Review: Spider-Man Homecoming

Tom Holland reprises his role as the friendly neighbourhood Spider-boy from Captain America Civil War in his first standalone movie.

Fresh off his first taste of Avengers action in Civil War’s airport scene, Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) battles Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), who is making weapons from technology recovered from the aftermath of Avengers battles, and selling them to baddies. Spider-Man keeps stumbling into Toomes’ operation and sets out to foil his plans against the wishes of mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), all while trying to cope with the usual rigours of high school life.

Overall, this is a good film. Tom Holland is great, RDJ is brilliant in smaller than doses and Keaton is wonderfully menacing. This is certainly the best Spider-Man movie to date and the links to the MCU are fun! 7/10 – Recommend.

🚨Warning: Spoilers from this point. 🚨

In this section there will be spoilers, so if you haven’t seen Spider-Man: Homecoming yet, watch it before reading any further. This is my first review of this kind so any feedback you may have on this would be gratefully received.

Spider-Man:

Sorry Tobey and Andrew, but Tom Holland is already my favourite Spider-Man. He never breaks from the youthful naïveté you of a high-school nerd at any point. He also plays the ‘caught up in something he can’t control’ aspect very well and seems genuinely panicked at times. He’s great and you certainly see an arc to his character in this.

The baddie: Adrian Toomes (aka The Vulture)

Michael Keaton is great as the menacing every-man villain of the piece. At first you sympathise with him as he is mercilessly thrown off the Chitari invasion clean up operation. That sympathy quickly dissipates as he grows more menacing as the film develops. His Vulture (although I don’t think he’s referred to by this name in the film) outfit is actually quite scary. He’s doing it all for his family which makes you relate which is the hallmark of any great villain.

What I liked:

MCU references

The references to the MCU are possibly my favourite part of this movie. They are well done and sparingly placed. This film certainly feels like it’s in that same world while not beating you over head over with it. All the Avengers get a name drop (except Hawkeye I think) and there are several nods to events that have occurred so far in the MCU movies. “I think Captain America is a war criminal now or something” is an interesting reference to the events of Civil War. We see Happy Hogan organising the transport of several Avengers items from Stark Tower to the new facility up-state, including the Hulk-buster armour, new prototypes for Cap’s shield (😳!!!!) and “Mij… Mag… Moj… Thor’s magic belt”. Interesting…

Peter is a kid!

It’s much easier to imagine Tom Holland as a high school kid that either of the previous Spider-Man actors. This is helped by Holland being 20 years old but looking about 12. He also taps in to that anxious, nervous 15 year old most of us were, dealing with talking to girls and idiots who make fun of your name. (Just me? 😫). I also like the way he’s badgering Tony Stark (via handler Happy Hogan) for his next mission like he was chasing a girl for that next date. It’s a fun dynamic. The scenes where he is preparing himself to take his crush to the Homecoming dance was far too reminiscent of my teenage years – and I didn’t have a date for the prom (🎻). I don’t like to talk about it.

The ladies

Marisa Tomei returns as Parker’s ‘way too hot’ aunt May and, while she’s in it sparingly, she is great as the protective mother-figure to Tony Stark’s father-figure. She also gets he final word which got one of the biggest laughs of the film.

Laura Harrier’s Liz is the main love-interest for Peter and while she starts off feeling like that popular-girl stereotype who wouldn’t give Parker a second look, it quickly becomes evident that she’s actually quite a fun character with a secret crush of her own. The moment we discover her Dad is Toomes (I said there’d be spoilers) was a real jaw-dropper.

Zendaya’s Michelle steals every scene she’s in though. Playing a quirky character who is always the opposite of what she seems, the moment she says “my friends call me MJ” made me smile from ear to ear.

Notable mentions

Donald Glover is in this film. I’m not sure I knew this before going in and his role is so small it can only serve as a set up for future movies. He plays Aaron Davis and I dare say that will mean something to those of you who know more about the Spider-Man universe than I.

As with all Marvel films, there are post credit sequences and Homecoming has two. The first involves Toomes meeting someone in prison who wants him to divulge Spider-Man’s true identity, but interestingly, Toomes denies knowing it. The second credit scene is a strange one where Chris Evans’ Captain America (seemingly wearing his Avengers Assemble outfit) walks out to tell you that patience is a virtue and someone’s it’s not rewarded. I think this is just saying we’re not getting any Infinity War stuff just yet despite you waiting until the end of the credits.

Overall

This is a fun time! The jokes work, the references are well used and the performances are top-notch. The use of the old cartoon version of the Spider-Man theme is brilliant and brought a smile each time it appeared. I definitely recommend this film, not only to comic book fans, not only to those who enjoy the Marvel Universe but to anyone who likes a fun, enjoyable movie.

7/10 – Recommend.

Other films I have rated 7/10:

• Doctor Strange
• Star Trek Beyond
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Fast and Furious 8
• Creed
• Sicario
• Jurassic World