Picking up shortly after Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) life resumed in Avengers: Endgame—but five years after being dusted into oblivion in Avengers: Infinity War—life has carried on as it used to. There is plenty of humor to be found about everyone important in Peter’s orbit having been “blipped” out of existence and back again. Now they simply act like it was barely an inconvenience, so don’t expect any scenes dealing with that existential angst that might stem from seeing what undiscovered country lies beyond. Instead, Peter is just thrilled about heading somewhere way cooler for any American high schooler: Europe.
read more: Avengers: Endgame – Complete Reference and Easter Eggs Guide
There are actually a lot more twists and turns to the plot—maybe a few too many—but at the end of the day, this is really an excuse to spend time with Holland’s fizzy take on Spider-Man when he’s letting his hair down. And both in and out of the costume, this proves to be an irresistible way to spend two hours. More comfortably relaxed in the role than he’s ever previously been, Holland further cements himself as the definitive live-action Spider-Man with this movie, able to channel his own version of Peter Parker into a specific kind of mania that is as infectious as it is decidedly youthful.
Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!
What feels less like a Spidey comic might be so much emphasis on Peter’s role in the Marvel Universe now that Iron Man is gone. With an almost total lack of the meta-irony about thrusting the status of mascot on him since Robert Downey Jr.’s contract is up, there are multiple scenes of Nick Fury, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), and Mysterio telling him he is the future of the Avengers. It is a crown that neither fully fits the character or this movie—although Mysterio does like a velvet glove. As with Michael Keaton before him, Gyllenhaal makes a fantastic entrance into the MCU’s Spidey movies and proves that Marvel Studios knows how to handle the most important characters in Spider-Man’s sandbox.
All wide-eyed intensity, Gyllenhaal remarkably is able to play his scenes with both enthusiasm and guile. He even gets a speech about the need to wear capes to get anything done these days, showcasing a keen sense of meta-humor given that this is the Nightcrawler and Brokeback Mountain actor finally getting his superhero thing on. And he does so marvelously with the best action sequences in a non-animated Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2 in 2004. The way his illusionary powers are realized and contrasted with Spider-Man as they team-up and bounce off each other does a better job than any film to date at recreating the trippier artwork of Steve Ditko. They even manage to make that fishbowl look cool.
read more: Must See Movies of 2019
David Crow is the Film Section Editor at Den of Geek. He’s also a member of the Online Film Critics Society. Read more of his work here. You can follow him on Twitter @DCrowsNest.
