My Spy The Eternal City

There is a specific kind of cognitive dissonance that occurs when you watch Dave Bautista—a man who looks like he was carved out of a granite quarry—attempt to navigate the emotional minefield of a high school choir trip. In My Spy The Eternal City, the sequel to the 2020 surprise hit, that friction is the entire engine. We’ve seen the "tough guy paired with a precocious kid" trope a thousand times, from Kindergarten Cop to The Game Plan, but the My Spy franchise manages to feel slightly more grounded because Bautista plays his character, JJ, with a palpable, sweat-beaded anxiety that feels less like "action hero" and more like "overwhelmed stepdad."

I watched this on my laptop while my neighbor was power-washing his driveway for three hours, and honestly, the rhythmic drone of the water against the pavement weirdly complemented the relentless "go-go-go" pacing of the Roman foot chases.

The Growing Pains of a Protégé

The first film worked because Chloe Coleman, playing the young Sophie Newton, had a sharp-tongued wit that actually challenged JJ’s stoicism. Fast forward four years, and we’re in the thick of the "Streaming Era" sequel—a phenomenon where the characters age in real-time while the budget moves from theatrical aspirations to a comfortable Amazon Prime home. Sophie is now a teenager, which means the stakes have shifted from "will she get me in trouble with the CIA?" to "will she acknowledge my existence in front of her crush?"

The plot is classic spy-movie wallpaper: a school choir trip to Italy becomes a front for a nuclear plot involving the Vatican. But the film is at its best when it leans into the domestic discomfort. Dave Bautista continues to be one of the most interesting actors to emerge from the wrestling ring; he has a way of using his massive physicality to highlight his character’s insecurity rather than his dominance. When he's trying to be a "cool chaperone," he looks like a giant trying to walk through a glass ornament shop without breaking anything, and that vulnerability makes the comedy land.

Action in the Land of Vespas

Director Peter Segal knows how to stage a comedic set piece, and while The Eternal City doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it uses its Italian backdrop with the enthusiasm of a tourist who just discovered espresso. We get the mandatory Vespa chases through narrow cobblestone alleys and a climactic showdown that feels like a "Lite" version of a Mission: Impossible finale.

The action choreography is clean, though you can definitely tell where the digital set extensions take over for the practical Roman locations. In an era where "Virtual Production" (like the LED volumes used in The Mandalorian) is becoming the norm, there’s still something refreshing about seeing the cast actually running around Venice, even if the physics of the stunts occasionally veer into the cartoonish. The film doesn't have the grit of a Bourne movie, nor does it want to. It treats its action like a theme park ride—controlled, safe, and designed for maximum "oohs" and "aahs" from the backseat of a minivan.

The Supporting Chaos Crew

A comedy-action hybrid is only as good as its bench, and this sequel stuffs the roster. Kristen Schaal returns as Bobbi, JJ’s tech-support-turned-field-partner, and she remains the franchise’s secret weapon. Her chaotic energy is the perfect foil to Bautista’s rigidity. New additions like Anna Faris and Flula Borg bring a level of heightened absurdity that signals the film’s refusal to take its nuclear-threat plot seriously. Ken Jeong also pops up, doing exactly what you expect Ken Jeong to do—high-pitched exasperation and comedic timing that feels like it’s being beamed in from a different, louder movie.

Interestingly, the film touches on the "franchise fatigue" we see in modern cinema by leaning into its own tropes. It knows it's a sequel. It knows we’ve seen Rome before. It’s a movie that feels like it was written by an algorithm that spent too much time watching The Lizzie McGuire Movie and Mission: Impossible back-to-back. Yet, there’s a charm to its earnestness. It isn't trying to subvert the genre or offer a gritty deconstruction of spycraft; it just wants to show you a big guy and a smart kid stopping a bomb while arguing about dating boundaries.

My Spy The Eternal City is the cinematic equivalent of a solid chain-restaurant meal: you know exactly what you’re getting, it’s seasoned well enough, and you won’t be thinking about it two hours later. It succeeds because of the genuine chemistry between Dave Bautista and Chloe Coleman, which remains the heart of the series even as the explosions get bigger. It’s a breezy, 112-minute distraction that understands its place in the streaming ecosystem—a fun, family-friendly romp that’s perfectly suited for a lazy Saturday afternoon. It won't change the face of action cinema, but it’ll definitely make you want to book a flight to Italy and buy a Vespa.