Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.).

Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

Staring Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Jon Favreau,  Donald Glover with Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jnr. Directed by Jon Watts and IN CINEMAS JULY 6, 2017!

Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

Cast includes Tom Holland,  Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Jon Favreau, Donald Glover, Tyne Daily,  Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jnr, directed by Jon Watts.RELEASES IN CINEMAS JULY 6 2017.

The film is filled with new characters to the big screen like Black Panther (Chadwick Bosema) as well as drawing in players from other films new to the MU like Ant-Man. Paul Rudd’s diminutive character is a great addition and provides some much needed humor to what is one of the more serious Marvel outings. Marvel’s acquiring of Spiderman from his Sony overlords is also a worthy and comic addition.

The plot has more than a few strangely placed potholes. These could have been easily filled with some small degree of exposition but going down the road of having the Avengers pay some degree of penance for past caviler endeavours is a clever plot device even if handled rather clunky at times.

The film’s long running time (147 minutes) races by and the fight scenes while overabundant are very well staged. Pitting Chris Evans’ Captain America against Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man in a war of wills provides the majority of the human interaction but there are a number of smaller subplots that also provide interest. It’s great getting all the gang back together again and in a vehicle that is more strongly written and played out than last time. Just a small critique though, let’s please have the crazy credits at the very end provide us new information (like in the past) other than just being an ad for future films.

Rob Hudson
www.marvel.com/captainamerica

One of first film’s strongest points was the dynamics between the characters and how they riffed off each other. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man was given some great lines and everyone else had to up their game just to keep up. The new script is mysteriously bereft of most of those moments and sticks to a pacing of mostly action scenes patched together with momentary bits of dialogue. When the action does arrive however, it is dazzling.

The film also relies a bit too heavily on the viewer’s knowledge of the Marvel Universe and for those new to the ways of colourful superheros, it’s not a bad idea to bring along a friend fluent in that world. For parents, it’s a great way to get schooled by their kids. Writer/director Joss Whedon has returned to the franchise for this installment but either through pressure to pack a bigger bang or too many outside influences, his usual bright charm is slightly dulled.

All is not lost though and while the film is a good representation of the spectacle that can be accomplished with zeros and ones, there is also enough of the character’s innate human charm available to keep things from becoming too much of a technical exercise. It is visually spectacular, almost overwhelming, story-wise less so.

Rob Hudson
www.marvel.com/avengers

Thor (the movie version) is played by Australian actor Chris Hemsworth and he has come a long way from his days on Home And Away. He now has the pre-requisite comic book superhero physique and has muscles on top of muscles. The rest of the cast features some surprisingly well-established A-list thespians. The list includes Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård and Anthony Hopkins. Wait a minute on that last selection; with some of Hopkins’ recent paycheck films he might be in danger of becoming slightly more B list.

The action is this film is as big as the pumped up muscles and reality is thrown out the window. This doesn’t however prevent the film from being a lot of fun; it just turns it into a more guilty pleasure. The story revolves around Thor getting booted out of his plane of existence and being sent to earth. This turns the tale into a fish out of water study and gets some good jokes in at the expense of the unknowing universe traveller.

Thor ticks all the right boxes for a great session of escapist entertainment. It’s big, loud, rather dumb and more often than not very entertaining.

Rob Hudson
www.thor.marvel.com