Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Rating: 8/10 (27 July 2017)

At this point its almost impossible to deny that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a money making vehicle. While I'm not overly fond of some of the MCU films, others are just a complete blast. I think we are in Phase 3 of the MCU now with this film. Its the second reboot of Spider-Man after The Amazing Spider-Man films failed (I'd say pretty miserably as well). The main concern for this one was having to re-hash the same type of introduction once again. Luckily having the character be a part of Captain America: Civil War was a great way of just taking off in a good place with the Spider-Man character.
The film shows a young Peter Parker in high school and is able to focus on all aspects of his superhero and personal life. On one hand he likes a girl in his school named Liz and wants to go out with her. On the other hand, Peter has to get used to his new role and uncovers a dangerous plot by the Vulture (played by Michael Keaton). And lastly, Parker is also trying to impress Tony Stark/Iron Man and wants to help advance his role with The Avengers despite getting himself into trouble many times.
Tom Holland works very well as a young and exuberant teenage Peter Parker. He has the right amount of charm to make the character work. There's plenty of humor in the film as is common with MCU films. Keaton (who seems to like playing winged figures) is pretty great as Vulture. He has the skill to bring the right amount of menace to the character. A strength of this film is not having to retrace an origin story that has been done to death. We were luckily able to just skip over Uncle Ben's death, Peter getting bitten by the spider and all that jazz. This was a great idea. The film was able to just move right into not only getting us acclimated with the character but also push forward his relationship with Iron Man and the Avengers.
The inevitable question comes. How does this rate among the other Spider-Man films? I think Homecoming is miles better than the awful Amazing Spider-Man films. Its also better than Spider-Man 3, but I think it falls just short of the original two Tobey Maguire films. Through no real fault of its own. Its a long film for sure but does just right of getting the character back on track for the future of the MCU. Its harmless fun.
8/10