SPIDER-MAN : BRAND NEW DAY - Tuesday 4th August 2026.

I saw the M Rated 'SPIDER-MAN : BRAND NEW DAY' this week, and this American Superhero film is based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man and is the 38th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It is the fourth instalment in the MCU 'Spider-Man' series following 'Spider-Man : Homecoming' in 2017, 'Spider-Man : Far From Home' in 2019 and 'Spider-Man : No Way Home' in 2021. These first three films, all starring Tom Holland as the web-slinging hero, grossed a total US$3.94B at the global Box Office off the back of combined production budgets of US$535M. This instalment is Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton who made his feature film debut with 'I Am Not a Hipster' in 2012, and which he would follow up with the likes of 'Short Term 12' in 2013, 'The Glass Castle' in 2017, 'Just Mercy' in 2019, and 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' in 2021 - also an MCU offering. This film is part of the MCU's 'Phase Six' which began with 'The Fantastic Four : First Steps' released in mid-2025. 'Spider-Man : Brand New Day' had its Premiere in Los Angeles on 27th July and was released in the US, here in Australia and all major territories last week. The film has garnered generally positive reviews from critics and has grossed US$1.18B at the global Box Office off the back of a US$225M production budget becoming the second-highest opening weekend gross of all time worldwide, the highest opening weekend gross of all time in the USA and Canada, and the highest grossing film of 2026 to date. 

Following Dr. Stephen Strange's spell at the end of the last instalment - 'Spider-Man : No Way Home', the world has forgotten that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) exists. Four years later, Parker anonymously protects New York City but has deliberately distanced himself from those he used to know and love. This self imposed seclusion also extends to his former girlfriend Michelle 'MJ' Jones-Watson (Zendaya) and his best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon). Later, while speaking on his mobile phone to NYPD Detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colon-Zayas), Parker intercepts a message about a tank running amok through the city streets heading for the Department of Damage Control (DODC) building. The driver had been telepathically possessed, and the telepath is able to body hop from person to person to help Mac Gargan (aka Scorpion [Michael Mando]), an enhanced criminal Parker previously captured, to escape. Parker enquires with Yelena Belova (aka Black Widow [Florence Pugh]) at a city bathhouse she uses as her office, who tells him someone has repeatedly attacked the DODC in search of 'V-Max'. Parker questions DODC director Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman) at his office, who claims to have no knowledge of this V-Max.

Parker meets with Ned and MJ, who have moved back to New York after graduating from MIT at a house warming party in MJ's apartment, but fail to recognise him. Parker returns home distressed, and wakes up the next morning with heightened senses and organic webs coming out of his wrists. He tracks down Gargan, now possessed by the telepath, who tries to break back into the DODC. The telepath mocks him, and Parker reacts with uncharacteristic violence, brutally beating Gargan and inadvertently injuring a responding Police Officer. 

Hoping to control his new mutations, Parker visits Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) to enquire about the inhibitor device that uses siRNA to control his alter ego, the Hulk. On Banner's suggestion, Parker makes his own inhibitor to limit his powers, while also working on a second 'universal inhibitor' to suppress the telepath's abilities. Before Parker can finish, the telepath finds him and, after learning about MJ, possesses her and tricks Parker into revealing his true identity. 

After the telepath leaves MJ, Parker takes her to Frank Castle's (aka Punisher [Jon Bernthal]) hideout to keep her safe. With Castle's equipment and MJ's insight, Parker completes both inhibitors, and discovers that the telepath is named Jean Grey (Sadie Sink). When Jean attacks the DODC again, this time in person and using a possessed Hulk, Parker subdues her using his universal inhibitor, and turns her over to the DODC. Before losing consciousness, Jean mentions someone named Sara. 

Metzger claims that Sara is a recently deceased colleague Jean learned about while possessing his mind. When Parker returns to Castle's hideout, MJ confronts him with the letter she found but which he never delivered, that Parker had written for her and Ned to explain the spell that erased their memories. He explains himself and declares his love for MJ, but she responds that she does not know him and therefore does not love him. Despite this, she invites him to her apartment, where they and Ned spend time bonding.

