Funny... but not Great

Rating: 5/10 (19 August 2017)

Spider-Man is finally back in the hands of Marvel studios and is now part of the MCU, but is that really a good thing? The Marvel Machine is back with a new superhero flick, Spider-Man: Homecoming the introduction of the beloved hero into this huge franchise already chock full of different kinds of heroes, villains, and characters. But can the character still be as great in a universe where everyone has the same character traits we've known and loved about him? For example, His joking cracking at tense moments, his nerdy and antisocial nature, or his ability to be heroic while still being relatable to the average moviegoer. This was the big question I had going into the film, and I don't think I got the answer I wanted.
My biggest problem with the MCU movies is the lack of a strong villain presence in the movies. All the villains they've introduced, besides Loki, have been throwaway characters with almost no real motivation that the protagonist will defeat and kill by the end of the very same movie they are introduced in. They always seem to treat their villains as a means-to-an-end as opposed to an end themselves, they use the villain not as a character of the story but as a plot device that moves the plot forward. This leads to suspense-less and boring action sequences where we don't care about what's happening. In Spider-Man: Homecoming the main villain, Vulture, is for the most part better than most (Maybe best behind Loki) but still lacks a lot in development to really call him a great villain in terms of all movie villains. Michael Keaton might be what makes the character as great as he is, his performance gives mixed sense of comfort and fear that leaves you tense in your seat waiting to see what he does next. If most other actors had played the role the flaws would be much more prevalent. His motivation for his actions is weak and cliché, the writers took no real time to flesh out why he does what he does, just gave him a cookie-cutter type background and moved along with the story. But give credit where it's due, Keaton delivers a villain that can bring suspense to the film's narrative, unlike some of the recent MCU installments (Kurt Russell as Ego in GOTG2).
Speaking of cookie-cutter plot points, Marvel seems to really like the idea of reusing character traits and personalities, we see it in the similarities in Tony Stark and Steven Strange in terms of the arrogance and character arc from it. This time they decided to make Spider-Man's suit basically a slimmer, more agile Iron Man suit all the way down to the personal assistant voice. And I understand that Tony Stark is the one who makes the suit but we've already seen the movie where the hero has to learn to use a technologically advanced suit he's not used to, it was Iron Man (2008). A lot of the plot and visual cues throughout the film seemed to have come straight from that film and reformatted to fit with a high school drama superhero film. While a lot of the sequences and scenes were cool to see, it gets tiring to pay to see the same movie year after year with almost no originality or innovation.
Speaking of the suit, the thing that bothered me the most is the lack of explanation for what Spider-Man's powers are without it. They make it seem as though anyone can wear the suit and be Spider-Man and that takes away most of the interest you'd have for Peter Parker. When this movie was announced, people were clamoring that they don't make another origin story, that we've already seen it twice we didn't need it again. I wholeheartedly disagree with that sentiment because while we've seen the other Spider- Man origin stories this is a new and different character from those that we need to learn about his beginnings to begin to care about him as a character. Without that origin information we have no clue who Peter Parker is, and what are the limits to his powers nor what they are.
The biggest thing I appreciated from this movie is the lack of a world-ending threat to end the movie, which Marvel seems to believe, is the only way to end their movies now. Instead they realize that there can still be tension and excitement in a simple, one location crime scene where the villain isn't trying to destroy the world.
While this film does do a better job at developing its villain than most of the other Marvel films, it doesn't take the proper time to develop any of the other characters, especially the titular character. There is a moment at the end of the film where Peter Parker does something that comes out of nowhere and is a characteristic of his character that is never shown throughout the film. The movie relies on you knowing a lot of background information on the character to understand this decision. This along with the feeling of not knowing enough about the characters leaves a lot to be desired.
Overall, Spider-Man: Homecoming is an improvement over the recent slump of films that have come out of the MCU. It truly does feel like a classic high school movie, like the films of John Hughes. The cinematography and color pallet of the film are far superior than any of the other Marvel movies which seem to put little effort into making a shot that looks good on screen. But in this film the colors really pop beautifully on screen and enhance the overall experience. In the end this film probably meets the same fate as the other MCU films, it was a fun time and experience to watch in the theater but it provides nothing insightful or interesting to make me want to see it again later.