Another year, another bunch of sequels. And they're all... fine? Just fine. At least from the selection I'll cover here. Nobody dropping the ball or outdoing themselves, just more of the same for better or worse. There's really not that much to say in most cases which is why I've left them to this round-up at the end of the summer. The results just feel like an extension of things that don't feel essential, and in the case of one in particular could have been missed entirely. You get just about everything that's to be expected all over again and nothing breaks the mould. Even this intro is starting to feel recycled so enough beating around the bush, let's go down the only road we've ever known.
Spider-Man: Far From Home delivers everything you'd image in the post End Game universe, with a smaller scale plot and less important villain. It has the same kind of levity in the overall tone as the previous instalment, and despite the well known character history it still manages to at least have personal stakes that feel earnest. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is again struggling with his responsibilities, this time as a series of otherworldly creatures strike during his school trip to Europe. Does the safety of the world, or his friends, come first... or can he just get on with having a normal life? It's the usual moral conundrum except now there's pressure from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) Director of SHIELD to be a bigger player in the super hero business.
Elsewhere there's a new guy on the scene, as the enigmatic Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) claims to have arrived from a parallel Earth to fight the globe threat. Which suits Peter just fine since he'd rather just be enjoying the ride sights in Venice. Of course things aren't ever that simple and things soon get out of hand, particularly when new technology is involved. Maybe that purple and green outfit hides something more sinister... It's all reasonably light hearted with a few dramatic moments along the way, but the road trip pacing often feels pretty bumpy. In some long stretches this could really just be any other teen comedy with a quirky ensemble. I guess that's kind of the idea, that all the picture post card antics are constantly being interrupted. But it feels a little laborious in places.
The major spectacle set pieces do break this up of course, although there are times when the CGI effects are disconnected from the more pedestrian romantic melodrama. Like the Ant-Man films there's a sense that the director working with actors is very work-man like and the rest is being done in post production where anything and everything is possible. However it does at least maintain some degree of character and it never feels as dull as the last outing for Scott Lang, which to be frank wasted its premise with soap opera filler. Here they are at least moving with some kind of purpose, even if it's a whole film just to have Spider-Man figure out his famous extra-sensory powers. They have an idea in mind and they stick the landing... it just could have been done with more panache.
3/5
Meanwhile Keanu Reeves is back in John Wick 3: Parabellum which delivers... more of the same. To a fault in some places, as almost every sequence feels like it's just a bit too long. An opening salvo in New York jumps between a library to a stable to a museum for guns to a museum for knives... when any one of these beats would have been a perfectly good start. It's all fine, but there's a point when some restraint should be put in place to allow this all to have the proper momentum. Especially when the most interesting parts are once again the quieter peeks into the world of assassins. The hints at John's past are still engaging without revealing too much. One of the standout moments is a meeting with The Director; (Anjelica Huston) a shadowy figure who owns a Russian ballet troupe.
The story from part two picks up straight away as John must escape from the underworld after breaking their rules, and for first half at least it seems to follow through with this narrative. With new rival Zero (Mark Dacascos) in pursuit he must find sanctuary with old friend Sofia (Halle Berry) and try to find a way out. There are more scenes lit with neon, there are more creative deaths, and there are more pet dogs. Sometimes these elements are combined to great effect. The curtain is also pulled back to show more of the sinister High Table as one of their Adjudicators (Asia Kate Dillon) arrives to clear up the mess left in his wake and scold the likes of Winston (Ian McShane and The Bowery King (Lawrence Fishburne). We even get to see where all those fancy gold coins come from.
Still, when the credits come around this all ends in another sequel tease and it feels like little else was really accomplished. This isn't even the globe trotting escape suggested by all the marketing, and in the end John ends up back where he started at the end of the previous film. It all looks and sounds good, and there are plenty of likeable performances. But when the motorcycle chases and attack dog action scenes go on for longer than they need to it's strange to see that this doesn't wrap up as a trilogy. It's nice to see cast members from The Raid films make an appearance, but really they could have been left out when there's so much other stuff here. There's plenty of death on screen, but sometimes you have to kill your darlings as they say. Fans will be satisfied, action addicts will be pleased, but really this needs brevity as well as bombast.
3/5
Lastly let's talk about Toy Story 4. Which really while it's fine you've gotta ask... why four? Again it's more of the same and fans are likely to be pleased. There's more of that Pixar branded existential angst, and there are more cute characters and tear jerking moments. But there are times when this feels less like a sequel and more like a series of left over ideas that have been glued together much like the new cast addition Forky (Tony Hale). There are times when the different plot elements don't quite come together and there's a sense this all would have worked much better as a series of animated shorts. None of them are bad, but it's just so inessential, particularly when the last instalment felt like such a lucky strike.
Did you ever wonder what happened to Bo-Peep from the first movie? Well that's a thing here. What happens if kids make toys from pipe cleaners? That's here. Ever wondered what happens to weird ventriloquist dolls or antiques? That's a thing. How about toys that are stuck as prizes on those rigged fairground games? Yeah that's here too. Meanwhile series staples like Buzz Lightyear and Jessie are only really present in a strange 'well what have we got' style script which struggles to give everyone something to do. It's all pretty solid stuff on its own but there's not enough narrative thrust to pull this off as a whole. Woody and Bo are reunited to figure out what life as a toy is really all about, again, which makes for a decent emotional core to the story. But it's all been done more than once before.
New introductions like Ducky and Bunny (Keegan-Michale Key and Jordan Peele) are kind of abrasive but get funnier as the story progresses, and the idea of Forky seems like a weird gimmick at first but works itself out. However both work best as post-credits gags which is indicative of the whole problem. The biggest laughs are throwaway moments rather than major character beats. The animation has never looked better and the voice acting is all great, but the memorable moments are the weird side-plots involving things like Keanu Reeves as an Evel Knievel style stunt racer. The smaller scale skits stand out and it's the big picture that is forgettable. It's all fine, but maybe they should have known to quit when they were ahead.
3/5
