Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Rating: 7/10 (8 November 2017)

Growing up, Spider-Man was one of my favorite superheroes. Well, besides Superman and Batman. I watched the original Spider-Man trilogy that Sony produced. The first one was great, the second one was pretty good, but the third...I hardly remember anything from that one. It just didn't strike me as good or even average for that matter. And then Sony tried to do a reboot series. The first one was somewhat memorable, I hadn't watched the sequel, but from all of the reviews from the film I had read and heard...meh, I probably wouldn't have really cared for it. With that said, Sony made a deal with Disney (who distributes the films relating to the MCU), to feature Spider-Man in their shared universe. And with that, many fans were delighted that Spider-Man finally found his place.
I loved this movie. For one, let's look at Peter Parker/ Spider-Man. This time around, Spider-Man is portrayed by a young actor named Tom Holland. There are many things to like about Holland's take on the superhero. He's adorkable with how excited he gets whenever he's with Tony Stark or interacting with the other Avengers, he makes several humorous quips in the film, and he's actually pretty adorable whenever he's nervous around his crush, Liz (played by Laura Harrier). Laura herself is likable, and is actually a character in the comic books. However, unlike the comics, Liz is black in this interpretation, well, except for one huge twist that I won't give away. Admittedly, that had to have been the best moment of the film for me as it was pretty intense.
As for the main villain, Adrian Toones, or as many comic book readers may know as the Vulture. He was likely one of the best villains that the MCU had in a long time. My biggest gripe with the Marvel films is how they often tended to have one-note bad guys with little to no personality other than "I'm evil." Here, Adrian is a bit more complex: he started off as a good guy trying to make an honest living to support his family. However, life does him dirty, so the only other option was the criminal life. What I also loved about the Vulture is unlike many villains, he actually does give Spider-Man a chance to get out of his business if he knew what was good for him. Many other bad guys would definitively kill Peter then and there without question, but the Vulture has enough humanity to give Peter a chance to abandon his mission; yeah, he does try to kill him later, but it's the thought that counts. Really, Marvel is having a ballgame with their villains so far. First there was Zemo from Civil War, and then Ego from the Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2. I just really wish that they continue to make villains with more substance in them.
For the supporting characters, besides Liz, there was also Ned, Peter's best friend. I thought that from the moment I saw him on screen. However, I actually ended up liking him. He has many funny lines, he's actually useful as he helps Peter track the criminals with the alien technology, and he's also pretty adorkable. Aunt May was fine, but I wished that there were more scenes between her and Peter to make their bonding more believable, but that's fine. Tony Stark himself was also pretty good; he does contribute some things to the plot most particularly giving Peter an upgrade on his suit that included several different features. It's also pretty sweet how concerned he is of Peter, as he is still an inexperienced child. And then there was Michelle Jones; I did find her funny, but she was also pretty insufferable. Also, contrary to popular belief, she is not this universe's version of Mary Jones. That had since been debunked.
The action scenes were great as always, and some even come off as pretty hilarious in nature. What I especially liked was how lighter this film was in comparison to most of the other Marvel films. It honestly makes one feel like a kid again watching a movie about their favorite superhero. My only gripe with the film was that several times in the film, there are some representatives of the student council who report the news; those split scenes are very cringy and unfunny. I know that it was probably deliberate on the writers' part, but I found myself being distanced by these moments. That, and one character that I didn't like was Flash, some jerk who kept bullying Peter for no real reason. He's a walking example of the stereotypical schoolyard bully that you would most likely see in a Saturday morning cartoon. I just grew to really despise this character throughout the film, that it did take some enjoyment for the film out of me.
Other than that, another great MCU movie that I would highly recommend.