Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

I was going to write this review a few days earlier than I did. I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming last Tuesday, and afterwards I left the theater feeling slightly underwhelmed. I knew what I had just seen was good, but I was most definitely not wowed by what I saw. To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of Spider-Man in the first place, and I have never thoroughly enjoyed a film starring the character. It has nothing to do with cinematic quality but entirely with tone. The Raimi trilogy often felt too campy, while the Andrew Garfield films felt like they veered too much into conventional comic book film territory. Homecoming definitely felt more in my wheelhouse than any prior Spider-Man film, but I still didn't love it.

Two days later, I was watching the trailers prior to Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan's latest film (which I'll have a review of very soon), and suddenly something clicked. Spider-Man: Homecoming is actually really, really, really good. 

This might be the best film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe not beginning with the words "Captain" or "Guardians." It shows how Marvel has mastered the technique of matching the film to the characters it features instead of forcing their heroes to fit into an established, rigorous formula. This is something they struggled with earlier on in the franchise but have come to perfect as it has continued.

With Homecoming, this is done through director Jon Watts's ability to weave together the more fantastical superhero moments and the teenager Peter Parker scenes. The latter have this modern-day John Hughes-esque sensibility that really works for this incarnation of Peter Parker (more on that later). It's a smaller scale than most of what the MCU has done before, but that makes it feel more grounded and realistic than all of the grander conflicts we have seen in other films while also allowing for a far lighter tone than most of the franchise's other films. There's something to be said for this in a world where we have Thor handling practically interdimensional conflicts, Iron Man saving the entirety of the world, and Captain America dealing with intense political infiltration from Hydra.

Part of this is dependent on the antagonist of the film. Traditionally, Marvel has really struggled with this. I personally don't feel that there's been a compelling villain since Loki actually fit that bill in The Avengers (I'm not counting Zemo from Civil War last year, but he had more solid motivations than most), and that was five years/ten films ago. The Vulture as depicted by Michael Keaton in Spider-Man: Homecoming, thankfully, is without a doubt the best villain in the MCU since then. He isn't trying to take over the world, he has a compelling arc and sound motivations, and most importantly he is incredibly well-realized as a human character above all else. The only kill he actually executes was not even intended to be lethal, as he himself states. Now, part of this is undoubtedly due to Keaton's adept acting chops, which are on not-quite full display here; however, the character's writing makes him a reasonable person, in spite of his less-than-admirable intentions. There were times where the only two things that reminded me of his antagonistic status were his costume and the presence of Spider-Man, and that is exactly how every film should write, so I have no complaints here.

Speaking of Spider-Man, let's talk about Tom Holland. I said in my mini-review of Civil War that he could be the Spider-Man that people talk about years from now, and now I am even more confident of that. He has the vibe of a true teenage nerd instead of Andrew Garfield's schmoozing outcast-by-choice while also being way more confident and wise-cracky than Tobey Magwhiner (Yeah, that's right: I came up with my own stupid nickname for him. Deal with it.) and far more convincing as an actual high school student than either of those mid-to-upper 20-year-olds. They somewhat normalize his intellectual, nerdy status by putting him in a technology-focused high school, but he still does feel a bit on the outside of all the normal high school goings-on. Holland definitely feels like he could fit this bill perfectly while playing either Peter or his web-slinging alter ego, and it makes the character feel more complete than he has ever felt on the big screen. He also has good chemistry with Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, whose presence actually works quite well for both this incarnation of Spider-Man and Stark himself.

Overall, there's a lot to Spider-Man: Homecoming that makes it one of the most enjoyable and (as far as I can tell after one viewing) rewatchable installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel finally got a villain right, Spider-Man feels relatable, and the stakes aren't ridiculously inflated so as to make the film feel far-fetched and any more improbable than it already is as a superhero movie. It's things like these that make a genre-oriented film like this stand out: despite other films having more thrilling and interesting individual components, Spider-Man: Homecoming has a blend of a lot of really good parts and none than stick out as bad, making it rise above the pack in a very discrete way.

My recommendation: Go see it in a theater. 

My grade: 86