Peter Parker is alive and well!
Spider-Man has had quite a few movies in the past decade or so and this one is the start (ignoring Captain America: Civil War) of a new run with a new cast and crew. Put simply, this is a great movie.
A large part of how good Homecoming is the casting. Tom Holland as Peter is perfect. He’s awesome and adorable. We finally have someone playing a high school student who is actually the appropriate age. This kid is basically ripped right out of the comic pages, he’s got the perfect attitude and line delivery for Peter and Spider-Man. Tony Stark is used just right (I was afraid he’d be used too much and overshadow the main character) and gadzooks they made The Vulture cool! Spider-Man’s rogue’s gallery is more or less a collection of people wearing animal costumes and they’re pretty goofy. Brilliant move getting Michael Keaton to play the part.
The plot is terrific too. It sidesteps Spider-Man’s origin story and gets right into Peter’s struggle of being a kid with superpowers. His awkward balance of social life, school, and his desire to fight crime while he waits for Stark to “bring him up” to the big leagues. He’s learning with every step he takes and it’s a joy to watch.
This movie puts Spider-Man in the MCU so the story can play off of everything that’s happened. Peter was a little kid during The Avengers movie so he’s grown up in a world where these heroes have made a name for themselves. Peter was there for the invasion and he admires The Avengers. And with that event comes the idea of what happens when the superheroes leave? There’s all of this cleanup and trauma to a place so how do we deal with that? One of the things is the scrappers who come in to clean up after the fights. All that tech from other worlds is just left behind smoldering in the streets. Adrian Toomes (Vulture) makes a company to clean it up and when he gets the boot when the feds push him out of his job, he decides to pivot his business. I’ll keep skimming everything I can and make weapons out of this tech to sell. He manages to keep this business secret for awhile but when his employees get a little too loosey goosey with the tech, it catches Spider-Man’s attention.
It’s a nice and condensed story that’s easy to follow. The whole world isn’t at stake (yet), but Peter’s world is. It’s a personal story wrapped in homemade webbing with great comedy and action to keep it humming along.
The movie looks great in every way and Spider-Man is realized really well. The big thing that makes him stand out from other heroes is how agile he is. With the benefit of being super strong as well, what he can physically do is much different than anyone else and that makes for some big action set pieces that are really creative and unique.
Like this a lot, it might be my favorite MCU movie (I’d have to watch Captain America 2 again to be sure). This Tom Holland kid has a bright future!