Amazing, Spectacular, and Superior
(This
review contains minor spoilers!)
Before we start, I should probably
give my thoughts on the five previous web-slinging movies. I’m a huge fan of
Spider-Man as a character, but I feel that that neither the Raimi trilogy nor
the Amazing movies really captured
the spirit of the comics.
Needless to say I was thrilled when
Sony announced they were partnering up with Marvel Studios and Spidey was
coming to the MCU. I was even more excited when Civil War happened and Tom Holland blew everyone away as a
Spider-Man closer to the comics than any we’ve seen onscreen before. So how
does his first solo-outing fare?
I can safely say that Homecoming is easily the definitive
Spider-Man film I’ve been waiting years for, and it captures the character in a
way that even many comic writers struggle to do.
Picking up after Civil War, all Peter wants to do is be accepted into the Avengers
now that he’s successfully chased off Captain America in Germany. Tony still
doesn’t think he’s ready, even saying he should be more of a “friendly
neighborhood Spider-Man” (ha ha).
Meanwhile, there’s a new villain on
the loose known as the Vulture, a flying menace who’s stealing old Avengers
tech for his own use. Spidey decides it’s his responsibility to stop him, and a
chase across New York ensues.
The real highlight here is Tom Holland
as Spider-Man himself. While Civil War was
a fantastic introduction to the MCU incarnation of the character, Homecoming truly proves that this is the
ultimate cinematic version of Peter Parker. Holland does a fantastic job of
juggling both the nerdy math-wiz of Peter Parker and the smartass quips of
Spider-Man, something neither Tobey Maguire nor Andrew Garfield were able to do
convincingly. Also for the first time ever Peter actually feels like a real
high school kid, instead of a man close to 30 years old hanging out in high
school for some unknown reason.
It’s also nice that for once we don’t
have to go through the typical spider bite/Uncle Ben dies/great power and great
responsibility shtick we’ve already seen twice again. The movie hints at Spidey’s
origin a few times (the spider bite is even name dropped, so they didn’t change
him to be an Inhuman or something in this universe), but it’s obvious that the
writers know that everyone already knows how Peter got his powers and don’t
really need a refresher.
The movie also does something I never
thought I’d see in a Spider-Man movie:
it gives Peter Parker and Spider-Man equal screentime! What a surprise! For
once we don’t need to cut back to Peter freaking out over his girlfriend every
five minutes and we can really enjoy the webslinging action. Words cannot
describe how happy it makes me that the main focus of a movie called Spider-Man is actually Spider-Man for
once instead of Peter Parker’s relationships with whatever girlfriend they
decided to give him. Remember how Amazing
Spider-Man 2 was basically The Gwen Stacy Movie? Here, while Peter has a
love interest (that they do a lot of cool stuff with admittedly), she doesn’t
hog the spotlight and allows Peter and his powers to be the main focus.
Vulture is also a fantastic villain,
played expertly by Michael Keaton. Despite being a much more “street-level”
villain than the likes of Loki or Ego, his story is one of the most compelling of
the MCU villains to date. He’s just an average blue-collar worker with a chip
on his shoulder that the rich and famous Avengers sit in million dollar mansion
while he slaves away as a lowly construction worker. I do wish we saw more of
his turn from average joe to insane supervillain, but he ended up being one of
the most intimidating villains the MCU has ever produced.
My one gripe with these two (and my only
real issue with the movie overall) is that they hold the spotlight on
themselves so much that there’s not much room for other characters. Despite
what the posters and trailers may make you believe, Tony Stark is barely in this.
He plays a crucial role, but only shows up in crucial scenes as a result. Robert
Downey Jr. is excellent as the character as he always is, but this isn’t Marvel
Spider-Man Team-Up: The Movie. The spotlight is rightfully focused on Peter’s
story, and Tony often comes across as more of a necessary hindrance to him than
a true partner.
Peter’s school friends are also great
fun. His pal Ned gets the most screentime out of all of them, and he provides a
lot of laughs throughout. As for Zendaya’s mysterious Michelle, she’s similar
to Tony Stark in that basically every scene she’s in was featured in the
trailers. While she’s a fun character, I found she didn’t have much of a
purpose in a movie except to setup what sounds like a much larger role in the
next Spidey flick. You do find out who she is at the end of the movie, and
while I won’t spoil it here, I will say that it’s a new and unique take on the
character from the comics that I’m incredibly interested to see play out in
future installments.
The movie is also filled to the brim
with references to not just past MCU properties, but also classic Spidey
characters. I won’t spoil all of them, but I will say that eagle-eyed viewers
can spot characters like Betty Brant, Cindy Moon, and even a potential
name-drop of one of the most popular non-Parker characters to ever hold the
Spider-Man name.
As always the action sequences are top
notch, although Civil War’s airport
fight still remains unbeaten when it comes to pure spectacle. They do a lot of
fun and creative stuff with Spidey’s web-shooters, especially with all the
extra gadgets he has in his Stark-upgraded suit. The ferry scene that was used
in all the trailers is a complete blast, utilizing his new gear in fantastic
ways.
Spider-Man:
Homecoming is everything I wanted out of Spidey’s first MCU outing and then
some. The movie does a fantastic job at balancing Peter’s high-school life and
his superhero life, never making it feel like you’re getting too much of either
one of them. The villain is incredibly intimidating, and while I wish we’d
spent more time with them, Peter’s friends all have fun parts to play. It
easily makes my top three MCU movies so far.
Oh, and make sure you stay all the way
to the end of the credits for this one. It’s absolutely worth it this time, trust me.
FINAL SCORE
10/10
Legendary
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