Spider-Man Homecoming

It seems like just yesterday that Sony rebooted Spider-man with The Amazing Spider-Man, it wasn’t of course, it was 2012, but still. As far as films go, that’s a blink of an eye in which to once again reboot something.

The bigger change here is that Sony have looked at the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and decided that they are doing much better than they are at this superhero thing and so, gave them Spider-Man.

Hence why, in Spider-Man Homecoming, as well as a new Spider-Man in Tom Holland (The Impossible, Locke), we also see Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr., Captain America, Chris Evans, Happy Hogan, Jon Favreau and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her, Pepper Pots, Gwyneth Paltrow.

The biggest issue I have with all these reboots, remakes and re-issues is that the people in charge have a habit of covering the back story again and again from slightly different perspectives.

Thankfully the writers of Spider-Man Homecoming (of which there are a lot) have decided against going over the whole ‘uncle death’ thing and instead we see Peter Parker already at home with Aunt May, Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler, Crazy, Stupid, Love), and already has his powers.

Despite Holland being 21 he is supposed to be 15 and at high-school. He is coming to terms with being a teenager at high-school, girls, bullies, that sort of thing, and having been involved in a big fight with The Avengers, in Captain America: Civil War.

Amidst all this is a guy who cleans up the streets, after the Avengers have trashed them saving the world and what-not, but is let-go which irks him, a lot.

Michael Keaton (Birdman, The Founder), plays Adrian and Vulture. He and his clever gang, cobble together Vulture’s outfit from left-over bits of alien and Avengers tech they have found.

Vulture then decides he wants to step-up his activities against the powers that be and attempts an audacious heist from Tony Stark himself. It’s left to Spidey to stop him.

I was sceptical of yet another Spider-Man and, despite many people thinking it must be good now he’s part of the MCU, I was a little less thrilled given the last Captain America outing which seemed more like an Avengers movie than a solo Cap movie.

There’s certainly a very different feel about Homecoming than previous Spidey films. It has a real sense of direction now and it’s clear how he fits in with the rest of the MCU world.

It’s also good that, rather than the usual back-story, Homecoming actually serves as a back-story to Peter Parker and how he finds his powers, finds his way, being Spider-Man as a young man.

Holland is great as Spider-Man and Parker. He brings a certain youthful exuberance which the character needed given the setting and where we are with this film and the MCU.

Keaton is, as usual these days, brilliant. He’s menacing and funny too, there’s quite a bit of dry and cheeky humour throughout. However, despite Spider-Man having probably the best villains of any superhero, I didn’t think Vulture was the strongest.

His reasons for trying to take on The Avengers and the world in general, whilst plausible, little man standing up against the goliaths, just didn’t feel strong enough for someone to go on a rampage, particularly someone with a young family.

Tomei is perfect as Aunt May, every time she’s on screen she brings a smile to your face, she just seems like she’s having a blast and it’s all so effortless, it’s great.

Bringing Spider-Man into the MCU seems to have worked so far. However, a lot goes down in this movie without any of The Avengers turning up, at one point Stark brushing this off by proclaiming “who do you think called the FBI”?

When did Stark ever call the FBI to handle something? Anyway, besides the odd-bits like this and Vulture not being the strongest bad-guy, Spider-Man Homecoming is a good film and a good start to bring Spidey into the MCU. Let’s see where it takes him.