Review 410: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming is a breezy, light, relatable and all-round fun experience that kicks off a whole new "fresh" chapter for Spider-Man - within the MCU.

Thrilled by his experiences with The Avengers, a young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) returns home to Queens, New York, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) under the watchful eye of his mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal, daily life, all the while distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. But when Adrian Toomes/Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new antagonist, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

The plot is simple but effective. At it's heart it's basically a hight school movie, but it's wrapped up in exciting, web swinging superhero action. It defiantly feels like for this iteration of Spider-Man (more than the Raimi/Maguire trilogy & the Garfield/Webb films for that matter) that the high school drama is the real meat to the film and the web swinging, crime fighting, superhero stuff is the icing on the cake and serving as metaphors for what Peter is going through in High School.
By setting the film shortly after Captain America: Civil War, the film gives itself an opportunity to explore Peter's new role as a street-level superhero as well as a student. Peter just relishes in being a crime fighting, friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man but he also has to prioritise his other bothers in life, such high school, homework, his decathlon team. To him they all detract from the thrill of being a superhero which is something teenagers in particular can relate to. We all have things we'd rather do with our lives but at the end of the day we have to put our heads down and get on with them as they benefit us.

Ultimately Spider-Man: Homecoming is a coming of age story for Peter; not just in the traditional sense of him becoming from teen to adult but also in the films depiction of Peter coming into his own as a hero and learning of all the risks and danger as well as the responsibility that comes with the job.
The film firmly establishes Peter Parker as a Superhero fanboy whose aspiring to be like the larger than life heroes he meets.

Marvel themselves also have to deal with the fact that this is the third Spider-Man reboot we've in the span of five years and as a result they have to deal with the limitations of the audience's knowledge which is we've already had two none Marvel Studios Spider-Man series so they ditch the usual Spider-Man movie tropes such as the origin, Uncle Ben etc, give Webhead a fresh coat of paint and do their best to differentiate Spider-Man: Homecoming from prior Spider-Man films.

Director Jon Watt's direction is fast paced and sharp bringing in the same sort of indie superhero flare that Jon Favreau & Scott Derrickson bought to Iron Man & Doctor Strange. While he crafts some visually creative action scenes, he seems most comfortable with high school drama and showing Peter Parker's personal struggles. The cinematography is vibrant, the production design is splendid, the scenery is excellent and captures the naturalism and everyday appeal of Queens, New York, the costumes are superb, the score by Michael Giacchino is quirky, upbeat and catchy, the action scenes are exciting, fun & inventive. A quick montage showcasing Spidy's superhero activities is both refreshing and hilarious.

The acting is top notch all round, after his grand entrance in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland properly shines in this film as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, perfectly getting to the core of who he is within the MCU. Spider-Man is one of the easiest Marvel Superhero's to relate to: He's not a warrior or a soldier or a spy, or a god or a rich billionaire, he's just a common, ordinary, spunky kid who just wants to use his powers to help others, but also has to juggle that with ordinary every day obstacles like school & homework and being a member of his schools decathlon team. Nonetheless, he treats being a superhero the way I would treat it. Like the best job ever. Is he Tobey Maguire? No, but he doesn't have to be, he plays the character differently and that's fine - that's all that matters.

Jacob Batalon proves to be a very funny and likeable friend to Peter Parker as Ned. Ned is almost the polar opposite to Peter, while Peter is awkward & shy, Ned is all of the above but nerdier.
Ned is a complete gamer, the quintessential best man, the No. 2 guy, the guy in the chair.

Zendaya is also in the film as Michelle a fellow school mate of Peter's. Awakward, sarcastic but ultimately intellectual. She feels like she doesn't need to talk to people because of her intelligence. She's only in a handful of scenes, but they're quite memorable thanks to her sharp wit.

It's a joy to see Jon Favreau return as Happy Hogan, here he acts as Peter's liaison to Tony Stark relaying to him his messages - even if he does find him annoying at times - which leads to a lot of funny moments in the film.

Donald Glover also has a very noteworthy role in this film playing Aaron Davis whom fans will recognise as the Prowler character from the comics; he only appears in couple of scenes but he proves to be very funny and endearing thanks to Glover's unique brand of charm.

Michael Keaton makes for a stupendous villain as Adrian Toomes/Vulture. What's appealing about him is how much like Peter Parker he's essentially a regular guy who becomes a villain.
He also doesn't have any delusions of grandure, he's just a guy who's doing what he sees as necessary to have a shot at a good life.
He's been described by co-producer Eric Hauserman Carroll as kind of like a Dark Tony Stark, but I see him as more akin to characters like Tony Soprano from The Sopranos or Walter White from Breaking Bad in that he's a businessman with a family to provide for.
He just wants to look out for his kids. There are even parts of this film where you think, "you know what? I might see his point." I also find it fitting that Toomes uses a Vulture Exo-Suit for criminal activities in scavenging items to sell on the Black Market.

Marisa Tomei is an utter delight as Aunt May, this is a very different version of the character than we are used to in other version of Spider-Man, this iteration is very much akin to a mother figure/big sister to Peter, she genuinely cares for him, has his best interests at heart.

Although he's only in a few scenes, it's always a joy to see Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man. This time, you get less of the Invincible Armoured Superhero and more of the man outside the suit acting as a Dumbledore to Peter's Harry Potter. Tom Holland has described their relationship as kind of a big brother relationship. He's taken Peter Parker under his wing since the Avengers Civil War is attempting to mentor him to become a better Superhero than he is. He sees a lot of himself in Peter such as his love of science, technology, music & heroic deeds but recognises that he has a lot of the same flaws that he had and tries his best to prevent Peter from making the same mistakes he made. Even though he can appear to be overprotective of him, it's because he genuinely believes Peter is worthy of being a Superhero. Being Peter's mentor gives Tony a chance to be a parental figure to him than his own father was.
In the end, this film is about him understanding Peter's bravery and determination whilst Peter needs to understand the risks he's making and the danger he's getting himself into.

Another welcome and, in my opinion, underrated addition to the cast is Jennifer Connelly as the voice of Friday, the A.I. installed in Peter's suit, her cool, soothing voice is excellent addition to the film and she serves as a fantastic guide to the young and still-in-his-prime Peter Parker.
Plus her providing of exposition on Spidy's superhero actions make for some absolutely brilliant laughs

Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Chernus, Hannibal Buress, Martin Starr, Michael Mando, Tyne Daly & Kenneth Choi round out the films large cast with terrifically solid performances. It should be noted that the majority of Peter's teachers are played by comedians i.e. Buress & Starr.

Welcome back Spider-Man, 4/5.

The Anonymous Critic.