Here we are, 15 years after the very first major motion picture to feature Spider-Man, and now we\u2019re on our sixth. Well, six and a half, if you count his appearance in \u201cCaptain America: Civil War\u201d. I\u2019m not complaining though, because Spider-Man is my #1 favorite superhero of all-time. Say what you will about him, at least he\u2019s not as overexposed or overrated as Batman currently is! Sony and Marvel can make as many of these as they like, I will see them all in theaters no matter what. Hell, I\u2019m one of the few fans who will even defend the \u201cAmazing Spider-Man\u201d movies. Sure, they are flawed, but they had some good elements to them that shouldn\u2019t be overlooked. How does this latest installment measure up to the rest of the franchise? Let\u2019s find out.<\/p>\n
Tom Holland returns to the role from his first appearance in CA: CW. I must say, I think he fits quite well in the dual roles of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Tobey Maguire was great as a 60s era, nerdy Peter Parker, but wasn\u2019t that good as Spider-Man in the original Sam Raimi movies. Andrew Garfield was a great, joking version of Spider-Man in the \u201cAmazing Spider-Man\u201d movies, but he was too cool to play Peter Parker. Holland found the perfect balance between the two roles, and considering he\u2019s going to make at least six appearances within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that\u2019s a good thing. It\u2019s also refreshing to have an actual teenager playing the role for once (Holland was 19 when he first donned the Spidey tights).<\/p>\n
I talked about British actors doing American roles in my \u201cBaby Driver\u201d review, and Holland was thankfully convincing as a person from New York, complete with a faint New York accent every now and then. Although, I could have sworn his English accent slipped at least once. Otherwise, Holland is a living embodiment of Spider-Man\u2019s troubles. He\u2019s torn between being a good student, maintaining a social life, and being a crime fighter in secret. In other words, he\u2019s everything we love about our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.<\/p>\n
Directed by Jon Watts (yeah, I never heard of him either), Homecoming is what would happen if John Hughes ever wrote and directed a superhero movie. This is like a love letter to movies such as \u201cPretty In Pink\u201d, \u201cThe Breakfast Club\u201d, and \u201cFerris Bueller’s Day Off\u201d, complete with a blatant reference to Ferris Bueller in one scene. Many a comic book fan fell in love with the Spider-Man character based on how he was a normal kid in high school, who then became something more. This movie is for them.<\/p>\n
Taking place several years after the events of the first \u201cAvengers\u201d movie, New York is littered with Chitauri weaponry and technology. In comes Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes, a leader of a salvage company, who are devoted to cleaning all the mess up. However, Tony Stark (played, of course, by Robert Downey Jr), has invested in his own clean-up team, The Damage Control, who steal work right out from under Toomes and his team. Bitter for losing what would have been his biggest payday yet, Toomes decides to use what few pieces of Chitauri tech that he does have to steal from Damage Control, and become rich off of selling the tech as weapons on the black market. Wanting to prove himself worthy of being an Avenger, Peter Parker makes it his mission to stop Toomes, who has literally become a Vulture-like scavenger.<\/p>\n
Keaton is the greatest villain in the MCU since Loki. His character is actually developed, rather than just being another evil doppelganger version of the hero, and he\u2019s not evil just for the sake of being evil. He has his motivates for what he does. And there\u2019s even a big twist in the relationship between Peter and Toomes that turns the movie on its head, and would do M. Night Shyamalan proud. This is all a welcomed departure from the comic book version of Vulture, who has the outlandish gimmick of creating a machine that sucks the youthful energy out of his victims, so his aging is reversed, and he can be young again. See, just having to read that makes you glad it wasn\u2019t put onto film!<\/p>\n
Homecoming is also the most culturally diverse movie that Marvel has made so far. You\u2019re about to see the words \u201crace bender\u201d come up a lot. The best case scenario being the newly discovered Jacob Batalon, playing Peter\u2019s best friend, Ned Leeds. Yes, there\u2019s (mercifully) no Harry Osborn this time around. However, the Ned character is more like Ganke Lee, who is the nerdy best friend of an alternate reality version of Spider-Man named Miles Morales (Wikipedia him, it takes too long to explain). Regardless of who the Ned character is based on, Batalon\u2019s performance is the best in the movie, second only to Keaton\u2019s. I certainly hope Batalon gets plenty of success in budding career, because he oozes with charisma, at least in this role.<\/p>\n
However, the diversity and creative liberties aren\u2019t all great. Peter\u2019s mortal enemy, Eugene \u201cFlash\u201d Thomas was best represented in the first \u201cAmazing Spider-Man\u201d movie, in my humble opinion. However, this movie has a race bender, know-it-all version (played by Tony Revolori), who bullies Peter because he\u2019s apparently jealous of his nerd cred. That\u2019s right, Flash Thomas doesn\u2019t bully Peter because of the classic jock vs geek trope, he bullies him because Peter is an even bigger bookworm than him! And while I won\u2019t go into detailed, there\u2019s one or two scenes with Flash where his attention towards Peter could come across as homoerotic in nature. Yeah, some fans will probably be put off by this.<\/p>\n
