With a script written by a committee, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo direct this massive effort. They were given a 90-minute story which the committee inflated to a 129-minute CGI extravaganza. I dozed through many of the stupifying special effects, which consisted primarily of blowie uppie stuff in every color of the rainbow. The effects did NOT advance the story.
Part of the Russos' gigantic cast:
- Tom Holland ("Avengers") Peter Parker / Spiderman is such an earnest high-school boy, excited about his class trip to Europe, AND maybe a chance to spend some quality time with MJ.
- Samuel L. Jackson ("Avengers") Nick Fury is as impatient as always and Peter Parker's immaturity tests his temper. Particularly when Peter sends Nick's calls to voicemail.
- Marisa Tomei (we will always love her in "My Cousin Vinny") Aunt May has trouble keeping Peter's secret, but she likes the guy who was the late Tony Stark's chauffeur.
- Jon Favreau ("Chef") Happy Hogan is the lucky fellow who catches Aunt May's eye. He is also sort of a life coach for Peter as those high school students try to cope with their summer romances.
- Jake Gyllenhaal ("Zodiac") Quentin Beck / Mysterio has Peter excited. He may be the perfect superhero to replace Tony Stark / Iron Man! Mysterio tells Peter, "Don't apologize for being the smartest one in the room."
- We have classmates played by Zendaya (MJ), Jacob Batalon (Ned), Anjourie Rice (Betty) and Tony Revolori (Flash). The adult advisors are the comic relief and the scenery is terrific...until it's blown up. Grrr....
The effective scenes where we see what a fine young man Peter Parker has become, are too few and far between. I appreciated the "In Memorium" segment that acknowledged the missing Avengers. The apocalyptic CGI did not add to my experience. Sorry.
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See what I mean:
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