'Spiderman Homecoming' Review:
'Spiderman Homecoming' marks Tom Holland first solo film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU. With no rehashed origin recap to drag the story down, 'Spiderman Homecoming' is a refreshing take on the character with never before seen villains. That being said, the film was hardly perfect, with below average supporting characters and inconsistent technology. This review is going to feature spoilers for 'Spiderman Homecoming' so if you haven't seen the movie yet I would highly recommend going to the cinema to watch it and then come back and finish reading this.
SPOILER WARNING!!!
The film opens with a recap of the events of 'Captain America: Civil War' told from Peter's perspective. This was a great refresher if like me you haven't seen the film in a while or if you've never seen a film in the MCU before. Viewers could easily go into this film and understand the majority of the story having to see the other fifteen predecessors. It also provides a great introduction to the elements of comedy in the film compared to other Marvel film.
The majority of this comedy comes from parodying previous Spiderman films. One of the first jokes in the movie is when Spidey is changing into his suit. In previous films we see him run into an ally then a few seconds later see him run out of the other side in his full costume. In Homecoming, however, he runs into an alley, webs his bag to a wall and we watch him for about a minute as he takes his shoes off along with the rest of his clothes and puts his Spidey suit on, almost forgetting to 'activate' it before he leaves. This is heavily reminiscent of Deadpool and provides humour through realism creating a relatable hero for kids to look up to and laugh at.
A similar joke is told when Spiderman is hanging upside down after saving his love interest, Liz (Laura Harrier), from falling in an elevator. His suits A.I, Karen (Jennifer Connelly), who he previously confined his feeling with. tells him that this would be the perfect time for him to kiss her, referencing the first Toby Maguire movie in which he was hanging upside down when he first kissed Mary Jane. In Homecoming, however, Spidey's web breaks before he has the chance to kiss her and he falls down the elevator shaft, providing an element of physical comedy to the film.
As far as this love interest goes, I felt as though it was well done because it did not consume the story. In previous Spiderman films, we can see the repetitive nature and use of 'the damsel in the distress'. In 'Spiderman' Mary Jane is captured by The Green Goblin, In 'Spiderman Two' by Doctor Octopus and in 'Spiderman Three' by Venom. Similarly, in 'The Amazing Spiderman' Gwen is captured by the villains in both films. It was refreshing to see that this did not happen in this film, in fact, they even went as far as making Lis the villains daughter. The Vulture (Michael Keaton) wanted to protect her not kidnap her.
Comedy is also created through the exaggeration of peoples actions. From the opening scene, characters are over the top in how they speak to display the energy and vigour of teenagers. I did feel though, however, there was slightly too much of this in the supporting characters. Characters such as Ned (Jacob Batalon), Michelle (Zendaya)and even Captain America (Chris Evans) in his cameos occasionally diverted seriousness from scenes. There was at times too much comedy in this film which could maybe be solved by removing some of the supporting characters. As well as this the supporting characters are not given much characterisation and are very much only there for Peter's convenience.
The character development is initially a problem for Peter as well as in the first three-quarters of the film we don't see much change in Peter's way of thinking. It is only towards the end of the movie we see the changes being made. The film is primarily a bildungsroman, a coming of age film. The film's title 'Homecoming' is symbolic of Peter having to find his way home to a normal teenage life after being caught up in the superhero Civil War. At the beginning of the movie all Peter wants is to be a member of The Avengers, but by the end of the film, he just wants to be a 'friendly neighbourhood Spiderman' in his home. As well as this it is a pun on Spiderman coming home to Marvel from Sony.
The film took quite a few liberties with the characters, in particular with Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori), Peter's high school bully. In the comics, he was your stereotypical high school 'jock' whereas in the film he was a science nerd like Peter who comes from a more privileged family. This was a result of changing the setting of Peter's typical American High School to more of a gifted school for rich kids. This did not make the film worse, however, as in many ways, it was great to see a newer adaptation of the character.
Another character who the film changed quite drastically was Michelle, who at the end of the movie is revealed to be MJ, Peter's future wife. In the comics she also wasn't particularly bright and uses her looks to get by, becoming a model and an actress in many versions. In this version, however, she was a nerd like Peter. She also looked very different from her comic counterpart, swapping the red hair of the character for a dark brown. There is not much to comment on this as MJ was only a supporting character in this movie but hopefully, we will see more of her in sequels.
Obviously, it's impossible to talk about characters in the film without bringing up Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). Yes, she was younger but this didn't really take anything away from her character. I must admit that I was a little sceptical after seeing her in Civil War but, like MJ, she did not have a huge role to play in the movie so there isn't much to comment on. I could see that the film makers made a conscience effort to make her look older with the big glasses and choice of clothing, but it just seemed like a desperate attempt to appeal to fans of the comic version. Ultimately Rosemary Harris will still be my Aunt May. I am interested to see what's going to happen the next time Peter appears now that Aunt May knows he is Spiderman.
As a fan of the comics, I liked all of the references and nods the films included to other aspects of Marvel. For example, the school that Peter goes to has a student run news station in which one of the presenters is Betty Brant, who later becomes the receptionist and a reporter for the Daily Bugle, the newspaper company Peter becomes a photographer for. This could be seen as both a positive and a negative for the film as if you are not a Marvel fan these could confuse you. Either way, you could watch 'Spiderman Homecoming' many times and still not pick up on all of the references.
