Spider-man: Homecoming

David Leaman-Miller
Jul 10, 2017
2 min read

Marvel has done it again. A team of 5 writers and a virtually unknown director have teamed up to create an above average entry into the extended Marvel cinematic universe. Spider-man: Homecoming isn't an origin story. Instead, it's a very solid superhero movie that delivers what it is supposed to.

Several things are working in favor of the new Spidey flick. The film is funny. Really really funny. Tom Holland is so much fun to watch as the new Peter Parker. He brings so much energy to every scene. The film opens with a creative and energetic home video that Peter Parker made when he traveled to Berlin and participated in the airport battle featured in Captain America: Civil War.

The supporting cast and tight dialogue provide consistent laughs throughout. Newcomer Jacob Batalon is particularly funny as Peter's best friend and accomplice Ned. Jon Favreau, Donald Glover, and Robert Downey Jr. are also hilarious in their smaller roles. The story is complex enough to be interesting, includes a great twist, and it doesn't fall into the trap of becoming an overly convoluted mess. The action scenes in the film don't really bring anything new to the Superhero genre, and it feels like a let down after the brilliant action scenes in Wonder Woman, but they get the job done.

Michael Keaton plays The Vulture, who is a smart opponent for Spider-man. Despite having to work through some pretty corny dialogue and an under-baked moral argument, Keaton makes The Vulture work. Similar to the Green Goblin, or Doctor Octopus from the original Spider-man films, The Vulture isn't trying to destroy the world; he is just a corrupted guy who got carried away. It is so refreshing to see a villain who isn't hellbent on destroying everything by creating some sort of blue sky beam or portal to another dimension. In Spider-man: Homecoming, the whole world isn't at stake (besides, that's what The Avengers is for). Instead, the stakes are much closer the Peter's chest, and it makes for a much more engaging film.

The film, like all films, is not without it's flaws. One moment involving voice-over towards the end of the film (you know what I'm talking about if you've seen the film) is so ridiculously corny that I couldn't help but burst out laughing. A less funny failure in the film is it's objectification of Aunt May, played by Marisa Tomei. May doesn't really do anything in the film except serve as the butt of the joke as guy after guy comments on how attractive she is. In a film that otherwise tries so hard to be unoffensive (featuring what has to be the most diverse high school on film), this lapse is all the more jarring. To make matters worse, the only other women in the movie are Peter's love interests at school, and don't have complete arcs of their own. Once again we have a superhero movie where the women are plot points and nothing more. This failure isn't anything new, but still we should expect better.

Spider-Man Homecoming is now in theaters