‘My Spy the Eternal City’ movie review: Dave Bautista’s sequel is stale, but worth improving

Kristen Schaal as Bobby, Dave Bautista as JJ and Chloe Coleman as Sophie in ‘My Spy The Eternal City’ | Photo Credit: Graham Bartholomew

The line between cheesy and good old-fashioned can be very thin in this sub-genre – joyfully non-serious spy action movies made for an audience of children and teens. My spy With some touching touches to its story and plenty of freshness to its familiar plot, it almost manages to come out on top. My Spy: The Eternal CityThe sequel, which comes four years later, also charms you with its traditional appeal and good humour, but fails to bring forth anything new.

The emotional strings also get weaker, even when solid ideas are in the mix. The first film featured a hardened CIA agent’s loving relationship with a nine-year-old girl; it was a relationship born out of loneliness, what a soldier-turned-agent faces in his new job, and a child whose widowed mother has so much work she can’t take him to ice-skating parties. In the sequel, Sophie (Chloe Coleman) is a teenager struggling with teenage angst, while JJ (Dave Bautista) struggles with how Sophie is changing and these new emotions he feels as a father, which hold him back from taking on on-field missions.

Chloe Coleman as Sophie and Dave Bautista as JJ in ‘My Spy The Eternal City’ | Photo credit: Graham Bartholomew

Of course, on paper, these are ideas that could have helped flesh out the arcs of these characters in the film, no matter how little space they get. Unfortunately, Sophie’s arc is too rushed; she decides to go after the hot-shot stud of the class, Ryan (Billy Barrett), and you know she’ll have to reconsider her decision after seeing the meek and introverted Colin (Taeho Ke) she’s clearly smitten with. Of course, stories that help young people navigate their decisions and complicated teenage relationships should be replicated for new generations, but why write Ryan and Colin as such cardboard cut-outs?

The emotion is further undermined by a genre-clichéd action storyline at its center. This time, when Sophie goes to Vatican City as part of her school choir, JJ goes with her to thwart a terrorist attack. We’re told that these Russian terrorists are looking for the activation codes for the hundred suitcase nuclear bombs that the KGB hid all over the world at the end of the Cold War – just a common thing. David Kim (Ken Jeong), Collin’s father and JJ’s boss, gets caught up in the plans of the antagonist, whose identity is kept secret for most of the film, only to end up as a stock spy movie villain.

Except for a few scenes – such as the scene in which Kim and JJ are attacked by a trained Finch or the scene in which the activation codes are stored at the airbase – nothing is really noteworthy. Bautista’s acting prowess is on full display, but apart from a few punches, his action-hero avatar doesn’t get enough opportunities to shine. Coleman, however, shows as much strength in her performance as an unruly rebellious teenager as she does in her fight scenes. In one particular scene, she uses a taser gun to pin two familiar faces to the ground.

Chloe Coleman as Sophie in ‘My Spy The Eternal City’ | Photo Credit: Graham Bartholomew

The grand finale is a huge mess. It’s a routine saving the world cliche, only backed up by some good humor (and a little help from a ‘blue’ angel). Speaking of which, Bobby (Kristen Schaal) is back to save JJ and the team (and the movie) with her infectious energy, humor, ass-kicking, and shooting with her eyes closed. She also gives Sophie advice on taking sloppy kisses, which she uses in a scene that could have been better left unsaid.

My Spy: The Eternal City It’s far from the ideal sequel you’d expect My spy. However, it’s not an unrelenting franchise either. You still want to see more from these characters, which suggests that maybe writer-director Pete Segal and writers Eric and John Hoberg need to take a closer look at their drawing boards.

My Spy: The Eternal City is currently streaming on Prime Video