Not a Marvel Fan, but enjoyed this film

Rating: 7/10 (17 July 2018)

Going into Spiderman: Homecoming, I was very worried for two reasons. One, I still had the terrible taste of The Amazing Spiderman 2 in my mouth making me not particularly excited for ANOTHER Spiderman movie. Two, some would call me a Marvel sceptic. I have never really liked any of their movies with a few exceptions (e.g., Iron Man), and some of the recent films, such as Age of Ultron or Captain America: Civil War, have left me fatigued with the entire superhero genre. Well with those things in mind, I went into Spiderman: Homecoming with very low expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, this is still a Disney Marvel superhero movie, so it is not groundbreaking or very original, but it is better than most of Marvel's pervious work.
One of the main things I think this movie does well is the depiction of Spiderman. In the film, Peter Parker is a relatable superhero who is still in high school and going through many things normal people went through during adolescence, such as dealing with bulling, trying to ask someone to homecoming, etc. This helped me build a better relationship to Spiderman since I could relate to him, more so than I could to Thor or Captain America. Spiderman acts like how a normal person who just became a superhero would act. He struggles with realistic issues such as keeping secrets from people he cares about, budgeting his time between normal life and fighting crime, and being ignored by someone he looks up to. All of these issues are much more interesting than the issues many other of the characters in the MCU deal with. Another thing that I think makes this film better than its counterparts is the storyline and villain. I am very happy we did not see a third origin story of how he got his powers. The superhero origin story has been beaten to death, so it was a good move to avoid it. Instead of an origin story, Spiderman: Homecoming tells the story of a Spiderman who is struggling to get the attention of the Avengers, a team of individuals he looks up to highly. It also shows Spiderman going up against The Vulture, an Alien removal worker turned illegal arms dealer. The plot is much more interesting and has more depth than other Marvel movies, but still feels generic and safe. All of these elements helped make this film stand out amongst the masses of superhero films being produced today.
Of course, just because this film was better than many other superhero movies, it does not mean it doesn't have its flaws. As I mentioned before, the film's plot was very safe and unoriginal. It still felt calculated and created by a board of executives at Disney. It did not have a distinct style like the Sam Raimi Spidermans, and that made for a non-innovative film. Instead, the movie looks like any other of the brightly colored CGI superhero movies being released today. I also felt like the story lacked originality, but at least there weren't any giant blue beams shooting into the sky. It also felt as though many of the characters were high schooler stereotypes, such as MJ, who felt unnecessary in this film. Overall, this film felt safe but somewhat different to the other MCU movies. So, in that regard, it is a great Marvel movie, but in the big picture, it is a decent action/superhero film, nothing more nothing less.
The Good
-Relatable main character
-Spiderman faces realistic issues
-Ned is hilarious
-Has some fun moments
The Bad
-Very safe
-Original for Marvel, unoriginal for cinema
-Stereotypical characters
-Lacking style, both visually and in storytelling