Good but the characters just weren't there

Rating: 7/10 (9 July 2017)

However colourful, witty and truly entertaining Spider-man Homecoming was, I felt that it was missing something vital when compared to its predecessors. Perhaps Marvel was trying too hard to make this movie different from the previous installments, but the characters felt watered down and almost boring. None of the relationships that are supposed to define Peter and help us empathize with him are there. Instead, characters like Flash, May and even his best friend are used for setting and comedic relief. Next, there was much too little context for Peter's life. I don't need a whole 30 minutes dedicated to a new take on the origin story, but without any background, this version of Peter Parker comes across as a bit bland. He's basically just a regular kid with a good moral compass. My last point is purely opinion regarding the role of Tony Stark. Yeah, he's an awesome character, but he played what was literally the biggest safety net I ever saw. Spidey's whole shtick used to be about him learning the ropes himself through trial and lots of error. Now that he has this mentor character to wipe his butt, Peter comes across as something of a whiny, reckless kid who just stumbled into his rebellious phase. Anways, overall, pretty solid movie with cool action sequences and a satisfying plot. Tom Holland made a pretty good Spider-man ass well. But in the end, I definitely wasn't as emotionally invested as I wanted to be.