Spider-Man Homecoming Review: Third Time's a Charm?

Spider-Man Homecoming Review: Third Time's a Charm?

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Spidey comes “home” to the Marvel Cinematic Universe but is it a warm welcome?

It’s been, objectively, thirteen years since we had a great Spider-Man film. Suddenly we find ourselves with our third version of the character on the big screen in ten years. This time is different, however, this time Peter Parker gets to live in the same world as Iron Man, Captain America and the Avengers. With Marvel at the helm do we finally get that truly “amazing” Spider-Man?

“Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, young Peter Parker returns home to live with his Aunt May. Under the watchful eye of mentor Tony Stark, Parker starts to embrace his newfound identity as Spider-Man. He also tries to return to his normal daily routine — distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just a friendly neighborhood superhero. Peter must soon put his powers to the test when the evil Vulture emerges to threaten everything that he holds dear.”

What really strikes you about Homecoming is the tone and setting. This is a young Peter Parker. The past two series gave mere lip service to a high school Spidey in Queens and quickly pushed him out to college and adulthood in Manhattan. Tom Holland plays a 15-year-old Peter still trying to figure himself out as a person, let alone a superhero. He’s not going to get everything right. He’s going to make mistakes and he’s going to find his confidence. Despite avoiding the spider bite, Uncle Ben and the like this is still an origin story of sorts. He’s not a full formed Spider-Man yet. This is Peter Parker/Spider-Man as his original core. The ordinary teenage struggling with real life problems as well as newfound heroics and grappling with the responsibility of both.

Spider-Man is now part of the greater Marvel universe but thankfully his solo film still stands on its own. Despite appearances in the film’s marketing Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark is used very sparingly. Chris Evan’s Captain America is used to hilarious effect in cheesy high school PSA films and Keaton’s Vulture finds his motivations in the aftermath of The Avengers’ Battle of New york. Homecoming exists in this word but isn’t overwhelmed by it. We aren’t given another Iron Man 2 situation where the movie is more concerned about setting up the next five. This is Peter’s story and thankfully we spend most of it with him and his classmates at ground level.

The film is really a wonderful teenage, high school coming of age story with a Marvel wrapper around it. John Hughes was clearly an inspiration and Homecoming wears that on its sleeve. The wonderful ensemble cast of Midtown School of Science and Technology students is young diverse, fun and feel real. There’s no “hello, fellow kids” dialogue delivered by 25 year-olds here. If you could somehow strip the super heroics out of the movie you’d still have something I’d want to watch.

Michael Keaton takes the role of villain in Homecoming and is frankly one of the better villains we’ve gotten out of Marvel. It’s a funny place to be in where my childhood Batman is now the villain in a Spider-Man film. It’s like my geeky life has come full circle. Playing the working class everyman instead of the cliche scientist gone wrong Keaton’s Vulture has clear and simple motivation; to scavenge the wreckage of superhero battles and use what he finds to support his family. That’s all well and good until it becomes by any means necessary. Let’s face it, The Vulture is traditionally a pretty goofy villain Spider-Man lore. He’s an old guy in green tights and feathered wings. Thankfully the Homecoming team have come up with a design that both modernises and gives a menacing edge but also nods to its roots. There’s a scene at the beginning of the third act and the titular Homecoming dance where Keaton really gets to flex his menace and it’s a whole lot of fun. His crew is filled out with a handful of characters that the truly geeky amongst us (i.e. me) will be excitedly explaining to their friends and passersby afterwards.

Ultimately, this is a really fun couple of hours in the cinema. It hits that Guardians of the Galaxy level of sheer fun and joy. It’s almost infectious. If you’re anything like the crowd at this week’s Perth Premiere you’ll be giggling and laughing throughout, tapping your toes to the fun soundtrack and revelling in the sheer glee of having the first Spider-Man film in a long time that lives up to the adjective “amazing”. As a guy who has loved Spider-Man for almost 25 years I can tell you, Homecoming is exactly what you hope it would be.

This is the best Spidey since Spider-Man 2. Here’s hoping it’s the first of many

(PS. I feel like it should go without saying after, like, 15 of these things but make sure you stay back until the very end for one of my very favourite Marvel post-credit stings!)