After hearing MJ recount how she is unable to remember anything while being telepathically possessed, Parker realises that Metzger lied to him. He contacts Yelena, who learns from redacted DODC files that Sara (Olivia Booth-Ford) is Jean's sister, another telepath who was kidnapped by the DODC. Metzger meanwhile has begun experimenting on Jean's mind, as she realises 'V-Max' is the fading text on the label on the air conditioning vent above the holding cell, the last thing Sara saw before she died. Enraged, Jean psionically locks the area around her for a radius of about a mile from where she sits. 

Parker, who is still resistant to her abilities, enters the DODC to stop her. Jean rebuffs him and possesses a large group of the Hand ninjas, who have been working for the DODC. Initially overwhelmed, he removes his inhibitor and embraces his mutations, using his new abilities to defeat the Hand. Parker allows Jean to enter his mind, where she finds a memory of his aunt May (Marisa Tomei), who accepted his abilities and loved him for himself. Parker offers Jean understanding over her loss and shields her from Castle, who tries to shoot her from outside using a long range rifle, sustaining a near-fatal wound.

Parker wakes up in the hospital with Castle, who explains that Jean kept him alive while in critical condition. From his hospital bed he sees that the walls are adorned with get well soon wishes from his legion of fans, many of which have also gathered outside the hospital to catch a glimpse of their superhero. In the aftermath, a guilt-ridden Jean quietly leaves the city, Metzger disappears, and the DODC comes under investigation. Parker, placing fresh flowers beside his Aunt May's gravestone, vows he does not need to be alone to be Spider-Man. Seeing Ned again, he introduces himself using their old handshake, a gesture which Ned reciprocates and acknowledges his old friend simply saying 'Peter?' 

With 'Spider-Man : Brand New Day' Director Destin Daniel Cretton has delivered us a MCU instalment that doesn't feel as convoluted, over paced, chock full of otherworldly CGI or has many of us suffering from Superhero fatigue. Instead what we have here is a story of loneliness, isolation, emotion, charm, wit, energy, drive and the obligatory well executed action sequences that all add up to an enjoyable night at the movies. Tom Holland has matured and settled into the role in this his fourth outing as your friendly neighbourhood webslinger, who inhabits his character with conviction and who wears his heart well and truly on his sleeve. Zendaya and Jacob Batalon as returning MJ and Ned respectively all add an emotional depth to this film perhaps not seen in previous outings, Jon Bernthal as the Punisher adds a brutal and at times comedic interlude to the proceedings and Sadie Sink as Jean Grey the antagonist turned protagonist lands a grounded performance and I'm sure we'll see her again in future MCU offerings. Overall, its not surprising to see the Box Office receipts for this film or the largely positive critical press, and maybe, just maybe, this film will revitalise the recently flagging MCU.

'Spider-Man : Brand New Day' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

NOVOCAINE : Tuesday 8th April 2025

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'NOVOCAINE' earlier this week, and this American action comedy film is Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen whose prior feature film Directing collaborations take in 'Body' in 2015, 'Stake Land II' in 2016, 'Villains' in 2019 and 'Significant Other' in 2022. This film has received generally positive reviews from critics, and has so far grossed US$32M from a production budget of US$18M since its US release in mid-March.

We meet mild-mannered and introverted Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) as his morning alarm gets him out of bed on 23rd December. After his early morning routine he arrives at his place of work as the Assistant Manager at a Trust Credit Union in San Diego. Sherry Margrave (Amber Midthunder) is a co-worker who seemingly is more romantically interested in Nathan that he is of her. She invites him out for lunch that day and reluctantly he agrees. He orders a milk shake and she orders the last slice of cherry pie, which she says is the best on the west coast. She offers him a bite but he refuses, saying that he suffers from congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA) which basically means he cannot feel pain, and if he were to bite his tongue off while chewing it could be fatal for him. She persuades him to take a bite, which he reluctantly does and his face lights up. 

Later that evening the pair agree to meet up at a local bar, where they chat idly over a drink when Nathan is approached by his middle-school bully, who calls him 'Novocaine'. Sherry gets revenge for Nathan by tricking the bully into drinking a shot of extra hot chilli sauce. The pair leave the bar and head back to Nathan's apartment where they have sex.

