Before
we get into this review, allow me to give you a bit of a history lesson. Back
in the mid-90’s, long before superheroes and shared continuity became the
domineering forces in Hollywood, Marvel Comics filed for bankruptcy in the wake
of the great comic books crash of 1996. To pay off their debt, they auctioned
off the film rights to its characters to various movie studios, with Universal
getting The Incredible Hulk, 20th Century Fox getting the X-Men and
Fantastic 4, and Sony getting Spider-Man. The catch was that if they didn’t
keep making movies every few years, then Marvel would get the rights back. This
seemed like no big deal until Marvel was bought by Disney and became the cinematic
juggernaut it is now. Some of the studios didn’t want to give their toys back to
one their most powerful competitors, so they hunkered down and kept rebooting
after their original incarnations had ran their course. Hence why Sony churned
out three versions of Spider-Man in the past fifteen years, one of which was a
rushed, cynical tax write-off that nobody wanted or asked for, and the other
was part of an uneasy compromise made as a direct result to the last one. (This
is also how we ended up with Fant4stic.)
So, think of Spider-Man: Homecoming
as less of a homecoming and more of a joint custody. Sony gets to keep its
toys, and Disney gets to look over its shoulder and make sure they get it right
this time.
Our
story follows Peter Parker (Tom Holland) not long after the events of Captain America: Civil War. With his new
high-tech suit and a mentorship from Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), he has now
devoted himself to the superhero business full-time, constantly pestering Stark
about when he’ll become a full-fledged member of the Avengers despite his
insistence that he cut his teeth on low level ground work first. His struggle
to balance his personal life with his new-found duties as Spider-Man and his
eagerness to prove himself lead to some hasty, dangerous decisions that could
put an end to his career right before it takes off. The chance to show the
world and himself what he’s made of comes in the form of The Vulture, a former
contractor turned arms dealer (Michael Keaton) who resents Stark Industries for
snatching up his gig of cleaning up the aftermath of the big battle from the
end of The Avengers, who has turned
to selling modified weapons built from the alien technology salvaged from said
battle.
One
of the things that stuck out the most about this for me was how this is the
first solo debut of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that isn’t an origin story.
Mostly this is because his place in this universe was already establish in Civil War, and Spider-Man’s origin story
(radioactive spider bite, dead Uncle Ben, with great power comes great
responsibility etc.) is so ingrained in the public conscience that it would be
redundant to repeat it, so it makes sense for them to skip right to the scrappy
journeyman phase of his arc. Plus, it gives the movie more room to focus on the
emotional and thematic core of Peter balancing his school and home life with
crime-busting and web-slinging. This is the first time since 2002 where
Spider-Man is brought back to its roots, which is good since the smaller stakes
and scale make it a welcome break from epic scope and ever-escalating stakes of
the rest of the MCU, and the director seems more at home with Peter’s home life
as he deals with the trials and tribulations of academics, high school crushes
and keeping Aunt May’s worrying at ease than with the daring-do of his hero
work.
The
thing that makes it stand out among past versions of Spider-Man, though, is
that Peter kind of sucks at the whole crime-fighting thing. While Tobey Maguire
and Andrew Garfield took to it a bit too easily, Tom Holland’s Peter still has
a lot to learn. What he has in passion and ambition, he lacks in control and
foresight. He’s careless with his identity, doesn’t have complete control over
his powers, resents Stark for putting restrictions on his suit, doesn’t always
stick the landing and cries when he’s in pain. But that’s great because it’s
what made Spider-Man so popular for the past fifty years: he’s a superhero with
everyday problems, more specifically, the problems of someone the same age as
the majority of its readers.
Holland
nails both personae with his performance, embodying the youthful spirit of
Peter and the cockiness of Spider-Man, as well as conveying the excitement and
stress of his double life, especially when one starts to bleed into the other.
He’s rounded out by solid performances from the supporting cast. Robert Downey
Jr. is only in the movie for about ten minutes total (probably because it costs
five pensions and a mortgage just to get him out of bed), but he’s used for
just the right amount of time and doesn’t phone it in. And while I get the
feeling that someone was taking the piss by casting Michael Keaton as The
Vulture, he still does a fantastic job, giving us probably the most relatable
and sympathetic villain in the entire MCU. There’s a particularly intense scene
where he and Peter cross paths in the real world that’s both hilarious and
intimidating. Even Peter’s classmates bring their A-game. Jacob Batalon as
Peter’s is a lot of fun as Peter’s nerdy best friend Ned and the only one in
his personal life who knows he’s Spider-Man, I like Tony Revolori’s twist on
Flash Thompson, and Zendaya as a deadpan snark serves no real purpose but to
just take glib jabs at everyone, but she ended up being one of my favorite
characters.
Overall,
while I do think his arrival to the MCU was a bit soon, Spider-Man: Homecoming is still a welcome back-to-basics approach
for the character. I certainly haven’t enjoyed a Spider-Man movie this much
since 2004, and it’s the first Spider-Man movie ever to nail both the
web-slinger and Peter Parker. I wouldn’t say this is one of the higher-ranking
Marvel movies like The Avengers, Captain
America: The Winter Soldier or
Guardians of the Galaxy, but it is comfortably in the second tier along the
likes of Iron Man, the first Captain America and Doctor Strange.
8/10
Side note: While it’s pretty
much protocol at this point to wait for the post-credits scene in Marvel movies
now, this one is absolutely worth the wait. Just show a little patience, and
you won’t be disappointed.
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