
Mysterio has always been one of my favorite Spidey villains so I was thrilled that he finally got his chance to shine. Naturally, I never bought his "I'm from an alternate universe" heroic shtick ever since the trailers (although I am amused by how many poster in this forum went with it regardless), so his grand reveal wasn't a surprise at all for me. That said, the "reveal party" came off a bit cheesy even though Jake Gyllenhaal did his best to act it out (the black and white flashbacks were particularly corny, but I did like the callbacks).
I enjoyed Beck's mentorship towards Peter and I felt like Beck's affection towards Peter was genuine right up to the point Peter kept getting in the way of Beck's grand master plan. I especially loved we didn't just get the rudimentary illusions and drones with the Elementals but also a proper mindfuck illusion sequence with Peter thinking he was with Fury (twice over) as well as some good ol' fashion flashy special effects (which is a nice nod Beck's origins in the comics). Illusions were always Beck's thing, right until the bitter end...
Now for the twists: WOW. Even though J.K. Simmons was at the world premiere I never, ever, ever dared to dream that he would actually reprise his role as Jonah! I love how they changed The Daily Bugle into an Info Wars-type "news" program, complete with Jonah's typical vitriol perfectly stepping in for Alex Jones' bluster. And what better way to introduce this version of Jonah than to unmask Spider-Man himself with a beyond-the-grave assist from Mysterio, pulling off one last illusion. I look forward to seeing how the next film handles this sudden change in Peter's life (as well as MJ's and Ned's...and even Flash's)
Aside from Michael Gough's Alfred, I can't think of a single film franchise reboot that brought back an actor in the same role, although I've heard tell that all four of those Batman are supposedly the same Batman but I call bullshit on that. Either way, this moment felt completely unprecedented and I really hope his return isn't limited to this mid-credits cameo.
And as if that wasn't enough, we get another great twist: Talos and Soren have been masquerading as Fury and Hill during the whole film while Fury gets a long overdue vacation in space (undoubtedly arranged by Carol). This helps explain away what had been my biggest complaint about the whole film: How could someone as paranoid and savvy as Nick Fury get duped by Mysterio (even if he is the "master of illusion")? I couldn't quite swallow it. That's what makes this twist so perfect. Not only does it explain small inconstancies in Fury's and Hill's behaviors, but the viewers don't fell cheated that we didn't actually get Fury and Hill after all. And I just realized this twist works on another level: Beck was busy casting illusions throughout the whole film and yet he didn't catch onto the biggest illusion of them all, staring him right in the face!
