Too much Spider-Man...

Rating: 5/10 (9 June 2019)

HOMECOMING is the latest Spider-Man movie; given that no less than five other Spider-Man movies came out in the 15 years preceding this one, you can forgive audiences (and myself) for being a bit fatigued of the character. While I did like the Raimi trilogy (mainly as a fan of the director), I thought the Andrew Garfield reboots were terrible. The good news is that HOMECOMING, which ties the character in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is better than those, although still not great.
Spider-Man still has the problem of being one of the more annoying Marvel superheroes, and all of the high school stuff is by now a chore to sit through. The film smacks of cliche at times (I can't quite belief that the Asian-American guy is reduced to the comic relief best friend role) while the action is rather routine. The running time is overlong too, although the CGI effects remain as good as you'd expect. Tom Holland is okay but a bit bland and earnest in the lead role, with the stand-out being Michael Keaton, underused but remaining hugely entertaining to watch.