The next morning Nathan is on cloud nine like he has just lost his cherry for the first time. It is Christmas Eve, and a gang of three robbers dressed up in Santa suits led by Simon Greenly (Ray Nicholson) rob the Credit Union. Simon murders Nathan's boss Nigel (Craig Jackson) when he won't divulge the combination to the vault, and takes Sherry as a hostage, as the Police show up in force and an intense shoot-out ensues. Nathan impulsively steals a cop car in pursuit of the car in which Sherry is being held, but he follows the wrong car and ends up in a confrontation with another robber, Ben Clark (Evan Hengst), in a restaurant kitchen. He eventually shoots Ben dead through the head, but not before severely burning his hand while retrieving Ben’s gun from a deep fat fryer. 

Ben had a distinctive tattoo on his upper arm, which Nathan takes a photo of, and asks his only friend, Roscoe Dixon (Jacob Batalon), a gamer whom he has never met in person, to help him find the artist. He successfully tracks down the artist, Zeno (Garth Collins) a man three times the size of Nathan and built like a brick out house, and unsuccessfully asks him for Ben's address, hoping to find Sherry. Sensing something is not right with Nathan's line of questioning he turns on Nathan and the pair fight it out. After a brawl, Nathan manages to get Ben's last name from Zeno, and he calls a colleague to find Ben's home address using his loan documents. 

Andre (Conrad Kemp), Ben's brother, has become agitated that Ben has not shown up at their rendezvous and so tells Simon that he's going to Ben's place to see if there is any sign of his brother there. Meanwhile, Nathan has arrived at the house to find it booby-trapped, and ends up stuck upside down dangling in a snare. Out of desperation he calls Roscoe to come and rescue him. A short time later Andre enters the house and finds a hanging by one leg Nathan and begins to torture him, who fakes (somewhat unconvincingly) feeling pain. Roscoe arrives, and together they overpower and kill Andre. Police Officers Mincy Langston (Betty Gabriel) and her partner Coltraine Duffy (Matt Walsh) arrive at the house and arrest Roscoe who made off on his Vespa, thinking they had Nathan with whom he had switched clothes.

Nathan tracks down Sherry and Simon at an auto repair shop and discovers she is Simon's sister and an accomplice to the robbery. She originally had intended to seduce Nathan to learn the bank vault code but developed real feelings for him (and was horrified that Simon needlessly murdered her boss, Nigel). Simon tries to kill Nathan against Sherry's protests, but he is shot by an arriving Coltraine, while Sherry and Nathan are arrested. Simon rises from his bullet wound and shoots Coltraine dead and wounds Mincy with a bullet to her lower side, and then makes a daring escapee in the ambulance holding a handcuffed Nathan to a stretcher. Sherry frees herself from the handcuffs, and she chases the ambulance while Roscoe takes a wounded Mincy to the hospital. 

Nathan regains consciousness, and breaks free from the handcuffs by dislocating his thumb so that his hand slips through the cuffs. He then uses a defibrillator device on Simon, causing him to crash, with the pair fighting it out in the back of the ambulance which has come to rest on its side. Having had enough of Nathan, Simon breaks his arm in a compound fracture that sees about six inches of bone protruding out of Nathan's lower arm. Sherry arrives, and she gets into a brutal fight with her brother, and as soon as he is about to plant a bullet in her head, Nathan injects himself with a syringe of adrenaline and kills Simon by sticking his exposed arm bone through Simon's jaw before falling unconscious, finally plum tuckered out from his many injuries.

Nathan comes round two weeks later on 11th January in a hospital bed bandaged up from neck to toe, with Roscoe by his side. Mincy enters the room and says that she has just returned from the courthouse where he has been sentenced to six months of house arrest and five years of probation instead of a lengthy prison sentence due to his saving the life of the cop whose car he took to pursue Sherry. One year later and Nathan has fully recovered and he visits Sherry in prison, who has eight months left to serve for her role in the robbery. They share a cherry pie to mark the one year anniversary of their first date, as the prison guard calls time on their visit and leads Sherry back to her cell, Nathan chews on the pie with a big grin on his face.

