Uncharted (2022)

Tom Holland is a far too baby-faced Nathan Drake, the supposed-to-be manly hero of Naughty Dog's Uncharted game series adapted here for the big screen, and casting Mark Wahlberg, too young and clean-shaven, as the game's Victor "Sully" Sullivan robs the movie of some of the game's emotion given the character is supposed to be a father-like figure in grown-up orphan Nathan's life, but despite this horrible casting, the movie succeeds as an engaging popcorn adventure with moments of great excitement and, for lovers of the series, plenty of nods to the game.

★★★☆☆

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Spider-man: No Way Home (2021)

I wasn't always rivetted, as evidenced by the fact I was able to make to-do lists in my head as the dizzying cgi-action sequences went on and on, but there's no denying the cleverness of this Spider-man movie (the sixth Marvel film to feature Tom Holland as the webslinger but the first to characterise him as a mature agent of salvation, not a juvenile wannabe meter-out of violent justice), one that makes all the previous iterations of Spider-man, the ones with Andrew Garfield or Toby Maguire or even, say, Shinji Tôdô an extension of this movie, neatly rendering moot any and all past inconsistencies in plot or character or circumstance that may have niggled at viewers of umpteen versions, making everything connected and sensible and, get ready for it, ripe for multiple concurrent Spider-man releases.

★★★★☆

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Spider-Man: Far From Home

In the Avenger hiatus after Endgame, the world needs a hero refresh as much as the Marvel franchise needs its ageing fanbase refreshed, so it stands to reason Far From Home delivers up a Spiderman doing a better but still far from perfect job meeting global demand for his superhero powers while the story, this time featuring a tech-enhanced villain whose tricks recall those of Batman's The Scarecrow, takes on the tone of a Spy Kids sequel.

★★★☆☆

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Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

It starts a little confusingly for anyone like me who doesn't know exactly where, chronologically, it fits in the Marvel canon - opening scenes reference Iron Man and alien debris in a ravaged city - and it is very long and drags in the middle section, but Homecoming is a mostly fun and often funny Spiderman reboot that sets up Tom Holland's Spiderman as the newest, youngest Avenger with superhero ambition that exceeds his experience and abilities.

★★★☆☆

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