Despite being the third version of the series since the turn of the century, Spider-Man: Homecoming is tearing it up at the box office. Casual comic fans and hardcore readers alike are raving about the film, so I decided to go see it myself. Here’s my review.
Spider-Man: Homecoming Spoiler-Free Review
Spider-Man: Homecoming is easily the best Spider-Man movie I’ve ever seen. Tom Holland is only 5’8, but his performance as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man easily dwarves those of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. He’s dorkier than Garflield’s Parker, while still being likeable, unlike Maguire’s. He’s got a bright future on the silver screen, and hopefully he puts on the spider-suit for the better part of the next decade.
Michael Keaton plays the Vulture, even though he’s never referred to as such, and he does a fantastic job. He’s not a clean-cut bad guy, and by the end of the movie, you completely understand why he’s doing… the evil things he does. His character develops along with Parker’s throughout the movie, and it makes me excited to see Spidey take on some of his bigger villains.
This movie is extremely well written. The dialogue is great, the timing is perfect, and you genuinely care about all of the characters. You get to feel the growing pains of Spider-Man without feeling weighed down by a story you’ve already seen twice. Which leads to my main criticism of the film.
Spider-Man Begins?
This isn’t really an origin story. This movie takes place after Captain America: Civil War, and so when you first see Peter Parker, a lot has already happened. He’s already been bitten by the radioactive spider, Uncle Ben has already met an unfortunate end, and Parker has been fighting crime as Spider-Man.
This isn’t a terrible thing, as frankly, we can only see Uncle Ben gunned down so many times before we just don’t care anymore (Looking at you Thomas and Martha Wayne). However, that message isn’t really clear from the trailers, so if you’re not caught up with the Marvel cinematic universe, you might feel a little confused during the first half hour of the movie.
Despite that, Spider-Man: Homecoming is absolutely wonderful. It’s well written, directed, shot, and performed. It’s just so damn charming. It manages to capture the true spirit of Spider-Man without coming off corny. And! It manages to move the Avengers storyline along without hijacking the movie completely (take notes, DC).
I can’t recommend this movie enough. It’s easily the best Spider-Man movie, and it might be the best movie that Marvel has made yet. It’s a damn shame they’ll have to surrender Spidey back to Fox at some point.
ALSO! There are two post-credit scenes. Stay for both, as the second one might be the best yet.