Let it be known that, after all my pondering and pontificating, I might be one of the only people in the world who walked out of Spider-Man: Homecoming feeling unsatisfied with the Spider-Man we may be seeing for the next decade or so. Not necessarily with the acting, action, or return to the MCU, but rather with the story presented, and the possible direction of the character.
Nobody's perfect, I guess.
The first thing I have to address is the acting, because it's good. New Spider-Man/Peter Parker actor Tom Holland definitely brings a fresh youth to the character. He's noticeably younger than his predecessors, and the story takes advantage of that by truly presenting us with a teenage superhero ready to make it out on his own, but one who might be too eager for his own good. Tom's funny, no doubt. He definitely matches up attitude-wise to Robert Downey Jr.'s returning Iron Man/Tony Stark, whose brief but notable appearances make sense within the world while not feeling too shoehorned in.
The real stand-out in the movie, in my opinion, has to be Michael Keaton's Vulture. Not often does a Marvel movie give serious time to developing their villain characters, and yet, Spider Man: Homecoming opens with his origins. And make no mistake, while sympathetic, Keaton also plays an incredibly intense and imposing villain. He's the perfect contrast to the youthful Spider-Man full of hope. Vulture is beaten down by the world, doing what he needs to do to stay up on top of it. Unfortunately, many other side-characters, like Jacob Batalon's Ned or Marisa Tomei's Aunt May are left to being conflicts of interest or light comedic elements in this particular Spider-Man film. You may think I'm being critical for a movie to have so many characters and leave them to serve specific purposes, but it leads to my central complaint of this Spider-Man movie: consequences mean nothing.
The main gist of this story revolves around Peter Parker trying to prove himself to Tony Stark after the events of Captain America: Civil War, in the hopes that Tony will officially let him into the Avengers. This makes sense, sequentially, in the life of Peter Parker, and I'll be honest, I thought this is the kind of Spider-Man story that I wanted. But with this change in the approach to the character, I found myself somewhat disconnected from Peter, far more than I ever had before in a Spider-Man story. It's not a journey about Peter just trying to do the right thing, by his family, or friends, or town. It becomes a story about the desire to be a god. Now, were I in Peter's shoes, I can't say I would choose differently, I'm simply saying that I now know this kind of Peter Parker isn't one I would elect to see over and over again. And that's not a critique of Holland's performance: it's more of a critique of the direction of the plot.
Another area I found myself oddly disappointed in was the action in the film. Save for the final act and, in turn, final fight with the Vulture, most of the action felt underwhelming, because Spider-Man didn't have to struggle too much. Not only that, but the special effects surrounding the action didn't look as sharp as other Marvel films, such as the Captain America series, have done. There's also the high probability that the action didn't resonate with me because I found the film's plot to be inferior to what I would have wanted.
I feel like, with Spider-Man: Homecoming, I start to see the cracks in Marvel's formula. And I even think of the past few films I've seen from them, particularly films like Ant-Man and Doctor Strange, where I first looked favorably, I now see to be somewhat mediocre. At the very least, the effort to get at least three movies a year out from Marvel is starting to have an impact on my enjoyment of them. This new Spider-Man is nowhere near a disaster, nor is it the best Spider-Man film ever made. It's a frustrating attempt to meld the core tenants of Spider-Man with the philosophy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, by including one too many jokey sequences, a plethora of cameos, and a grab-bag of cliches, such as the romantic plot. That being said, if Spider-Man: Homecoming is any indication to what villains could be in the MCU moving forward, then I'm excited. I just wish the entire film had been as refreshing as the Vulture was.
Nobody's perfect, I guess.
The real stand-out in the movie, in my opinion, has to be Michael Keaton's Vulture. Not often does a Marvel movie give serious time to developing their villain characters, and yet, Spider Man: Homecoming opens with his origins. And make no mistake, while sympathetic, Keaton also plays an incredibly intense and imposing villain. He's the perfect contrast to the youthful Spider-Man full of hope. Vulture is beaten down by the world, doing what he needs to do to stay up on top of it. Unfortunately, many other side-characters, like Jacob Batalon's Ned or Marisa Tomei's Aunt May are left to being conflicts of interest or light comedic elements in this particular Spider-Man film. You may think I'm being critical for a movie to have so many characters and leave them to serve specific purposes, but it leads to my central complaint of this Spider-Man movie: consequences mean nothing.The main gist of this story revolves around Peter Parker trying to prove himself to Tony Stark after the events of Captain America: Civil War, in the hopes that Tony will officially let him into the Avengers. This makes sense, sequentially, in the life of Peter Parker, and I'll be honest, I thought this is the kind of Spider-Man story that I wanted. But with this change in the approach to the character, I found myself somewhat disconnected from Peter, far more than I ever had before in a Spider-Man story. It's not a journey about Peter just trying to do the right thing, by his family, or friends, or town. It becomes a story about the desire to be a god. Now, were I in Peter's shoes, I can't say I would choose differently, I'm simply saying that I now know this kind of Peter Parker isn't one I would elect to see over and over again. And that's not a critique of Holland's performance: it's more of a critique of the direction of the plot.
I feel like, with Spider-Man: Homecoming, I start to see the cracks in Marvel's formula. And I even think of the past few films I've seen from them, particularly films like Ant-Man and Doctor Strange, where I first looked favorably, I now see to be somewhat mediocre. At the very least, the effort to get at least three movies a year out from Marvel is starting to have an impact on my enjoyment of them. This new Spider-Man is nowhere near a disaster, nor is it the best Spider-Man film ever made. It's a frustrating attempt to meld the core tenants of Spider-Man with the philosophy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, by including one too many jokey sequences, a plethora of cameos, and a grab-bag of cliches, such as the romantic plot. That being said, if Spider-Man: Homecoming is any indication to what villains could be in the MCU moving forward, then I'm excited. I just wish the entire film had been as refreshing as the Vulture was.
Rating: 7/10