With 'Novocaine' Directors Berk and Olsen have delivered us a film with its tongue planted firmly in its cheek, with a lighthearted romcom masquerading as an action thriller that ramps up the pain threshold to 11 for everyone else except Nathan, while giving him every excuse to up the ante on the bloodletting, the violence, gore and the manner in which our protagonist here gets injured and just carries on regardless. This is a film straight out of the Looney Tunes playbook and is story that I'm sure got its inspiration from Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, but nonetheless it is entertaining enough, and the two leads in Quaid and Midthunder are both right on the money here that help elevate this film above the also rans in the action genre. 

'Novocaine' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SPIDER-MAN : NO WAY HOME : Tuesday 21st December 2021.

'SPIDER-MAN : NO WAY HOME' which I saw at my local multiplex last week, is the eagerly anticipated M Rated American Superhero film based on the Marvel comics character Spider-Man and is the follow up to 2017's 'Spider-Man : Homecoming' and 2019's 'Spider-Man : Far From Home' and is again Directed by Jon Watts. This film is the 27th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is the fourth film in Phase Four of the MCU following 'Black Widow', 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' and 'The Eternals' with 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' coming next in May 2022 followed by a string of others through 2023. This film saw its World Premier screening in Los Angeles on 13th of this month and was released worldwide later that same week having so far grossed US$1.05B off the back of a production budget of US$200M and has garnered generally positive critical acclaim. A sequel is already in development.

After Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) identity as Spider-Man was exposed by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) at the end of 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' with J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) the Executive Reporter of the sensationalist news website TheDailyBugle.net who is provided a doctored video exposing Spider-Man's identity prompting him to broadcast it to the entire world. He frames Parker for the attack on London, claiming Mysterio as a hero, and Spider-Man as a murderer. Needless to say Parker's life and Spider-Man's reputation are turned upside down. Parker, his girlfriend M.J. (Zendaya), best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) are arrested without charge and interrogated at the Department of Damage Control. Lawyer Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) is able to wrangle Parker out of any charges as the group wrestle with the negative worldwide publicity that has been thrown their way. Meanwhile, Parker, M.J. and Ned are eagerly awaiting the results of their applications to M.I.T. and when they arrive in the post they all convene at the cafe where M.J. works to open their envelopes at the same time. Needless to say, all three are rejected on the grounds of the negative publicity surrounding them which the university doesn't want to get entrenched in. 

Down but not out, Parker visits Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) at the Sanctum Sanctorum and asks for his help, in creating a spell that will make the world forget that Parker is Spider-Man. Reluctantly, Strange agrees and sets about casting his magic. However, during the process, Parker repeatedly interrupts by asking for exceptions that should include M.J., Ned and Aunt May and a few others to be precluded from forgetting. This causes the spell to become corrupted, but thankfully, Strange is able to contain it. Parker leaves, believing that nothing has happened. 

Parker decides to track down the M.I.T. Administrator who is on her way to the airport, at the suggestion of Stephen Strange to simply have a conversation and ask her to reconsider M.J.'s and Ned's applications as they were only innocent bystanders in the recent events that brought them all to this point. Stuck in traffic, Parker is suddenly attacked by Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina). Octavius tears open Parker's nanotechnology Iron-Spider suit which in turn links up with his own mechanical octopus tentacles which gives Parker the opportunity to take control and disable them. Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) then arrives and also attacks. Strange teleports Parker back to the Sanctorum and does the same with Octavius only locking the latter in a cell next to Curt Connors aka The Lizard (Rhys Ifans). Strange tells Parker that the corrupted spell briefly allowed people from other universes who know Spider-Man's identity to enter our own, and as a consequence orders Parker, M.J., and Ned to locate and capture them to minimise the harm they are likely to cause. 

Parker captures Max Dillon aka Electro (Jamie Foxx) and Flint Marko aka Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) as Osborn reclaims control of himself from his alter-ego Green Goblin persona. Osborn goes to a F.E.A.S.T. (Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter and Training) building, where May comforts him before Parker retrieves him. While discussing their previous battles with Spider-Man, Osborn, Octavius, and Dillon come to realise that they were pulled from their universes just before their deaths at Spider-Man's hands. Strange prepares a spell that will send the villains back to their own universes, but Parker counters that they should first cure the villains' powers to avoid them dying when they return. Parker steals the boxed spell, and following a foot chase in the Mirror Dimension in which Parker successfully traps Stephen Strange takes the villains to Happy Hogan's (Jon Favreau) apartment with Aunt May. There, using Stark Industries hi-tech, Parker is successful in curing Octavius, but Osborn's Goblin alter-ego takes control and convinces the uncured villains to betray Parker. As Dillon, Marko, and Connors all escape, Osborn and Spider-Man fight with the latter coming off worse. Osborn fatally injures May, who in her dying breath says to Parker that 'with great power, there must also come great responsibility' before succumbing to her injury. Parker is distraught at the death of his beloved Aunt. 

