Superhero antics tee up cliffhanger
SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (12a), (129 mins) Set shortly after the devastation of Avengers:
Endgame, director Jon Watts’s web-slinging sequel is an effervescent comingof-age comedy with a Marvel Comics superhero as its dorky protagonist.
Tom Holland plays up the awkwardness of a hormone addled Peter Parker, who is torn between saving the world as his spandex-clad alter ego and following his heart. Scriptwriters Chris Mckenna and Erik Sommers drip-feed laughs into digital effects-heavy action sequences, which reduce Europe’s most beautiful cities to rubble.
As well as comedy and calamity, Spider-man: Far From Home addresses the changing face of heroism in an era of 24-hour social media and so-called fake news.
“People need to believe and nowadays they’ll believe anything,” observes one character, who bears the weight of those words more heavily than we initially comprehend.
You won’t need to cultivate your own spider sense or “Peter-tingle” to divine a key plot twist.
Correctly second-guessing the filmmakers’ intentions doesn’t greatly diminish enjoyment of Holland’s quirky performance or Zendaya’s portrayal of a spunky love interest, who doesn’t intend to wait for a nervous boy to make the first move. Spider-man: Far From
Home unfolds several months after “the blip” – the sudden return of half of all living organisms on earth including Peter Parker (Holland) and fellow students from Midtown School of Science and Technology.
The plucky teenager refuses calls from Nick
Fury (Samuel L Jackson) to concentrate on a class trip led by teachers Mr Harrington (Martin Starr) and Mr Dell (JB Smoove)...
Parallel romantic subplots balance giggles and swoons, and Jake Gyllenhaal lends gravitas to his complex role, including touching emotional scenes with a teary-eyed Holland.
The script acknowledges the multiple realities of Oscar-winning animation Spider-man: Into The Spider verse and the inevitable special effects overload is reserved for a frenzied final 20 minutes in London, which tees up a cliffhanger.
What a delightfully tangled web the film weaves.