Another annoyance is Zendaya Coleman as Michelle. Every fanboy lost his mind when it was rumored that she was going to be playing a race bender version of Mary Jane Watson. While I won\u2019t confirm or deny this rumor, Zendaya\u2019s character is just a strange loner who appears now and then, says a backhanded comment, and then goes back to whatever it was she was doing. Michelle was obviously modeled after Ally Sheedy’s \u201cbasketcase\u201d caricature from \u201cThe Breakfast Club\u201d. Frankly, it\u2019s a homage that I wish they didn\u2019t use. And the movie hints multiple times that she might be crushing on Peter. Take from that what you will.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s Marisa Tomei as Aunt May Parker. While a good actress, Tomei just doesn\u2019t work as Aunt May. Sorry, but Aunt May is supposed to an elderly woman in her 70s or 80s, not a sexy MILF in her 40s. It\u2019s also weird that many supporting characters have the hots for Aunt May, again, considering she\u2019s supposed to be an elderly woman. In my opinion, she was the movie\u2019s second weakest link, after Zendaya\u2019s Michelle.<\/p>\n
Lastly, there\u2019s Laura Harrier as (you guessed it) a race bender version of Liz Allen, Peter\u2019s newest love interest. Frankly, we\u2019ve had three movies featuring Mary Jane, and three movies featuring Gwen Stacy, so I\u2019m perfectly fine with Marvel going with a completely different girl for Peter to hopelessly swoon over. In typical Marvel movie fashion, the romance factor is nothing to write home about. Peter\u2019s love for Liz never really goes beyond having a schoolboy crush for her. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are still the reigning champions when it comes to believable, romantic chemistry between actors in a Spider-Man series. Don\u2019t get me wrong, Harrier is stunning to look at, especially during a swimming pool scene (unfortunately, she doesn\u2019t wear a bikini), and she\u2019s a decent enough actress with a bright future ahead of her, but this wasn\u2019t a step-up from Garfield and Stone.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the Iron Man aspect of the movie, which is both a blessing and a curse. On the blessing side, it gives us such infamous Spidey gadgets like a mask with expressive eyes that narrow and widen, the spider signal, the spider tracer, glider wings on the costume, various forms of webs for Spidey to shoot, and even on-screen changing of the web fluid cartridges. While we do finally get to see Peter creating his web fluid, the curse is that since all these gadgets are designed into the suit that Tony Stark provided, this further chips away how smart and what a scientific genius Peter is supposed to be. That being said, we are given a new A.I. voice built into the Spidey suit, who Peter names \u201cKaren\u201d, and said voice is provided by the always lovely Jennifer Connelly. This is a fun meta joke on two levels, the first being that Connelly starred as the original Betty Ross in Ang Lee\u2019s version of \u201cThe Hulk\u201d, and the second being that she\u2019s the real life wife of Paul Bettany, the voice of Jarvis, and now The Vision. And \u201cKaren\u201d results in the funniest scene in the whole movie. You\u2019ll know it when you see it.<\/p>\n
For those of you who were worried that Tony Stark appearing his this movie would end up turning it into Iron Man 5 (if you count CA: CW as also being Iron Man 4), Stark only appears in four scenes. Granted, some might consider that four scenes too many (and I\u2019m not far behind them), but it works as a means of linking Peter\/Spidey to the Avengers. And it does provide a cool, little appearance by a returning MCU character that should please long-time fans, so there\u2019s that benefit.<\/p>\n
Speaking of cool, little appearances, Chris Evans makes several cameos as Captain America, in the form of old timey public service announcements that are shown during classes at Peter\u2019s school. I believe this makes Evans and Downey Jr. tied for most movies appearances within the MCU. And while I won\u2019t totally ruin the post credit scene for you, it provides the ultimate trolling joke against fans who stay after the credits, and is also a meta joke about the recent news of Evans renewing his contract to star in even more MCU movies.<\/p>\n
Overall, Homecoming is an entertaining movie. Granted, if you\u2019re a diehard Spidey fan like I am, there will be a few aspects of this movie that you will be either delighted or frustrated about. If you\u2019re more a casual fan who only knows of Spider-Man from previous movies, then you\u2019ll probably love this movie. I give \u201cSpider-Man: Homecoming\u201d four out of five stars. If you need more convincing, the movie is currently at 92% at Rotten Tomatoes (same as \u201cWonder Woman\u201d).<\/p>\n
It\u2019s good to see Spidey back where he belongs. Although, it would be even better if Disney would just pay Sony their ransom money and buy the movie rights altogether, but even though Disney is worth billions, they would rather play the long game, and wait to pay chump change for Spidey, once Sony has no legs left to stand on any more. And as for the movie\u2019s place in the franchise, here\u2019s my ranking of every (solo) flick, from worst to best:<\/p>\n
6. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
\n5. Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
\n4. Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
\n3. Spider-Man (2002)
\n2. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
\n1. Spider-Man 2 (2004)<\/p>\n
Yes, I also find it amusing that the three most recent movies all come out exactly ten years apart from each of the original Raimi movies! All that being said, I\u2019ll see you for the next review. And don\u2019t forget, there\u2019s a special place in Hell for people who talk and\/or text during the movies!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here we are, 15 years after the very first major motion picture to feature Spider-Man, and now we\u2019re on our sixth. Well, six and a half, if you count his appearance in \u201cCaptain America: Civil War\u201d. I\u2019m not complaining though, because Spider-Man is my #1 favorite superhero of all-time. Say what you will about him, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[82,75,74,81,80,79],"class_list":["post-624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-homecoming","tag-marvel","tag-marvel-studios","tag-spider-man","tag-spider-man-home-coming","tag-spiderman"],"yoast_head":"\n