Spider-Man: Far From Home Cert: 12A, 2hrs 9mins
It is not even three months since Avengers: Endgame seemingly brought the 22-movie run of the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to a spectacular and climactic close.
I have friends who are still in mourning – after all, it felt like the end of an era with key, much-loved characters making very final-feeling farewells.
Little more than a month later, when X-Men: Dark Phoenix disappointed both critics and cinema-goers alike, it felt like another important turning point might also have been reached.

The forever young and forever learning Spider-Man (Tom Holland), upside down on one of his adventures in Venice. Amidst all the action and drama, he manages to find a minute to relax
Had we perhaps hit peak superhero? Was it all going to be downhill from here? Spider-Man: Far From Home provides the same answer to both questions and, somewhat to my surprise, it’s a loud and resounding ‘No!’
Goodness, this is cleverly constructed stuff – full of fun, humour, youth and big visual effects, but underpinned by a screenplay that does a really well thought-through job of linking the MCU’s future to its hugely popular past.
Key supporting characters have been brought back led by Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Yes, the latter made a token appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming a couple of years ago, but more importantly he was in the original Iron Man in 2008, the picture that got the whole MCU thing started.

Back to the action – Spider-Man attempts to swing his way out of trouble in a typically spectacular moment of danger. The young Peter Parker is still learning his trade
If Happy was around to help Tony Stark become Iron Man, then having him return to help the uncertain, and here still only 16-year-old, Peter Parker decide whether he really wants to become Spider-Man is a seriously clever bit of continuity.
Look out, too, for a brief cameo from JK Simmons as Daily Bugle editor J Jonah Jameson – he’s been associated with the franchise since 2002.
Someone at Marvel has clearly been pulling out all the stops, as the Avengers’ mantle is ceremonially passed from the middle-aged Iron Man to the bright young Spider-Man. As Happy puts it: ‘They are big shoes to fill.’

Peter receives a firm hand shake during a super powered meeting with Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). The film ties together the young and the old
It’s achieved through what is essentially a European travelogue plot, with Peter, Ned, MJ and the rest of the high-school gang travelling to Venice for a spot of culture. What they get, however, is a spot of palazzo-destroying, bridge-wrecking water monster.
Thank heavens that Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) has taken time off from flirting with Happy to pack Peter’s Spider-Man suit. And thank heavens that a mysterious flying figure with what appears to be a cloudy goldfish bowl on his head is on their side.
Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) has arrived in the game.

There is stronger support this time from a particularly good Zendaya (above) as MJ and Jacob Batalon as Ned, provider of much of the humour
Nick Fury isn’t far behind, desperate for Spider-Man’s help as the Earth faces a new threat from a series of ancient elemental monsters. But is Peter ready to step up? Amid a whirlwind of visual effects we travel to Prague, Berlin and London to find out.
When Tom Holland made his debut in Spider-Man: Homecoming, I described him as ‘possibly the luckiest 21-year-old actor on the planet’, and I’m still not totally won over by his little-boy-lost performance.
But it is heading in the right direction, and there is stronger support this time from a particularly good Zendaya as MJ and Jacob Batalon as Ned, provider of much of the humour.
Gyllenhaal, as the guest star, is of course a proven class act, lending the film the same sort of reliable gravitas that Michael Keaton brought to Homecoming.
This is the fifth film since complex copyright negotiations allowed Spider-Man to return to the Avengers fold, and although Peter’s youth ensures that it feels like the beginning of something new, it also feels like a conclusion as some of the loose ends from Endgame are neatly wrapped up.
That’s Far From Home: a film that is both beginning and end, and effectively links past with future. Job done, I’d say.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Midsommar (18)
It takes just one glimpse of folk in white frocks and floral headdresses skipping happily off to a midsummer festival to see why this is being described as the Swedish The Wicker Man.
But while the horror plays out on a Swedish commune, the film is written and directed by American Ari Aster and the cast is led by Brit Florence Pugh and Irishman Jack Reynor.
The debt it owes to Robin Hardy’s 1973 classic is enormous, but the execution is outstanding: design, cinematography and particularly the choreography of the rituals danced by the shiny, happy people of Harga.
Like Aster’s Hereditary, this is a genre pic that deliberately plays on our expectations and mounting dread as four US students watch the festivities.
The mix of hallucinogens, graphic deaths and the inevitable fertility ritual is very nasty at times, but for those who like that sort of thing, this is one of the must-sees of the summer.
Never Look Away (15)
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The epic-feeling story never flags, and despite big ideas about life, sin and artistic creativity, it remains watchable. Tom Schilling is wonderful in the central role of Kurt Barnert.
The Queen’s Corgi (PG)

A glorious few moments happen when the Trumps visit Buckingham Palace (above), and the brilliant Jon Culshaw and Debra Stephenson lend their voices to Donald and Melania
Apart from a glorious few moments when the Trumps visit Buckingham Palace, and the brilliant Jon Culshaw and Debra Stephenson lend their voices to Donald and Melania, this English-language but Belgian-made cartoon about the Queen’s favourite corgi, Rex (mis-voiced by Jack Whitehall), has too many comic misjudgments, though the animation is eye-catching.
Vita & Virginia (12A)

Sincere performances from Gemma Arterton (above) and Elizabeth Debicki help bring the lesbian affair between Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf to convincing life
Parody stalks any would-be chronicler of the easily mockable Bloomsbury Group, and it certainly makes the job of writer-director Chanya Button here more difficult in bringing the lesbian affair between Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf to convincing life.
Sincere performances from Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debicki help.