Ned discovers he can create portals using Strange's sling ring, which he and M.J. use in an attempt to locate Parker. They find 'Peter-Two' (Tobey Maguire) and 'Peter-Three' (Andrew Garfield), alternate versions of Parker who were summoned from their respective universes by Strange's spell. Ned and M.J. locate Parker and comfort him while the other Parkers share stories of losing loved ones. They encourage Parker to fight in May's honour. The three Parkers develop cures for the villains and coax Dillon, Marko, and Connors to the Statue of Liberty, where Peter-Two and Parker cure Marko and Connors. Octavius arrives to help and cures Dillon.

Ned frees Strange from the Mirror Dimension where he had been trapped for twelve hours, just as Osborn arrives and destroys the boxed spell, rupturing the barrier between universes. While Strange tries to maintain the barrier, an enraged Parker attempts to kill Osborn this time gaining the upper hand, but Peter-Two stops him. Peter-Three and Parker inject Osborn with his cure, so restoring his sanity. Parker realises the only way to protect the multiverse is to erase himself from everyone's memory and requests that Strange do so, promising M.J. and Ned that he will find them again. Strange casts the spell returning everyone to their respective universes and wiping everyone's memory of Parker in his universe. Two weeks later, Parker visits M.J. and Ned at the cafe to reintroduce himself, but thinks better of it. While mourning at May's grave, he has a conversation with Hogan who doesn't recognise him, but as a consequence is inspired to carry on. He moves into an apartment, makes a new Spider-Man suit and jumps out the window continuing with his web-slinging superheroics, just as J. Jonah Jameson beams over the airwaves that Spider-Man hasn't been seen for three weeks now and that he should come forward and reveal his true identity. 

Watch out for the mid-credits sequence featuring Eddie Brock aka Venom (Tom Hardy) and the end credits scene featuring a brief clip from 'Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness' due in cinema's in May 2022. 

'Spider-Man : No Way Home' deserves all the critical praise that is being bestowed upon it, and at in excess of US$1B at the global Box Office deserves to be the highest grossing film of 2021. Here Jon Watts has assembled a film that is chock full of heroes and villains, an impressive ensemble cast, large scale action, moments of laugh out loud humour, sharp dialogue, romance, emotion, grief and visual effects that very successfully pull together three Spider-Man franchises into one very satisfying well rounded conclusion. Here we see a grown-up more mature Peter Parker who is more willing to accept the consequences of his actions and take ownership of the end result, whilst still sharing a laugh and joke with 'Peter Two', 'Peter Three' Stephen Strange and Doc Ock in genuine heartfelt moments. Benedict Cumberbatch and Willem Dafoe add weight to an already impressive line up of acting talent. With a follow-up film already in development, who knows where the franchise will take us next, and even if Tom Holland will feature, but you can be sure that this will be a tough act to follow. My only criticism, and it's a small one at that, is that at a run time of two and a half hours, it could have been trimmed by fifteen minutes at least me thinks. That said, fans of the franchise certainly won't be disappointed. 

'Spider-Man : No Way Home' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SPIDER-MAN : FAR FROM HOME - Tuesday 9th July 2019.

I saw 'SPIDER-MAN : FAR FROM HOME' earlier this week, which is classified with an 'M' rating. Here this twenty third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a direct sequel to 2017's 'Spider-Man : Homecoming' and follows on shortly after the events of 'Avengers : Endgame'. Directed once again by Jon Watts this film had a budget of US$160M, compared to 'Homecoming' which had a budget of US$175M and grossed worldwide US$880M, and was released in the US last week too, one day after its Australian release earlier last week on Monday 1st July. Off the back of that US$160M production budget the film has so far grossed US$622M within its first ten days since release making it the sixth highest grossing film of 2019 to date, and has been positively Reviewed.

