Definitely my Favourite Spider-Man movie

Rating: 8/10 (8 July 2017)

Homecoming was definitely worth it, even if only as another chapter in the sprawling MCU epic. Homecoming skips Peter's origin entirely, which is fine because we maybe don't need to see it again. Instead the film opens in the fallout of the Battle of New York in Avengers, where a privately contracted clean-up crew are replaced by a government-sanctioned team. Embittered and feeling victimised, Adrian Toomes and his crew decide to keep some of the alien tech they salvaged and use it to create powerful weapons to sell on the black market. Not only did they put Spider-Man in the MCU, but they tied his first solo adventure directly into the tapestry of the MCU. It managed to develop a part of this universe we don't really get to see outside of the TV shows; the effect of all these superheroes on your everyday civilian. Peter and his friends literally grew up in a world of superheroes, which as an adult I'm finding hard to quantify (I was already out of school when the MCU even started).
If Doctor Strange was a superhero movie revolving around magic and fantasy, Logan was a superhero movie bathed in the light of Westerns, and Guardians of the Galaxy was a superhero movie supplanted into a Space Opera, then Homecoming is a superhero in the world of a John Hughes movie. Or at least that's quite evidently what they were aiming for. Peter Parker is just one in a group of high school teenagers involved in the Academic Decathlon. There's the rich, attractive senior Liz, the moody loner Michelle, the aggressive and vulgar bully Flash, the overweight nerdy kid Ned, and a couple of others too.
Some smaller points of contention I have include the music and the action sequences. The action sequences were often too dark and just a blur of indiscernible action. It's hard to tell what's even happening in the movie's grand climax at the end, and not just because it's night time on a stealth plane with debris flying everywhere, and it's not even the only action sequence to suffer from this either.
The music as well gets exactly the same criticism that I've given pretty much every other Marvel movie. Come on Marvel, you've been doing this nearly ten years, and this has been a criticism since the very beginning. You need to put more focus on your movies soundtracks! What's worse, this is Spider-Man, he already has his own iconic theme already written and ready to go. We get a sweet orchestral version over the Marvel Studios logo, and that's it. It never appears again. Michael Giacchino has done some good work before, but his work on both this and Doctor Strange has been about as vanilla and forgettable as a soundtrack can get.
Tom Holland is hands down the best Peter Parker we've ever had though. He manages to balance the nerdy awkwardness of Tobey Maguire's version with the witty, charismatic turn of Andrew Garfield, giving us the best of both worlds. He manages to be extremely likable even at his most whiny and hormonal, which is absolutely a hard task to fulfil. He also manages to inject some real emotion behind it all as well. Him being crushed under the weight of concrete hits hard because he appears like a kid scared and alone, finally realising how out of depth he really is.
The rest of the cast are really good too. Michael Keaton's turn as Adrian Toomes is really well developed and performed, making him one of the better villains in the MCU so far (this year looks to be a promising year for MCU villains). Robert Downey Jr. is...well at this point there isn't any point in talking about his Tony Stark performances any more. What I did like was he was used much more sparingly than the marketing would have you believe. He makes about three appearances grand total, each one brief but effective. Marisa Tomei gives us possibly the best Aunt May we've had, although like Peter's friends she suffers from a distinct lack of screen time. Her casting was a little controversial, but I always thought the traditional depiction of Aunt May was a little weird, I mean, she's his aunt, not his grandmother.
The humour of Homecoming was also a big yes. Marvel has definitely doubled down on the more colourful and light-hearted side of superheroes, and Homecoming continues that trend naturally and effortlessly. It's a very funny movie from one-liners to visual cues, to small references. And yet none of it feels shoehorned in (like it did with Doctor Strange). Spider-Man having to run across a field because there's no buildings to swing from was a stroke of genius in the comedic department, and although Ned suffers from a lack of character development, he serves as a great source of comic relief throughout.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is easily my favourite Spider-Man movie so far. I was never a huge fanboy of the Raimi trilogy, and while Amazing Spider-Man was great, it didn't feel typically like a Spider-Man movie (and the less said about it's sequel the better). Homecoming manages to be fun and entertaining, while weaving Spider-Man into the very tapestry of the MCU. It's story is engaging throughout, and Adrian Toomes poses as one of the most compelling villains of the MCU so far (which I realise isn't really saying much). Holland is simply perfect. I give Homecoming a solid and comfortable 8/10.