It's rare to see a movie series
rebooted just ten years after its inception. It's even rarer to see
one rebooted a second time just five years later (four if you count
last year's Captain America: Civil War)! I'm of course talking
about Spider-Man: Homecoming, the now third incarnation we've
seen of the friendly neighbourhood webhead.
And it definitely shows. With all these
reboots and retellings of Spider-Man tales they're all starting to
feel very similar. Homecoming in particular feels very much
like 2012's Amazing Spider-Man, just with a lighter tone that
feels more like a comic book and less like a movie. There's no
denying that the cinematic well of Spider-Man ideas is starting to
run dry. Just look at how they've already run out of ideas for good
titles; the titular homecoming only lasts a couple minutes and has
hardly any significance to the film.
So what did the powers that be at
Marvel (6 screenwriters? Really?!) whip up for us this time?
Fifteen year-old Peter Parker is an awkward, nerdy high school
student in New York City, but is also the hero known as Spider-Man,
seeing himself as Tony Stark's (AKA Iron Man's) protegee. But evil is
afoot once Adrian Toomes and his gang of techies discover that
leftover alien technology from the events of 2012's Avengers
can be used to make superweapons. Peter must learn to balance his
everyday problems with his activities as Spider-Man while taking on
the blackhearted Vulture. While Homecoming isn't quite an
origin story – and thank goodness because I can only bear to see
Uncle Ben shot so many times – we do see Spider-Man's early
development as a hero. He has to learn how to be a hero, how to
fight, how to handle loss, how to approach situations, and, most
critically, how to keep secrets.
Not having Uncle Ben die changes how
Spider-Man works as a movie. One one hand, it robs Peter of the depth
that he had in the other movies. Ben isn't even mentioned in
Homecoming (just barely hinted at), which brings up the
question: why does Peter do what he does? But on the other hand, the
absence of Ben and his death's consequences preserves the lighter
tone of Homecoming. Probably the funniest Spidey movie yet,
this film has a tone very similar to 2015's Ant-Man. So it's a
tradeoff: we get more lighthearted fun at the expense of solemn
maturity (relatively speaking; this is a superhero movie after all).
Now for the actors. Tom Holland is
pretty cool. He pulls off the whole Peter-Parker-as-a-teenager thing
better than any other actor so far. Michael Keaton is a great villain
as the Vulture and is surprisingly intimidating. It makes me wonder
if this is supposed to be a sequel to 2014's Birdman... I
really like the role Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark plays here, as a
mentor – quasi-father-figure – to Peter. Homecoming also
has a bunch of supporting characters. We've got Spider-Man's nerdy
pal Ned, the showy Flash... umm... Trujillo?, Liz the love interest,
dull, attractive Aunt May, and the misanthropic Michelle (AKA Daria).
The side characters are all fun and humourous but they're not all
that interesting or deeply developed.
The action scenes are all decent, most
them taking place in environments that we've not seen in Spider-Man
movies before. It's interesting to see how Spidey takes on badguys in
places without tall buildings like from high in the air or on a
ferry. Spider-Man's costume has also been upgraded from previous
films. Not only does it have a nice classic look to it but it's also
got a ton of functionality built into it. I guess this makes up for
the fact that this version of Peter doesn't seem to have
spider-sense. My only complaint about the action is that it appears
very CG-heavy. The other Spider-Man films were too, and while these
computer-generated effects do look good it would be nice to finally
see live-action Spidey action imbued with some visceral physicality.
It seems as if the trend of each
successive Spider-Man film is to be funnier and to have a
progressively younger cast with less developed side characters. But
when all's said and done, Spider-Man: Homecoming is still a
flashy, fun film like a well-acted cartoon in live-action form. It
may not be the best Spider-Man film ever made, but for superhero fans
and spiderfans alike it's definitely worth a watch.
Also, the end credits scene is savage.
Grade:
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