The film opens up with a black sedan vehicle weaving through the wreckage of the former community of Ixtenco, in Mexico, where the locals are reported to have seen a violent sand storm whip up, with a face. Out of the car step Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) just as the sand storm whips up again threatening to flatten what is left of the already destroyed town. Appearing in a flash of green light Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) arrives to destroy the seemingly otherworldly entity, which we learn subsequently is the Earth Elemental.

Meanwhile, back in New York City, the Midtown School of Science and Technology restarts its new academic year to welcome back the students who were among those brought back to life in 'the Blip' (aka 'the Snap!') some eight months ago. The school organises a two-week summer science field trip to Europe, where Peter Parker (Tom Holland), still distraught over the death of his friend and mentor Tony Stark, plans to confess his emerging feelings towards classmate MJ (Zendaya) and stay well clear of any acts of heroism. A plan which he talks over with his good friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) on the eve of their departure. At a fundraiser for the homeless coordinated by his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) Parker is forewarned by Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) that Nick Fury will contact him, but Parker chooses to ignore the call when he calls through much to Happy's chagrin. Parker leaves after being overwhelmed by the gathered media by questions about Stark, the Avengers, and whether Spider-Man is now going to step up and lead the Avengers.

Parker and his friends board the flight to Venice. Shortly after arriving, Venice is attacked by the Water Elemental, which proceeds to wreak havoc on the city causing Parker's fellow classmates to flee for their lives. Beck arrives and destroys the creature, while Parker attempts to help. Afterwards Fury meets with Parker and gives him Stark's glasses, which were intended for his successor. The glasses are equipped with the artificial intelligence 'E.D.I.T.H.' (Even Dead I'm Top of the Heap), which can access all of the Stark Industries databases and commands a large orbital weapons cache.

At a subsequent meeting in an underground operations centre, Beck and Parker come face to face for the first time. Beck claims that these 'Elementals' - four extradimensional humanoids who became immortals with power over natural forces and who ruled a kingdom on Earth before the rise of the original Atlantis, which are Earth, Water, Fire and the Wind all killed his family and that he hails from a different reality known as Earth-833, one among many in the Multiverse. Upon hearing this, Parker begins to hypothesise about the existence of this Multiverse, but is quickly dismissed by Fury.

Fury states that Parker's talents are needed in Prague and for him to turn his back on his schoolmates and live up to the responsibilities that have been thrust upon him, and to continue with Tony Stark's legacy. However, Parker flatly rejects Fury's call to action, opting instead to rejoin his classmates. Fury covertly redirects the school's trip itinerary to Prague, where the Fire Elemental is anticipated to strike. Roger Harrington (Martin Starr) one of the school teachers accompanying the kids, organises tickets for the whole class to attend the famed Prague Opera much to everyone's disliking, instead of attending a massive carnival that same night. The Fire Elemental appears at the carnival where MJ and Ned, with his new love interest and fellow classmate Betty Brant (Angourie Rice) have snuck away from a night at the opera, to attend. Beck, who by now has coined the name 'Mysterio' by the world's ever present media, with Parker's help, destroys it, but not before the Fire Elemental was able to trash a few city blocks and the carnival show ground.

As a result of their success in overcoming the Elementals, Fury and Hill invite Parker and Beck to Berlin to discuss the formation of a new Superhero team. Over a drink in a bar somewhere in Prague later that evening, Parker considers Beck more worthy than he of being Stark's successor, a responsibility that he feels less than qualified to take on, and as such commands the E.D.I.T.H. glasses over to Beck as being a more suitable Superhero than he will ever be - after all, Parker is just your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man and that's where he sees his calling right now.

After leaving the bar and having bequeathed the E.D.I.T.H. glasses to Beck, it is revealed that 'Mysterio' is in fact a former holographic-illusions specialist employed at Stark Industries who was fired by Tony Stark for his unstable manner. Beck now heads up a covert team of some two dozen disgruntled male and female ex-Stark employees all with specialist skills of some sort, and using advanced projector drones to simulate the Elemental attacks so that he can masquerade as a new bona fide Superhero.

