Best Spidey to Date

Rating: 10/10 (9 July 2017)

Spider-Man, at his core, is the original kid superhero. His innocence and naivete are as important as his intellect and wit. After two previous incarnations and five movies, it's this version that finally puts together a truly faithful portrayal of Peter Parker. Fittingly, it took the MCU to do it. Tom Holland eschews the portrayals of his predecessors, and infuses Parker with a genuinely optimistic view of the world, and almost a boy crush on Tony Stark. Peter is awkward, nervous and ambitious, to the point where he nearly wrecks himself in order to show Stark how useful he can be. There is a lot of fun to be had in this movie, be it through Spidey's quips, his amusing interactions with people, or just times where he falls flat while trying to be this great superhero. Peter's classmates get a fair bit more work; this is the most complete Flash ever put to film, and Ned is a perfect best friend for Peter. It's a fast movie as well, and Michael Keaton helps keep that going as the counterbalance, his career renaissance continuing in excellent fashion. Vulture is not the most headline-grabbing Spidey villain, certainly, but neither was Obediah Stane for Iron Man, nor Abomination for Hulk. They worked well because of who portrayed them, and this is another case of that working in the favor of the story. Keaton's motivations are simple, but not the same as a typical villain, which makes him stand out, and potentially shows that the MCU can create guys who are more than one-trick ponies. This movie paces itself well, and just when you think it's safe, it pulls a sharp right on you to bring the final act into focus. There's just enough Tony Stark to bolster the bottom line, without having him take over the film. He's the dad, such as it is, who'd have thought? Iron Man is the interweaving thread in this universe, so it's appropriate he be here, and the aforementioned dad role is amusing and in a way the perfect method to bring Spidey along. Overall, a great time. The stakes aren't as high as they're going to be or have been in MCU movies, but that's okay. Spidey just needs to keep his feet on the ground.