Spider-Man: Homecoming --a review

Spider-Man: Homecoming is the sixth Spider-Man film in less than twenty years, starring the third actor (Tom Holland) to play the superhero. Thanks to a new deal between Marvel and Sony (the studio that owns the cinematic rights to the Web Spinner) Spider-Man can now appear in such super fantabulous movies like Captain America: Civil War, and the upcoming Avengers sequels, Avengers 3: Where Are Those Infinity Stones, Already? and Avengers 4: Get The Hell Off My Lawn.

While I admit that I was getting to the point of being Spider-Manned out, I have to say that I really liked Tom Holland’s introduction as the Wall Crawler in CA: Civil War. The original Spider-Man, created in the comics by artist Steve Ditko and writer Stan Lee, was just a high school kid who was struggling to balance being a superhero and getting his homework done on time. Tom Holland perfectly imbued his Peter Parker/Spider-Man with that same youthful vigor--being all ‘golly gee-whiz’ at the fact that he was helping Iron Man out in Civil War.

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Holland is just as good in the lead role, giving the Peter Parker character something that I never felt from Tobey McGuire (Spider-Man 1-3) and Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2): vulnerability. Holland plays Peter Parker as the kid from the comics who’s still figuring stuff out. He’s got Tony Stark as his mentor/father figure, but Peter still has to work up the nerve to ask a girl he likes to the Homecoming dance. And it’s to director Jon Watts’ credit that you care equally about Peter’s personal life as you do his super heroic antics.

But there’s no slacking off with the superhero stuff, not with the Vulture flying around. The Vulture was originally an old bald guy in a bird costume in the comics--who I always thought was very lame. But here, his “costume” is more like an advanced flight suit with a helmet that’s actually intimidating to behold. And then they went and cast the always great Michael Keaton (who was Batman for two memorable films) as the Vulture, creating a truly memorable villain in the process--because Keaton can really be chilling when it’s needed, such as in a confrontational scene he has with Peter late in the film.

And while it’s really cool to see Peter hanging out with Tony Stark/Iron Man, it’s still very much Spider-Man’s movie, with the Web Slinger taking a much-needed journey where he becomes a better all-around person, as well as a superhero. After almost twenty years of Spider-Man films (with some of them being very good), it’s nice to finally see the definitive live action movie about the Wall Crawler, one that makes me want to see much more of this new Peter Parker and his friends. --SF

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