Very Good, Complex Film - October Review

Rating: 8/10 (11 October 2018)

Spider-Man: Homecoming, directed by Jon Watts, is a well-developed and complex film. Meanwhile, it falls in line with the clichÃ© plot of a hero learning what they are capable of until a villain comes along and defeats them, then in the end the hero makes a comeback and is victorious. The film provides an exaggerated and theatric perspective on daily teenage life and the struggles of balancing their school and home lives with other various responsibilities. The main protagonist of the movie, Peter Parker played by Tom Holland, is a high school student who finds himself struggling to maintain school, extracurriculars, his home life, and an "internship", which is how he refers to his superhero career. Holland does a good job of portraying the role of a young adult trying to do his best to earn the respect of his role model but seems to let him down more often than make him proud. The main antagonist, The Vulture played by Michael Keaton, is a complex character who believes he is doing what must be done for the good of his crew and family. Keaton shows the deep character traits of his role very well and varies them depending on each scene. The writers of the script had provided a good progression of plot and character development with each scene having importance to another. The director, Jon Watts, also does a good job of bringing the script to life in interesting manners. There is a scene in which Peter Parker is sitting in class seemingly focusing on other things. He watches the clock counting down for the end of the school day; each time the camera shifts to the clock when it goes back to Parker, he is then in a different period of the day. This provides a good way to show a progression of the school day without using too much screen time on unimportant scenes in school.