Spider-Man Swings Back to the Top

Rating: 7/10 (7 July 2017)

Spider-Man Homecoming is appropriately named, finally bringing our favorite web-slinger home to fun, lighthearted fun. After the Raimi- Maguire era came to an ignoble stop, and after Garfield's gloomy, glum, grim take bottomed it out, Spidey is swinging strong. This is the best since the apex of Raimi's Spider-Man 2 over a decade ago. We begin immediately after the Avengers defeat of the Chitari in New York when Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) is scavenging through the alien technology. He was contracted to do so, but then ingloriously kicked to the curb by the government and Tony Stark/Ironman (Robert Downey, Jr.) He takes some for himself to research and use. Kick forward to near present day when Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) helps the Stark Team against the Cap Team in Civil War. Then, we return to New York where Stark tells Spider-Man he will be an asset to the Avenger and to wait for his call. Spidey is now relegated to the kids table while Happy Hogan (Jon Faverau) "monitors" his progress. The adults tend to ignore Peter Parker as he gives minor help and juggles his life at high school. He still wants to prove himself, and eventually stumbles across Toomes' team as they try to sell weapons fueled by alien technology, and rob from ATMs. Happy and Tony tell Spidey to stay out of the big stuff, but not much else. Spidey is desperate to prove he is ready and pursues the low-lying crime syndicate on his own. He does a few impressive things, but eventually, his endeavors backfire. Tony Stark/Ironman has to bail him out, and takes the suit. Alone, Spidey has to figure out how to save the day. There are a few gripes to get out of the way. First is the Spider-Man suit from Stark can do as much as the Ironman suit. This takes away from Peter's ingenuity and creativity he displays in the comics. Secondly, the Aunt May character is underused, undeveloped, and miscast. And this seems to be a conscious decision by writers and producers to focus on the Peter Parker cadre at school. Aunt May is a prominent character, and can show all of strength as Rosemary Harris proved in Spider-Man 2. Finally, the lacking of adults in the movie spreads to the crew as well. With the focus on high school, mostly Peter's peers, it is a high school movie. Of course, Peter is in high school, and attempting to reconcile his aspirations for peers and his responsibility. On the other hand, the strengths of homecoming outpace this missteps. The first kudos is to Tom Holland who portrays the web-slinger with such conflict, hope, and frustration so well. Between his anger with Happy and Tony, and reconciling his disappearances with Aunt May and his friends, and trying to impress the Avengers, Holland gives us an earnest performance. The audience will believe he is 16. Just as good is Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes. As a Spider-Man comic collector, I never held the Vulture is high regard. That goes the opposite way in this cinematic adaptation. This was the best villain since Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2. He does garner sympathy to a certain extent, but Keaton gives the Toomes character the right amount of bitterness, anger, and desperation. Finally, there is a Spider-Man who has to reckon with being a kid and wanting to be an adult with adult figures failing him. As a kid, he makes mistakes because he does not stop to think things through. This is Spider-Man movie of the future. It works, and works well. It still does not have the power and gravitas of the original Raimi/Maguire movies (1-2), but it is a great one for the ages.