This week – another Superhero movie, which means the Superhero Franchise Genre-Killer that I predicted has not yet come to pass. They’re still pumping them out, so I guess I’ll still see them. But I was confused by Spiderman: Homecoming. Where did Spiderman get his powers? What’s up with Aunt May – is she married? Where are Peter Parker’s parents? What we really need is a movie that explains all this. Maybe we should find out where Spiderman came from before we get into his hi-jinks with the Avengers.
Peter Parker, with the help of his mentor Tony Stark, tries to balance his life as an ordinary high school student in New York City while fighting crime as his superhero alter ego Spider-Man when a new threat emerges.
Of course I’m joking but seriously, this franchise has been rebooted so often I’m surprised we haven’t already had an announcement for the next reboot. After all, this old one has been out for DAYS. Okay I’m stopping, I’m stopping. I just don’t know what was wrong with Tobey… I’m stopping. Hopefully this will be the last reboot for a while because in all honesty, this was my favorite Spiderman of all, ever. They got it exactly right and I went into this film looking for ways it could be wrong.
Peter Parker is a teenager. I think in this film they said he was 15? This is actually a story about a teenager. He has school projects, tests he has to study for and school dances to ask people out on. And this Peter Parker approaches life with the enthusiasm and inexperience of a kid. It felt so genuine – you can see the his decisions are bad as he makes them and still empathise when you (and everyone else) turn out to be right.. Just to let you know, Tom Holland is 21, so I can feel okay with how much I enjoyed watching him. There was fan service (thank you Marvel), and even when there wasn’t, that skin-tight suit was still pretty revealing.
Everything about this was well done. It was amazingly well written. The plot points were dead on but even though I was looking for for them, I was still surprised at times. And it was funny. I chuckled throughout the movie, though the comedy was not the point of the film. I also liked the acting. Tom Holland was perfect for the role (that boy is spry!) and I also REALLY liked Michael Keaton. That was partly writing but it was so well acted. I should also mention Robert Downey Jr. as well – I have never liked his character more. Tony Stark is well suited (haha suited) as a mentor. And my god, Aunt May was amazing (as was Marisa Tomei).
There were a couple weird little points in Spiderman: Homecoming I didn’t quite like. I felt a little awkward about the Minority Sidekick, and then felt more awkward for becoming okay with that character (Jacob Batalon nailed it). Also, after seeing Wonder Woman so recently, I found myself wondering why not a girl Spiderman? Given the issues teenage girls face, I realize this would be a VERY different movie but still maybe that day will come.
So is Spiderman: Homecoming worth watching? Definitely. I’m going to see it again just to watch how good it was. And I’m certainly looking forward to the next one. One word of advice: don’t stay till the end of the credits. If you have to, Youtube it or something, it isn’t worth the wait.
Rating: [star rating=”4.5″]