Spider-Man: Homecoming was released on July 7th, 2017. It is directed by John Watts. In it Peter Parker (Tom Holland), with the help of his mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), tries to balance his life as an ordinary high school student while fighting crime as his superhero alter ego Spider-Man.
Spider-Man is finally a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has his own movie. The good news is it's pretty solid. The bad news? Well, we'll get there. The humor works really well and is done in a more situational style in contrast to the more quipy, self-referential humor usually found in Marvel movies. The writing in general is on point and Peter goes through a pretty decent character arc here. Essentially he must learn to take things slower and not to neglect his studies, or his social life, in order to play superhero, something which, after the events of
Captain America: Civil War, he's developed a tendency to do. It also features the best villain in a Marvel movie since Loki and the best Spider-Man villain since Doctor Octopus in
Spider-Man 2. Micheal Keaton is really great as the Vulture and, though I'll always have a soft spot for Tobey Maguire, one could easily argue that Tom Holland is the best on-screen Spider-Man. He is certainly the most age appropriate casting choice we've gotten so far and is also the only of the three actors to use an authentic Queen's accent. It also has one of the more memorable musical scores of any MCU film. Micheal Giacchino is one of my favorite modern composers and he doesn't disappoint here.
In the opening of
Spider-Man: Homecoming the Vulture's backstory is shown. This is followed by a recap of Spider-Man's involvement in
Captain America: Civil War. It's ten minutes before we are caught up to the present day and the actual plot of the film can get started. As a result, this film feels unnecessarily bogged down by the continuity of the MCU. It also, like many of its MCU counterparts, has problems in the last act. There's a major revelation that I like, as it further humanizes a certain character, but it can't help but feel contrived. In addition to this, the climax lacks the personal, emotional stakes of earlier action scenes and falls a little flat as a result. There's an iconic moment lifted from the comics, but it feels like a misstep, as it lacks the same emotional weight. There's also a little too much adult humor in this film for my comfort. This seems to be a trend in recent Marvel movies and, while I can accept it in a movie like
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, its frustrating that I feel uncomfortable taking my younger siblings to see a Spider-Man movie. But my real question is: where's Uncle Ben? It's really odd that, after his brief appearance in Captain America: Civil War and a whole movie about him, it's still not clear why this version of Peter Parker became Spider-Man in the first place.
Despite my reservations I still really enjoyed
Spider-Man: Homecoming. It may not be the best Spider-Man movie (at this point I doubt that
Spider-Man 2 will ever be topped) but its easily the best one since 2004.
Score: 7/10
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