Spider-Man: Homecoming, the web slinger’s first standalone film produced by Marvel Studios (but distributed by Sony Pictures), is a cute, humorous, fast-paced adventure that captures everything that has made Peter Parker and his costumed alter-ego such a likeable and enduring character for nearly half a century.
Peter fights his traditional rogues’ gallery enemies Vulture and Shocker in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but he also fights boredom and the less fascinating but equally urgent call of everyday teenage life. While he’s battling his own backyard supervillains, his best friend Ned wants him to come over to help build a 3,000-piece Lego Death Star, and he debates whether to confess his feelings for Liz, the head of his school’s Academic Decathlon team.
Despite the fact that Spider-Man went toe-to-toe with Captain America and the MCU’s other biggest heroic power players in Civil War, Homecoming serves as a constant reminder that he’s still a newbie hero and a 15-year-old kid who has to deal with Spanish tests and chemistry classes on top of fighting bad guys.
It’s a common conflict for traditional Marvel superheroes like Spider-Man — more so in their comic book origins than in modern films, where they’re more likely to be saving the world rather than sweating over secret identities — but Homecoming puts it front and centre, making it a heartfelt conflict. Every time Peter has to choose between his self-appointed job and one irreplaceable personal moment with Liz, the strain on his face shows. Civil War made his conflicts big, funny, and thrilling. Homecoming makes them personal.
If you weren’t impressed by Tom Holland after Captain America: Civil War, his performance in Spider-Man: Homecoming proves that he is the definitive big-screen Spider-Man. Peter Parker’s youthfulness, sincerity, and moral centre are wonderfully captured by his energy, cleverness, and good-natured demeanour.
Peter makes a lot of mistakes, but he’s a good kid who knows when he needs to make things right, and Holland sells it all. He owns every scene he’s in, never letting his co-stars, like Robert Downey Jr and Michael Keaton, blow him off the screen.
Neither Downey nor Keaton is in the movie as much as you’d think (however, Tony’s flunky-pal Happy Hogan, once again played by Jon Favreau, gets a good amount of screen time as Tony’s connection to Peter). Stark serves as Peter’s mentor, gadget maker, and tough love giver when necessary, but Homecoming is not a full-fledged Marvel Team-Up film. This is undoubtedly Spider-Man’s show.
Vulture, played by Keaton, is a solid supporting character. In his own way, the Vulture can be as relatable as Peter. He’s a blue-collar worker who is concerned with putting food on the table, and he sees Tony Stark as an aloof power monger who doesn’t care about screwing the working man. In that way, he’s a relevant villain, but he’s also never fully fleshed out as he could have been.
Toomes’ transformation from everyday man to ruthless criminal takes place mostly off-screen, which makes some of his more vicious behaviour feel a bit unexpected. Still, Keaton’s Vulture avoids the Marvel movie villain trope of undercutting a good actor with a bad part, and Keaton’s portrayal of Adrian Toomes hints his character does indeed have redeemable qualities.
Peter’s classmates are well-represented in Homecoming, with Jacob Batalon standing out as Peter’s best friend Ned, whose discovery of Peter’s secret identity sparks many of the film’s funniest running gags. While Zendaya’s role as Michelle is a minor one, she plays it with a quirky and cutting wit that makes her memorable. Laura Harrier as Peter’s classmate and crush Liz defies expectations, making her approachable rather than simply the cool girl who’s oblivious of Peter’s existence.
Watts’ pared-down action sequences, which are significantly less showy and far more straightforward than in earlier Marvel blockbusters, complement the script’s wise decision to dial back on connecting with the entire MCU. The film also plays with the superhero formula, avoiding backstory repetition and ending with a shocking, edge-of-your-seat finish, a rarity in the genre.
There is no great plot arc here, like in Ant-Man, about saving the world, and no strained attempt to expand the MCU. This is a street-level Marvel story, but without the darkness and violence, with the film showing why the character is known as the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. It’s a nice change of pace from seeing a superhero trying to stop yet another big energy gateway in the sky or some other tired trope.
If you’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the superhero flicks as of late, then Spider-Man: Homecoming is enough to momentarily cure it. There’s wit, intelligence, and a clever, imaginative plot that serves as a reminder of how much fun such movies can be.
Spider-Man: Homecoming seems like a celebration, not just of the MCU’s customary crowd-pleasing combination of humour and action, but of the little guy’s ability to make a difference, even when the world’s fate isn’t at stake. Even though it took three tries, Spider-Man has finally struck gold.
