THAT'S what I'm talking about.
Spiderman: Homecoming is the sixth Spiderman movie we've gotten in 15 years and is the third brand-new iteration of the masked web-slinger we've seen in the same amount of time. This one was directed by Jon Watts (Cop Car) and stars Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr., and Michael Keaton, and is a continuation of Spiderman's journey following the events that took place in Civil War.
Growing up, I was a massive Spiderman fan. My family followed the Raimi trilogy as they came out in theaters, and Spiderman 2 is, personally, one of my favorite comic book movies of all time. I wasn't the biggest fan of the Amazing Spiderman movies, but I did like Andrew Garfield in both of those. After seeing Civil War, I was really optimistic headed into Homecoming, despite some of that being dampened by a poor second trailer.
So, how was it?
Of the five previous Spiderman movies, only two have been genuinely great, those being Spiderman 1 and Spiderman 2. Spiderman 3 wasn't the best thing in the world, but I do enjoy it in a bit of a guilty pleasure sense. The Amazing Spiderman, I thought, was decent, but I couldn't be bothered with its sequel, which all my friends discouraged me from watching. With Homecoming, I can proudly say that we have another genuinely great Spiderman movie.
Hallelujah.
I wanna start things off by talking about Daddy Michael Keaton's Vulture in this movie because he deserves a hell of a lot of praise for it. This villain is one with a surprising amount of depth to him, and I really enjoyed having him onscreen. There was a good portion of the movie dedicated to fleshing him out as a character and actually having him develop into a supervillain that just really fascinated me. I liked that he wasn't some sort of generic evildoer - he's just a frustrated man who needs to get shit done.
And another thing I liked about Vulture was that he didn't need to raise his voice or go on some over-the-top killing spree to intimidate me as a viewer. Michael Keaton brought his a-game to this movie and he just really has this great on-screen presence. He's intense without ever needing to raise his voice and that wild look in his eyes is just scary.
I would not wanna cross him.
I'll be the first to admit that it kinda stung knowing he was gonna cross the DC-Marvel divide - seeing as I loved Tim Burton's first Batman movie - but I'm glad that he knocked it out of the park in this movie. And speaking of knocking it out of the park, I gotta give massive, massive props to Tom Holland. Okay, I know a lot of people don't like him because he isn't exactly Tobey, and, while I do love Tobey, Tom puts in an excellent shift in Homecoming.
Personally, I like what they've done and how they've treated the character of Peter Parker in this one. In a way, it reminded me of Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim put together, with just the right amount of teenage angst from those 80's highschool movies thrown into the mix. Having Peter Parker as this super fresh vigilante/cult hero really did freshen things up. He does the best that he can, but isn't quite at the same level the rest of the Avengers are yet, so it does put Peter's struggles into perspective, and I thought Tom Holland portrayed that side to Spiderman really, really well.
Speaking of the Avengers...
One of my biggest concerns about going into this movie was that it was gonna feel more so like an Iron Man 4 than it would a Spiderman movie, and that's largely due to the marketing campaign behind this movie. I'm happy to say, however, that Tony Stark is hardly in this movie. He wasn't as invasive as he was in the trailers and, every time he was on screen, he made the most out of his appearances without stealing the show entirely. I liked that his role in this was minimal, and that he was used as sparingly as he was.
I thought the rest of the supporting cast was great, as well, and that they really did hold their own despite sharing scenes with Tom Holland and Daddy Michael Keaton. Ned, in particular, was one of my favorites. He's Peter Parker's best friend and really does the logical thing that any highschool nerd would do if he found out his best friend was a superhero and that would be to just annoy the shit out Peter with all sorts of stupid questions. He really did bring a lot of great humor and character moments to the table and I loved his character.
He did also remind me a bit of Wade from Kim Possible.
I thought Happy Hogan and Flash Thompson were hilarious, as well. Zendaya, personally, stood out as the snarky-yet-likable asshole that was Michelle, and I found her to be a pretty endearing character. Aunt May was great in the movie, as well, and everyone else did their part brilliantly.
One of the other things I loved about the movie was the brand of humor they brought to it. A lot of it felt off-beat and very dialogue-based, and it reminded me a lot of Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Nacho Libre. The timing was great, none of the jokes felt as if they overstayed their welcome, and it was awkward without being entirely obnoxious. It was great, and I was laughing out loud a lot.
There were a lot of really good gags in here but my favorite scene involved Donald Glover and it was insanely hysterical. So much of the comedy was relatable and really did leave me asking myself what I would've done in that scenario.
To my surprise, there was also quite a bit of meta humor in here. Some of the jokes were very tongue-in-cheek, thinly-veiled potshots at the superhero movie genre, and those bits made me laugh out loud. I loved it.
And the action was pretty good.
Personally, I enjoyed most, if not all of the action scenes in this movie. There were a couple of them that I was kinda wary about - mostly because I felt that they might've been spoiled by the trailer - but at no point did I find myself ever waiting for one of those to happen. The action took me along for the ride and I was having a lot of fun.
I do think that there are a couple of action scenes in Homecoming that are worth noting more than others, and those were the climactic fight scene with the Vulture and a rescue scene that takes place somewhere in DC. I'll be the first to admit that both sequences made my jaw drop in awe, and I'm not even gonna act like I didn't just say that.
Seeing Peter in his element was pretty great, too.
I liked that, in this movie, they took the time to really just walk you through a day in Peter's everyday life. Personally, I thought that was an interesting inclusion and that it really just brings Spiderman, as a hero, down to a really relatable level, which is a level that I think he should always be on.
And, to round it all off, the movie introduced me to Laura Harrier. Always a plus.
Wow.
As far as things I didn't like about Homecoming, I can sorta pinpoint a couple of issues. First off, I thought the pacing was a bit off in some scenes and that others felt as if they started to drag. The second issue I have with the movie was that when they were building a scene up to be this really emotional thing, they kinda undercut it in the end with a snarky remark and kinda just fluff it up. Other than that, I have no other nitpicks with Homecoming.
I do need to address, however, that the marketing campaign ruined a lot of scenes that would've made for some really good surprises. For example, having Tony show up at the boat to clean up after Peter shits the bed would've been an interesting twist in the movie, but since I saw it in the trailer, it doesn't quite pack the emotional punch that it should've had, because I already saw it.
Bar those, Homecoming kicked a lot of ass. To me, I felt it really embodied what I've always known Spiderman to be, and the fact that Peter, in this movie, was such a relatable character kinda made it all the more special for me. And, on that note, I will say that Spiderman: Homecoming is...
Sorry this review is up so late, guys, I've kinda had a lot on my plate and I went through this really massive writer's block halfway through making this. Either way, this has been Rafa, as always. Stay classy.
Nice review, I love your opinions! Keep it up!
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