Movie Review - SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING!

Okay, so Spider-Man Homecoming may just be the best Spider-Man movie we’ve gotten since Spider-Man 2. I couldn’t have been more pleased with it. Sure, it did have flaws as does every movie, but I’ll get into those negative nit bits in a while. I left the cinema with a huge grin on my face. Spider-Man Homecoming was an absolute blast to say the least, so without any more delay here are my thoughts on the new Spidey flick we’ve all been waiting for.

First things first: Tom Holland. WOW! He was amazing in this role. I loved his adorable teenage portrayal of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War so I was so excited when the first trailer dropped for his solo adventure as Spidey, and man, Mr Holland did not disappoint me at all. One of the main issues I’ve always had with the earlier Spider-Man movies, this being both Sam Raimi’s and Mark Webb’s movies, was the contrast between Peter Parker and Spider-Man. I felt Tobey Maguire made for a terrific Spider-Man but gave a very lacklustre portrayal of Peter Parker. I always thought his Peter Parker was very whiny and a tad bit dull (just my opinion of course) whether his Spider-Man practically embodied the fun-loving heroic character from the comics.

As for Andrew Garfield, he gave a stellar performance as Peter Parker even though he came across as more of a punk than a nerd. His Spider-Man was okay to watch but he just didn’t give me that Spidey factor I was looking for when watching a Spider-Man movie. I felt his portrayal was very flat in places but also very emotional too especially with scenes concerning Gwen Stacy’s death, Uncle Ben, and his parents. And I know most of disappointment with the Garfield Spider-Man movies came down to the horrendous script and issues with the studio, but I’ve always felt that both these actors just couldn’t pull off both Peter Parker and Spider-Man the way Stan Lee and Steve Ditko had written him to be in the comics. It seemed that those movies found it difficult to balance the lives of both Peter and Spider-Man in an effective way on screen. Tom Holland, however, did this fantastically. Both roles of Peter Parker and Spider-Man were spot on. He nailed the humor, he nailed the emotion, he nailed the two distinct personalities he carries out as himself Peter and as Spider-Man, and Tom successfully inhabited that innocent naïve and childish side to Peter/Spidey which is something that felt lost in the other Spider-Man movie franchises. He was incredibly fun and interesting to watch and that’s exactly what you need in a Spider-Man movie.

The great thing about Spider-Man and why so many comic book fans related to him so much is that he is just a normal high school kid trying to get by on what he has which isn’t much. The reason why Spider-Man is such an iconic superhero in the comic book industry and he succeeded so much is because he isn’t some rich billionaire playboy with expensive gadgets or a super powerful extra-terrestrial from the planet Krypton. He is an average teenager with real-life problems such as getting to school on time, studying for exams, struggling to help his aunt May to pay the rent, and trying to pluck up the courage to ask the girl he’s crushing on to the homecoming dance. Spider-Man Homecoming ticked off all these boxes that made Peter Parker such a relatable character and a superhero that anybody could be. The movie represented Peter Parker as a very poor kid who has little to no money. One scene really made this point stand out in particular. During the course of the movie, Peter loses his backpack and due to him and his aunt living on very little income, Peter is forced to carry his books to school. I loved that! It was a great way of showing just how money-deprived Peter and May are, and the same goes for Peter’s original Spider-Man costume before it was upgraded by Tony Stark in Civil War. It’s basically a hoodie and jeans with a Spider mask and gloves. I loved how the writers gave Peter a terrible homemade costume because it helped to indicate how poor he was and how he couldn’t have had the money to create the iconic Spider-Man costume we all know and love. SUCH SMART WRITING!

Spider-Man Homecoming definitely delivered a rendition of the Spidey universe that is both new and exciting. I love that this movie wasn’t afraid to try out new things with the characters. At first, I was little sceptical about certain character changes such as Flash Thompson and Betty Brant for example but as the movie progressed on, I thought they were pretty damn creative and overall a new unique way of introducing them on screen. People who are massive fans of the comics and the animated series like myself will find some of the original Spider-Man characters a bit jarring because they seem nothing like they are in the comic books or how they were portrayed in the animated universes or the other movies.

Betty Brant, who worked with Peter at the Daily Bugle as J Jonah Jameson’s secretary, attends Peter’s high school in this movie and for some reason looks very like Gwen Stacy. I’ll admit, I found this a little weird but I think it worked very well for the most part. The same goes for Flash Thompson. Don’t worry, he’s still the arrogant and snotty-headed bully of Peter Parker but instead they decided to give him a new and more diverse look in the form of a not-so-tall and quite frankly a very smart youngster who happens to be on Peter’s school Decathlon team. Yes, he is still very mean towards Peter but in Homecoming, Flash isn’t the typical bully-like character from the comics so it was interesting to see Flash portrayed as a brainy science student for a change than some meathead football jock. So yes, if you are a VERY VERY HUGE fan of the classic Spider-Man comics and you’re expecting to see all of your favourite characters portrayed in the exact same way they are in the cartoons and comic books, you might be a little disappointed and confused. They are a lot of character changes in this movie but I think it can be seen as more of a positive than a negative. Marvel wanted to try something different with these characters and honestly, it works.

Vulture was a fantastic villain to include in this movie and I just loved how it was Michael Keaton who played him especially after starring in Birdman. He did such a great job of making us care about Adrian Toomes and his plans, and how he was essentially a thief and a cold-blooded killer. He was written in such a dark way too which I wasn’t expecting. Michael Keaton brought this sinister side to the character and a very emotional side too that made me feel sympathy for him throughout certain scenes. Seriously, excellent character building all round.

Okay, so how about the one big flaw I had with this movie: ITS TOO DAMN LIGHT-HEARTED AND FUNNY. As much as I loved Homecoming for its silliness and light-hearted moments, I felt the humor bogged down a lot of the film and there just wasn’t enough room for any solemnity or any real emotional scenes where your heart is pumping so hard inside your chest that it might explode. There is about two or three scenes in the entire movie where there is a great deal of emotion and intensity shown, but the rest mainly focuses on making the audience laugh. Don’t get me wrong, I freaking loved this movie but at the same time I was hoping for that intense emotional and heart-stopping storytelling that was presented in the Raimi films. But hey, other than that one little pet peeve, I really enjoyed Spider-Man Homecoming. I loved Peter and Tony’s father-son dynamic, I loved Marissa Tomei’s Aunt May, Micheal Keaton was just perfect as Vulture, and overall I do believe this is the best Spider-Man movie to be released since 2004’s Spider-Man 2.

As always, thank you so much for reading this review. See you all soon!!