Swings to its own beat

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2017)

Plot; Peter Parker struggles to balance his responsibilities as a high school honors student and those of his alter ego Spider-Man.
Much has been made of the fact that we're on our third live-action incarnation of Spider-Man in the 21st century, and some may (understandably) wonder what could a second reboot possibly have to offer. The answer is plenty.
The approach here is far different than that of Raimi's trilogy and Webb's duology. For one, this is not an origin story. And yet it is. We don't see the spider bite Peter yada yada yada, but we do see him taking his first steps--or maybe more accurately swings--as Spider-Man. He makes mistakes. Lots of them. His youthful exuberance is only matched by his complete lack of experience. Despite this being the third go 'round, we need to see this part of his journey, and it handles it far better than the previous incarnations. The other important distinction between Homecoming and the other two live-action entries is that there's a much stronger focus on Peter Parker, high school student. In fact, take away the suit and the super powers and it plays a lot like an 80s John Hughes film (by design according to the director). That provides not only a fresh perspective, but also the film's beating heart.
The performances are all strong, particularly Tom Holland as Peter/Spider-Man and Michael Keaton as the Adrian Toomes/Vulture. Holland absolutely makes the character his own, taking a much different approach than Tobey Maguire's earnest portrayal and Andrew Garfield's uber-sensitive stuttery routine. I felt Keaton's villain was a tad undercooked for the first half of the film, but when the focus shifts he looms large, and Keaton is spot-on. I also need to mention Iron Man, if only because he's thankfully not in it nearly as much as we were lead to believe in the marketing. His role here is perfect, and as usual RDJ kills it.
I suppose it's natural to ask where this ranks among the Spider-Man films, and that's not an easy answer. Homecoming has the advantage of being new and fresh, but I'm not going to easily dismiss Raimi's first two outings; particularly part two, which many put on the Mount Rushmore of comic book movies (for very good reason). What I will say is that Homecoming is everything I could have wanted from a Spider-Man movie.