Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Rating: 6/10 (17 October 2019)

Directed by Jon Watts. Starring Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jacob Batalon, Robert Downey Jr., Jon Favreau, Marisa Tomei, Laura Harrier, Donald Glover, Zendaya, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Michael Chernus, Logan Marshall-Green, Martin Starr, Hannibal Buress, (voice) Jennifer Connelly. (PG-13)
Overlong, overfamiliar, but adequately enjoyable Spider-Man adventure is both a second reboot in about half-a-decade and a full-length installation of the character into the fringes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (this is a co-production of both Marvel Studios and Columbia Pictures); plot is both patently simple--the baddie, Vulture (Keaton), just wants to steal tech, sell weapons, and make a lot of money, nothing more--and unduly messy--Peter deals with not only superhero responsibilities and teenager anxieties but also Avengers drama. As it was with "Ant-Man," the lowered stakes are a relief, letting character and humor grab focus away from the chaos of enormous digital pyrotechnics; granted, not all the characters are especially interesting and the humor misses as often as it hits, but at least it probably won't give anyone a headache. Holland makes for a plucky, ingenuous Peter Parker, cracking wise more often than Maguire and Garfield combined (a little of him goes a long way--he was more tolerable as a supporting player in the third Captain America movie); Keaton does his best as the villain, but the character's motivations and back-story are too thin to make him truly menacing and memorable. Aside from the web-slinging and jesting, Spider-Man is a different entity here: younger than usual, wearing a high-tech Spidey suit with its own AI (Connelly), crushing on someone besides Gwen Stacy or MJ, and so on. Similarly, the characteristics of nearly every supporting character (Aunt May, Vulture, Flash, Mary-Jane-but-not-really, etc.) hardly resemble those of their classic counterpart from the comics. Several stars of prior MCU films make appearances, some in supporting roles, some in cameos.
63/100