A lighthearted take on a well worn costumed superhero

Rating: 6/10 (28 October 2017)

This is the third incarnation of Spider-Man in the past 15 years, so it was always going to be an uphill battle to make it fresh and exciting to audiences. Quite wisely, director Jon Watts plays 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' for laughs and scales down the world-ending threats to craft a more intimate and quirky comic book adventure with street- level stakes. Thanks to the lightness of tone and the quirk of the characters, the film mostly succeeds, even if the plot never rises above the mildly diverting.
Tom Holland is the most believable and endearing Peter Parker yet - perhaps because he doesn't look like a 30 year old man playing at being a high schooler. Holland brings a wide-eyed charm and enthusiasm to the role and is instantly likable as both the bumbling geeky student and his bumbling heroic alter ego. The whole endeavor hinges on Holland being able to pull off the character and he acquits himself well, ably supported by a commendably diverse and zany supporting cast. Meanwhile, Michael Keaton returns to the superhero fold, aping both his Oscar-nominated turn in 'Birdman' as well as winking back to his days in the batsuit. His villainous plans aren't particularly interesting or all that menacing but his backstory as a peeved off blue collar worker (shown in a prologue at the start) helps to ground him in some kind of reality, as opposed to the usual Marvel villains who tend to be bog standard power-hungry megalomaniacs.
Set-piece-wise, 'Homecoming' takes a page out of 'Iron Man's' comic book and keeps the threats scaled down and pretty simple, making for a pleasant diversion from all the endless CGI spectacle and destruction porn audiences have sadly become accustomed to, even if the climax itself cannot quite resist overdosing on the VFX budget. Also helping to inject a fresh shot of energy into (what was becoming) a stale cinematic superhero is the way in which both the screenplay and performances embrace the true-to-life tropes and behaviours of modern teenagers - the socially awkward banter; the pop cultural savvy; the obsession with technology and gadgets; the infuriating desire to fit in and be liked, etc. The way in which the characters engage with the story and each other feels reasonably accurate to the perspective actual teenagers might take if a hero like this really existed, at least without it feeling artificial or needing to fall back on those hoary old Hollywood high school clichés.
The problems of the film mostly lie within its underwhelming plot, enlivened only by the wink-and-you'll-miss-them gags and the sheer eccentricity of the characters. The strengths of this reboot lie within the way the tale is told rather than the tale itself. In terms of those inevitable comparisons with its former incarnations, 'Homecoming' comfortably beats the dreadful Andrew Garfield-era reboots but falls a few steps short of being as entertaining as Sam Raimi's first two 'Spider-Man' outings, which offered up a different style of quirkiness but ultimately felt more cinematic than Watts' version.
This new street-level Spidey proves that there is still life left in the character yet, but because it embraces irreverence and comedy so well, there is a definite lack of tension and the experience feels a tad insubstantial as a consequence. Whether or not it can survive the common Marvel problem of crappy second installments (Iron Man, Thor, Avengers and Guardians all suffered from diminishing returns) remains to be seen. But if anyone can break the curse, it's the socially awkward guy in the red and blue spandex.