Light-hearted superhero romp

Rating: 7/10 (12 February 2018)

In the third reboot of Spiderman since Toby Maguire first starred as the webslinger in 2002 is a more-or-less bloodless adventure yarn pitting Spiderman (Tom Holland) against "The Vulture" (Michael Keaton). Having established the character in the previous "Captain America: Civil War" film (2016), this solo outing doesn't include the 'bitten by a radioactive' spider backstory and essentially starts off with the cleanup of alien artifacts following the climactic battle in "The Avengers" (2012). Salvage contractor Adrian Toomes (Keaton), bitter after getting cut from the project by the D.O.D.C, starts manufacturing and selling arms based on stolen alien technology and young Peter Parker, wanting to prove himself worthy of joining the Avengers, decides to stop him. The film plays up Parker's combination of superhuman abilities and teenage angst more so than the previous installments and provides him with a new comic-relief side-kick ("Ned", Jacob Batalon). Holland is fine as the titular hero, as is Keaton as his nemesis. In keeping with trend for fantastic (and very convenient do-all-that-the-plot-requires) technology in these movies, Spiderman's suit is designed by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and has endless built in gadgetry, including a personal assistant. The Vulture gets a complete makeover: the winged old guy with the furry neckpiece is replaced by Tommes in his high-tech flying suit (with a fur-collared flight jacket for old times' sake). Peter's elderly Aunt May has also received a makeover and is now played a much younger and sexier Marisa Tomei. When not focusing on Parker's high-school woes, the movie moves at a frenetic pace. I didn't find it as 'real' looking or as interesting as the Maguire versions and some of the action set-pieces (such as the Staten Island Ferry scenes) are absurd to a point of ridiculousness. I also found Spiderman's strength (and the strength/adhesiveness of his webbing) to vary as the plot demanded (weak internal consistency is a common problem with 'superhero' movies and (IMO) is a sure sign of sloppy/lazy writing). Not bad but just more of the same Marvel: neither memorable nor rewatchable.