EURO TRASH
Spidey and friends cross the pond for a European vacation in this smart follow up to Avengers: Endgame... and chaos and destruction follows them
CINEMA’S summer season gets off to a swinging start with this funny, exciting and smartly deceptive superhero sequel to
Avengers: Endgame, the 23rd movie in Marvel’s all-conquering blockbuster franchise.
In contrast to the previous earthshatteringly epic episode, this is a breezily entertaining blend of high school romcom, spy caper and CGI action adventure.
Spider-Man’s alter ego Peter Parker is struggling with his hero status and takes time out to join his classmates on a European vacation. However, while dithering over confessing his feelings for classmate MJ, he’s called back into action by Samuel L Jackson’s grumpy secret
agent Nick Fury. He teams Spider-Man with the flying superhero Mysterio to battle the Elementals, extra-dimensional giants with power over air, earth, wind and fire.
There are terrific battles in various locations, such as Venice and London, with my favourite Elemental being the ferocious lava-powered earth monster.
Tom Holland’s charm and comic ability demonstrate again why he’s the most endearing live action Spider-Man, while as MJ, American pop star Zendaya dazzles with her star power.
The only downside of casting her here is she’s unlikely anytime soon to have a superhero role of her own, which she undoubtedly deserves.
In a parallel romance, Jon Favreau and Marisa Tomei have fun with each other as they reprise their roles as Parker’s Aunt May and Iron Man’s former sidekick, Happy Hogan.
As Mysterio, Jake Gyllenhaal has a great rapport with Holland, and re-inventing Spider-Man’s long-time arch villain as a dimension-hopping tragic hero is an inspired move, adding character depth while also aligning this version of Spider-Man with last year’s animated Spider-verse adventure.
As the script toys with ideas of identity, role-playing and authenticity, several Spider-Man costumes are unveiled which point to our hero’s past, and his future. There are also lots of other connections to previous Marvel movies, and if you want to uncover them all, then stay until the very end.