Not bad, but not great either.

Rating: 6/10 (10 July 2017)

They keep trying and somehow failing to get certain iconic characters just right. Whether it be Superman, Batman, X-men and now Spider- man, they love churning out various incarnations of all these characters, but they seem to let personal artistic flair or license get in the way of just telling a simple straightforward story while staying faithful to the source material.
I get that Spider-man Homecoming wanted to re-shift the focus away from the grandiose city levelling action we've come accustomed to in prior Marvel outings, and this was more about a teenager, struggling to come to grips with his new-found powers, his responsibilities of crime fighting and realising he still has a lot of growing up to do, but if they took all the best parts of the last 5 or 6 Spider-man movies, we wouldn't have an Amazing Spider-man, we'd have a Spectacular Spider- man instead.
Of the things I'm thankful for in Homecoming, was that we did not have to sit through yet another origin story of Peter being bitten by a spider and realising "hey I'm a kid with powers, let's go and fight crime", instead of what would really happen; "Hey I have powers, I'm going to do the stuff I've always wanted to, get revenge on everyone who wronged me and live like a god". Other elements I'm thankful for, were some of the action scenes with The Vulture, the way the Vulture was developed, Peter's first crush with Liz Allen, the team ups with Iron Man and the light-hearted humour. But for me there was still a whole lot lacking in this that makes Spider-Man the hero he's supposed to be.
We know that Marvel did a deal with Sony to have the rights to incorporate Spider-Man into the MCU and as a part-time Avenger and that for continuity purposes they re-work many of the character backgrounds to fit the premise in live action films, but there is so much that they either left out or deliberately ignored altogether. I never knew Spider-Man to have a tech suit designed by Tony Stark complete with a head-up display or detachable remote spider drone that somehow fits snugly into a fabric suit. The whole idea was that Peter Parker was supposed to develop his suit, his web shooters & the web fluid all by himself. This version would have us believe that without Tony Stark there'd never be a Spider-Man wearing anything else other than a make-shift blue and red tracksuit.
Other things that bugged me in this was that Spider-Man has no Spider-sense, how is he supposed to be able to see danger coming before it happens? DOes he have to rely on Stark tech for that too? Flash Thompson; Peter Parker's high school nemesis, was supposed to be a bully and also a jock, not a persnickety and sarcastic member of the "Mathletes" or whatever they were. He was supposed to make Peter's life hell at school, not just mildly annoy him with jibes. Why this character was re-tooled is beyond me. I certainly can't see this nothing guy be successful at being Agent Venom. Aunt May played by Marisa Tomei is far too young and not the right fit to portray the ageing good-natured retiree that Peter's Aunt is supposed to be. The depiction of secondary villains, Shocker and Scorpion are lame perhaps what I'd expect from a haphazard DC movie like Suicide Squad, (where villains rarely resemble who they're supposed to be) and not from a big budget and usually well arranged Marvel movie.
Homecoming is certainly enjoyable and a fun ride, but if you're a massive fan expecting to finally see Spider-Man how he's supposed to be, then you're going to see this as a disappointment. Anybody else will most likely love this as a decent addition to the MCU.