Spiderman Homecoming (Review): Worth Every Penny!?
Intro:
THEY DID IT! THEY’VE FINALLY DID IT! We have FINALLY gotten a true to life Peter Parker! This film did a wonderful job of showing teenage Peter Parker go through the Dos and Donts of being a superhero while also trying to maintain his day to day life. They didn’t make Spiderman look like a hero that had it all together from the jump, they showed his flaws, his goofiness, and as the viewers we got to watch him mature into an ALMOST fully-fledged hero. Get your web shooter ready because this is one bumpy ride for our friendly neighborhood Spiderman and his homecoming is worth every penny!
Overview:
Spider-Man Homecoming starts off skipping the origin story we all know and love but are tired of seeing played out on screen. Instead we get to see how the Vulture came to be, the main villain in the film. After being shafted by Tony Stark’s clean up crew that handles alien and exotic tech from zones where super hero battles has taken place, the Vulture decides to go a less legal route of obtaining his funds to provide for his family. And by less legal I mean arms dealing in dangerously sophisticated alien weaponry. Honestly this was a great move seeing how the previous two films with Andrew Garfield are still rather fresh in everyone’s minds. No instead we get to see Peter Parker’s daily life unfold where it should’ve been all along, high school. Peter is the usual loser in school with one ride or die friend that you will come to love.
He also finds a love interest in Liz, a senior on the decathlon team with him. While dealing with his own melodrama of not getting a call back from the Avengers yet, Peter spends his time as Spiderman doing small town hero saving around the city of New York. He still wants more out of his superheroing adventures and definitely gets more when he stumbles across some dudes literally destroying an ATM with alien weapons with a whole lot of kick. During the scuffle the guys get away with the cash but not without leaving behind some serious damage to nearby buildings. Of course this boggles Peter’s mind and he attempts to let his handler, Mr Happy, know of the severity of the situation. Mr Happy blows him off but Peter refuses to let the matter sit.
When he returns home in his costume after his backpack is stolen he is surprised to see his best friend, Ned, sitting in his room. Now that his secret identity is out Ned has no problem kind of causing friction in a positive way for Peter to get Liz’s attention. The two are invited to a party by Liz, much to their liking, but after arriving, Peter soon finds himself spotting something in the distance that leads him away. Spiderman comes across a dealing of Alien Weapons where Donald Glover is featured and soon gets caught in the cross hairs of the Shocker and his friend.
After a serious chase, the two get away after the Vulture steps in to save them. Ironman, well just the iron suit, appears to save Spiderman and attempts to keep him from taking on more than he can chew. Spiderman is able to recover the power source of one of the weapons as he walks home from the rough night. Vulture doesn’t hesitate to kill the original Shocker and appointments his friend as the new one. Spiderman is becoming a thorn in his side but he refuses to give up on the weapons dealing and plans of ways to thwart his newfound nuisance. Peter, in true to Spiderman fashion, is determined to keep his city safe and without telling Tony, begins to track the group of thugs that were doing the selling.
He soon learns that they are stationed in Maryland. So, he travels with the decathlon team then bails in an attempt to thwart the Vulture’s newest target. Things don’t go well and he ends up missing the decaltholon and pretty much everything even dealing with it. Trouble strikes when Liz, Ned, and the rest of the crew get trapped in the Washington monuments elevator after the power source for the alien weapon detonates. Peter arrives just in time to save literally everyone but still has hell to pay after pretty much ditching a school trip.
The movie progresses to the point where Peter attempts to take down the crew again on a ferry and things literally go to hell in a hand basket. Iron Man steps in once again to save the day, but angry with Peter, he takes back the suit saying “if you’re nothing without the suit, then you shouldn’t have it.” Words that will soon ring true to Peter when he grows enough balls to ask Liz to go to homecoming with him and finds out that the Vulture is her father. Peter decides that he cant let the Vulture go free and sacrifices his personal life for the chance of saving the lives of others. He is LITERALLY able to save the whole city in a damn track suit and leaves the Vulture webbed up with all the contents of the Avenger’s cargo plane at the beach.
After proving himself, he is invited to join the Avengers but declines to be a friendly neighborhood Spiderman for a little while longer. Unfortunately Liz is moving due to the problems with her father being placed in jail but a new spark can be seen in Michelle, who is played by Zendya, and affectionately refers to herself as MJ. Also before the film ends, Aunt May catches Peter in the costume, which is probably one of the funniest endings I’ve ever seen in my life!
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Strengths:
OH MY GOD. This film did everything right! We’ve finally gotten the perfect balance of geeky Peter Parker and a fresh Spiderman learning the ropes of superhero business. He’s not great out of the gate, which he shouldn’t be even with powers as a fifteen year old high school student. He’s naïve and learning. This was perfectly displayed in his communication with Donald Glover while trying to interrogate him, his literal slip ups and destroying peoples homes while chasing the bad guys, and even the accident of his best friend learning his secret identity.
We get to really see him mature. Something that was missing from the previous Spiderman films. It always felt like Spiderman was a well seasoned superhero. Like this wasn’t his first time at the rodeo and he was just innately good at it. Its nice to see this change since Spiderman starts his superhero duties at such a young age. Another strength is totally skipping the origin story. We’ve seen it over and over again. There was no need to see it. It was almost like Spiderman showed up in the avengers and we should just know he has powers. It is covered in small talk between him and Ned but you weren’t beaten over the head with it, something as a comic book fan I really appreciated.
All the villains were actually multilayered and visibly terrifying. One of the hard things with superhero films are the goofy costumes make it hard to portray villains and superheroes as bad ass, at least in the past. But with our newfound technology, CGI, and 3D modeling, we were able to make villains like the Vulture look cool. Have you seen that man’s original costume? He looks a mess
And last but not least the movie wasn’t bogged down with romance. There were hints here and there but the romance acted like a side mission to the plot and not the plot itself. This was refreshing since literally all five of the last Spiderman films revolved around a common theme of romance. It was nice to see Spiderman fight crime and come into his own and show he really has the gusto to be a bad ass superhero!
Weaknesses:
I’ve got nothing. Nothing about this film was weak to me. Everything from the art to the actor/actress performances, the comedic presence, the geekiness, everything fit right in to place. This was the Spiderman film Peter Parker deserved and every fan has been waiting for!
Overall:
GO WATCH THIS FILM. This film is an excellent watch and I can see myself going to see it in theaters again very soon. They finally brought Peter Parker straight out of the comic books in his truest essence. A geeky kid who just wants to do right by the world. He takes his superhero duties seriously and came into his own. He wanted to be taken seriously and not seen as just a kid and went out of his way to earn it. Spiderman Homecoming was the film every Spiderman fan deserves. The pacing was great, not once was I bored. There was a perfect balance of seriousness and comedic timing. All of the acting was stellar to me and the presence of each made the film feel more robust. This is a multilayered film that deserves all the praise its getting and I would tell anyone to go see this. I give this film a 9.5/10
