Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures presents Spider-Man: Homecoming which will be released on July 7th, 2017.
After making his debut in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland returns as Peter Parker aka Spider-Man in his first solo movie portraying the iconic superhero.
The all-star cast also includes:
Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes/Vulture
Marisa Tomei as May Parker
Hands down this film was one of my most anticipated movies to see in 2017. I love Superhero movies and it doesn’t get any bigger with name recognition than with Marvel’s most beloved character, Spider-Man. Although there has been 5 previously made Spider-Man movies (all under Sony Pictures), this is the first one with Spider-Man officially apart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (click here for an explanation about the deal between Sony and Marvel Studios). In case you didn’t know Sony Pictures owns the movie rights to Spider-Man, but they made a working agreement allowing Spider-Man to be used in Marvel Studios movies.
Let’s jump right into it, this movie for the most part lived up to my expectations as far as what I wanted to see in a Spider-Man movie. Keep in mind, as a kid who grew up in the 90s, the Saturday morning Spider-Man cartoon played a big part of my TV watching and I was a huge fan, which also played a big part of shaping my perspective of what the character Spider-Man is.
Spider-Man: Homecoming was a love letter to all the John Hughes’ coming of age 80s movies. I loved Tom Holland’s portrayal of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. While this wasn’t an origin story for how Peter Parker became Spider-Man (how he got bit by a radioactive spider, etc.) but instead it’s an origin of how Peter Parker gets comfortable with the fact he is Spider-Man now and grows from Spider-Teenager to Spider-Man. I always geek out seeing Peter Parker acting out his smart, nerdy, scientist side of his personality.
Leading up to this movie, a lot of people were worried Tony Stark/Iron Man was going to be in this movie too much and take away from Spider-Man spotlight (one would assume that based on the trailers and advertising campaign) but let me assure you that Tony Stark is not in the movie that much and only shows up a couple times, however his presence is felt throughout the film as an underlying story thread.
This was the best movie adaptation of watching Peter Park in High School, besides seeing him do his science projects, we do see a lot of him dealing with everyday teenage problems in the classroom but also with his peers at various social events. I like that for this version of Peter Parker, fighting The Vulture is just as scary and nerve wrecking as talking to the girl he has a crush on. This is a friendly reminder that he is only 15 years old and he’s trying his best to balance his double identity lifestyle. Seeing how diverse his High School was refreshing and an accurate reminder that it’s 2017. It was fun seeing Spider-Man’s focus is on protecting his neighborhood, very similar to what we have seen from the Superheroes from Marvel’s various Netflix’s series.
I do have to applaud Marvel for once again using a different tone to tell a superhero story. For example, Captain America: The Winter Solder was a spy, espionage movie, Guardians of the Galaxy was a space opera. Seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming told in a coming of age style keeps the Superhero genre fresh and engaging for the viewers.
Props to Michael Keaton for delivering finally a good villain for us to care about. Critics and fans for years have been very vocal on how subpar the villains are portrayed in the MCU, but the Vulture was great, who comes off menacing but at the same we get enough of his backstory to feel invested in him. The movie introduces several other villains but thankfully they don’t over use them so it doesn’t come off as if they are fighting for screen time, the focus is on the Vulture.
However, this movie was not perfect and did have some flaws that I think many comic purists will object too. Be prepared that this new Spider-Man movie in the MCU combines characters from Marvel’s regular comic book universe and Ultimate universe.
My biggest pet peeve about this movie is for years, for decades, we all know Spider-Man’s backstory and what happened in his personal life and how he uses those dramatic events as the foundation for his motivation to why he wants to be Spider-Man and protect others. This movie made no references to those events and for me took away on understanding why Peter Parker wants to be Spider-Man so bad. Instead, this movie had Peter Parker more concerned about proving himself to Tony Stark and winning his seal of approval so he can become an Avenger. Hopefully, Bimbo Jimbo and I can do a spoiler review soon and I can break all of this down.
I wished we got more backstory between the relationship Peter Parker and his Aunt May, actually I just wanted more of Aunt May. It would of been nice to see more of Aunt May’s struggle of trying to raise Peter Parker without Uncle Ben. Zendaya’s character Michelle was trying way to hard on being the too cool for school emo girl.
The action sequences were fun but at times I wish the CGI was a little more believable instead of appearing like something out of a video game. I felt the movie played it safe when it came to the problems Spider-Man was trying to solve. I wish the stakes were higher and more intense for Spider-Man.
Overall, this is the best Spider-Man movie we have seen since 2004’s Spider-Man 2. It was a lot of fun and I will see it again a couple more times in the theaters. Make sure to keep an eye out for all the Easter Eggs especially for the ones to remind us that this is a MCU Spider-Man. I loved the presentation of this Spider-Man, he’s still new to the Superhero game. Spider-Man is still learning and mastering his skills and that shows when he’s trying to solve various problems and it’s not done smoothly. In some cases he still screws up and has to learn from his mistakes. It was nice seeing Peter Parker express how much he loves being Spider-Man and his life seems to be better when he’s in the Spider-Man suit.
I look forward on happens next with this current version of Spider-Man. It appears Spider-Man will have a big presence in the MCU moving forward and will be the future of The Avengers movies. The issues I have with his character and Aunt May I hope they can address or at least acknowledge in future movies. It might not be the best Spider-Man movie yet, I still feel the first two Spider-Man movies do a better job of action, drama and high stake problems, but I can’t wait to watch it again.
I would rate the film: 8.5/10
Go see Spider-Man: Homecoming when the movie hits theaters on Friday, July 7th.
Check out the first trailer below.
Check out the second trailer below.
Check out the third trailer below.
Check out the first international trailer below.
Check out the second international trailer below.
Check out the third international trailer below.
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