Spider-Man: Homecoming Lives Up to the Hype With Lots of Humour, Thrills and Great Performances

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2017)

*Minor Spoilers Ahead* Peter Parker aka Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is being shepherded by Tony Stark's former head of security Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) to his debut appearance in Captain America: Civil War. He's overwhelmed but as we know, he rises to the occasion and does an admirable job backing up Tony and his team. He's understandably psyched for his next job with the Avengers but Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) has taken it upon himself to mentor Peter and tells him to acclimate and stay low to the ground till he gets another call for his assistance.
Peter does his best to blend in at school but he's facing your average teenage problems on top of fighting crime. He has a crush on Liz (Laura Harrier) who doesn't notice him, he also has to balance getting good grades with synthesizing his web formula in science class. He has his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) to help him get through his day to day but his afternoons are spent arresting small time crooks instead of his big battle vs. Cap and Falcon. He also has to hide his identity from his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) who may not be as oblivious as she's letting on.
Spider-Man coming back to Marvel was a minor miracle and with a relatively inexperienced director in Jon Watts (I'm not saying bad, he's just not experienced with a huge franchise project) it did nothing but ramp up the pressure. But against the odds, I think that this movie succeeded even over other storied entries of the web-slinger's franchise. One of these things is that the characters that they create feel more grounded and relatively easy to relate to. Peter actually feels like a kid in this movie. He's got this wonderful gift that he has to keep secret and it makes the rest of his issues seem trivial by comparison. He's got a good heart and a brilliant mind but he doesn't understand the possible danger in what he's trying to do. Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) isn't a cackling super villain, were there easier ways to support his family? Probably. But he's not in it for world domination and he never comes across as completely evil. This movie even grounds Tony as a character further. He tries to project an uncaring aloofness towards Peter but his true paternal feelings become more apparent as the movie continues. I was completely blindsided by this and although Marvel Studios churns out quality blockbuster entertainment regularly, this is a sterling example of good character development even for them.
With Robert Downey Jr. being featured so prominently in the trailers, people were worried about him taking over the movie. I'm happy to report that he's in the movie about as much as he needs to be. He gives Peter someone who can relate to his experience and he also provides much needed guidance. I thought he was used perfectly (more on Downey Jr.'s performance later) and I also thought this movie did a great job of interweaving the larger Marvel universe into it (aside from one or two time-line issues). There are a couple of fun cameos and they bring back certain characters (it was fun to see Happy Hogan again and he gets a surprising amount of screen time) for a fun jog down memory lane.
This movie brings the plot and the character development but it doesn't drag or fall down in any other of the requisite areas. The action scenes move quickly and feature a nice mix of Spidey's abilities (even if we've probably seen better from other Marvel entries). The movie also features a surprising amount of heart. You understand the difficulties of this responsibility for Peter and his mixture of innocence, caring and determination is even inspiring at times. What I didn't expect is that this is probably the funniest Marvel movie I've seen in a long time. We get more than enough comedic relief from Peter's awkwardness, his friendship with an even more awkward Ned and his lack of understanding of his skill set. I was laughing hard through most of the movie and you can't help but enjoy yourself when you're tearing up from laughter.
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield both had their strengths and weaknesses as Spider-Man but Tom Holland shows us a new Peter Parker. He was awesome in his first appearance and he continued his great work here. Michael Keaton also does a memorable job, I don't know if he's the best Marvel villain but I would probably put him in the top 5. Jon Favreau was a welcome addition and he was pretty funny throughout. I've always loved Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Ironman and he was his typical great self. Jacob Batalon was hilarious as Ned and strangely endearing. Laura Harrier wasn't given a ton to work with as Liz but she held her own. Marisa Tomei was good as Aunt May and I'm glad the movie had the good sense to address how different she was in this part compared to other actresses in the past.
This movie was everything that I hoped it would be. I got everything I wanted out of it and I left the theatre with a big smile on my face. This movie had a high bar it needed to clear to be successful, with all the pressure and the expectations and I think it hurdled it. I can't wait for the sequel and Spider-Man: Homecoming continues 2017s great run of superhero movies.