After returning to his hotel, Parker plucks up the courage to ask MJ out for a late evening stroll before their rescheduled departure the next day. While Parker is digging deep to verbalise his true feelings for MJ, she interrupts him having deduced (sometime ago) that Parker is Spider-Man. Parker tries to deny this until she reveals a piece of debris she retrieved during the carnival battle which the pair quickly discover is a projector that presents a simulation of the Air Elemental, leading the two to deduce that Beck is a fraud. At this point and knowing that Beck cannot be trusted with the E.D.I.T.H. glasses, Parker comes clean over his alter-ego admitting to MJ that he is in fact Spider-Man. 

When preparing for another illusion master stroke, Beck discovers via street CCTV that MJ has evidence of his nefarious plans by way of the projector. Parker travels to Berlin and meets with Fury, only to realise that the version before him is an illusion created by Beck. Parker has to battle a multitude of lifelike illusions before Nick Fury apparently subdues Beck. Fury forces Parker to reveal anyone who has knowledge of the deception before being revealed as another illusion by which time Parker has already mentioned Ned's and MJ's names.

While battling Beck through various illusions Spider-Man is ultimately hit by a speeding train, and although Parker survives, badly battered and bruised, he falls unconscious in a train car. He comes round locked up in a jail cell in the Netherlands. He breaks out easily enough and contacts Hogan who picks up Parker in a tulip field in a Stark Industries jet. Hogan flies Parker to London and during the journey Parker reveals how he was taken in by Beck and how he feels he betrayed the trust that Tony Stark had in him. Hogan tells Parker not to be so harsh on himself and that Stark was a heavily flawed human being too. On board the private jet, Hogan reveals a suit-manufacturing machine, which Parker uses to synthesise a new customised Spider-Man suit.

In London, Beck uses E.D.I.T.H. to manipulate his grandest and most destructive illusion yet, referring to it as an Avengers Event - a fusion of all four Elementals, using it as a mask to kill MJ and any others to whom she might have revealed his secret. Using a series of heavily fortified drones which he launches in unison from a satellite orbiting in space, he unleashes his illusion on Tower Bridge where MJ, Ned, Betty and the others students are riding on a bus. They narrowly escape but are pursued by a number of killer drones into the Tower of London where they hide out in the heavily guarded room housing the Crown Jewels. Meanwhile, Beck is in full control of the combined destructive force of several hundred killer drones creating his grand illusion all at his command.

Parker is able to break through the illusion, and in a face-off with Beck involving further illusions defeats Beck, who dies from misfired drone gunshot wounds. Parker puts on the reacquired E.D.I.T.H. glasses, and orders for the remaining drones to be immobilised, so saving MJ, Ned, Betty and Hogan from near certain death. With the death of Beck, one of his associates who controls the drones and projector effects from a computer located away at a safe distance, is seen downloading the files to a USB memory stick, closing his laptop and hurriedly exiting stage left.  

Parker returns to New York City and his relationship with MJ blossoms. In a mid-credits scene, reporter J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) of The Daily Bugle appears on a giant outdoor television screen in a breaking news bulletin blaming Spider-Man for the Elementals' attacks and broadcasting doctored footage of the incident filmed and recorded by Beck, in which he incriminates Spider-Man for his death and reveals his true secret identity as Peter Parker. 

I enjoyed 'Spider-Man : Far From Home' and this is indeed a fitting end to Phase Three of the MCU with Peter Parker (and the world) still lamenting the loss of his close friend Tony Stark; his torn loyalties between his duties as a Superhero and new recruit to the Avengers ensemble and his fellow classmates; the realisation that with great power comes great responsibility; and ultimately his preparedness to step up to the plate. The film has a country hopping teenage road trip feel about it interlaced with all the touchstones of a Superhero movie including the emotion, the comedy and the larger than life action, all cemented together by a strong cast that sees Tom Holland now well and truly settled into the role and Jake Gyllenhaal relishing playing the good guy on the surface but turned bad, real bad, underneath, with still some surprises in store even after his death, just like Tony Stark. A worthy sequel to 'Homecoming', the first instalment in a post 'Endgame' world and a satisfactory conclusion to Phase Three. Rest assured that Spider-Man will return in a third instalment and some point in Phase Four of the new MCU. Catch it on the big screen while you can.

'Spider-Man : Far From Home' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard out of a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-