Numan Acar, Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal star in a scene from the movie "Spider-Man: Far From Home." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. (CNS/Sony)

By Catholic News Service

True to its title, this snappy follow-up to 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” finds the eponymous superhero (Tom Holland) traveling across Europe on a summer trip organized for the students of his alter ego Peter Parker’s high school. He wants to spend the journey courting the classmate with whom he’s smitten (Zendaya).

But a hard-driving crime fighter (Samuel L. Jackson) forcefully recruits him to join the battle against the sole survivor of a quartet of monsters known as Elementals. So he teams with an alien (Jake Gyllenhaal) whose world was destroyed by the creatures and is so impressed with his new comrade that he gives him the vastly powerful technological system he inherited from his late mentor (Robert Downey Jr., seen only in images). He soon discovers however, that his trust may have been misplaced.

Screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers continue to explore the franchise’s recurring theme about the responsibilities that come with power, in this case as Peter worries about his ability to step into the shoes of Downey’s character. And director Jon Watts delivers with an adventure full of bloodless derring-do and gentle, innocent romance. Probably acceptable for older teens.

Frequent stylized combat, mature references, including to pornography and prostitution, at least one mild oath, a couple of crude and a few crass terms. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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