The film's themes shine out through its use of dualism, for example, the juxtaposition between the rich and the poor. This is illustrated in many ways. One way is through the contrast of the symbols of New York City, home to the rich and powerful like Tony Stark, and Queens, home to people who are feeling the consequences of living in a world of heroes, like our villain, Vulture. The Vulture tells Peter in the final battle of the movie that 'the rich and powerful, like Stark, they don't care about us,' highlighting the divide that is growing ever more present each day. We also see MJ commenting that the Washington monument was built by slaves. We see a clear power divide in America throughout the movie and for all of the characters. You could even break it down to the school itself, Peter lives in a small flat with his Aunt, whereas Lis lives in a big house capable of throwing a house party for her whole school year.
This is ironic as perhaps the most identical pair in the movie are The Vulture and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). Both characters are father figures in the story but both have very different tactics. Tony acts as a father figure for Peter, however, for most of the film we see him take things away as Peter becomes more rebellious. The Vulture, who is Liz's father, is constantly giving her things acquired from his crimes. This fathering tactic is ultimately what separates two very similar characters. They both fly around in a super suit, they both have a child figure in this movie and they both made their fortune selling arms.
The Vulture's motivation stems from him losing his job in cleaning up after the disaster in New York that took place in the first Avengers Movie. An unknown company takes over but The Vulture and his friends steal some of the alien technology in order to start a business selling high tech arms to criminals. It was great to see other villains as well as The Vulture in this movie, such as The Shocker and The Tinkerer, all recurring Spiderman villains. To me the antagonists were the highlight of this film as with previous solo superhero movies, Marvel has not had much success in this area.
Perhaps the greatest thing about The Vulture was that he was relatable. At the start of the movie, he is just trying to 'clean up the city' a lot like Spiderman is, but he is stopped by people who are 'in charge'. He is just trying to do what is best for his family and because he is so much like Stark, it is easy to understand his motivation which is crucial to creating a great villain.
The film did a great job of isolating it's setting to Queens. The only time to film leaves this setting for a longer period of time is midway through the film when Peter goes on a trip with his class mates to Washington DC. In past Spiderman films, we have seen Spidey become the hero of New York, with epic shots and fight scenes in famous land marks like Times Square and The Empire State Building. This is because, as I have previously mentioned, New York already has its heroes in the Avengers, What the MCU needs is someone who will 'stand up for the little guy', which is what Spiderman stands for.
This is at its core a very American Ideology. Peter Parker symbolises America in many ways which were excellently conveyed through this film. America as a country can be seen as a very young nation who has had power thrust upon it, much like Peter is a young teen, fifteen in Homecoming. He receives a great amount of power firstly from the spider that gave him his wall crawling powers and secondly through Tony Stark when he gives him his suit.
We see Spiderman wrestle with this power all the way through this movie. At first Tony limits his powers with a 'parental lock' on the suit. This reflects the idea that America is still under the influence of other superpowers. Spidey, however, removes the lock and thus becomes independent in his own right. We see him arguing with Karen who wants to kill Spidey's targets. His struggle is internal as he has to decide whether or not he uses his powers as judgement on others.
This excess of power, however, comes at a cost in that it puts civilians in danger, as symbolised by Spidey trying to stop Vulture on the boat and thus causing it to split in half and sink. Tony tells Peter that 'if [he's] nothing without the suit then [he] shouldn't have, clearly commenting on America's need for weaponry and power and what would appear to be a lack of values.
That being said there were inconsistencies in the suit which distracted from the film. For example, sometimes Peter had to shout what kind of web he wanted, for example, web grenades but sometimes he didn't. I found this distracting from the fight scenes as the suits consistently broke their own rules
As far as casting goes, there is not much else to say. Obviously, Michael Keaton is a well-established actor who is great in all of the roles he plays. I have already mentioned the supporting characters, but they were more of a disappointment because of writing rather than the people playing them. Tom Holland made an amazing Spiderman and was the perfect mix of Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire. He was certainly the most believable Spiderman today acting in his movie like we would act if we were given his super powers. My only criticism would be that he did not talk as much during fights as Spiderman should. This was something that Garfield really got right, as seen in 'The Amazing Spiderman Two' when he is constantly talking and even whistling whilst fighting the Rhino at the start of the movie.
The first after credits scene confused me slightly as it was very vague. I'm guessing that the man we saw talking to Keaton's character is Scorpion, another classic Spidey villain and that his friends on the outside are Oscorp. The second after credits scene was Captain America talking to us about patience, an older joke in the movie. This was fun even if I have already said they could have cut him out of the movie.
Overall I thought 'Spiderman Homecoming' was a great film that felt like an origin story without retelling us Spiderman's origin story. The characters were funny and the villains were intimidating and Tom Holland as Peter Parker made Spiderman feel very real. Although maybe not as good as the original Toby Maguire movie, 'Spiderman Homecoming' is a great addition to the MCU roster and I am excited to see Tom Holland reprise the role in coming years.
Thank you for reading this far. If you liked this review then make sure you share it on social media and let me know down below. Also feel free to comment any suggestions on things I should review next. Next week may be a little different as it is my birthday next Thursday. There will still be a review up but I cannot guarantee it will be on the 27th.
SPOILER WARNING!!!
The film opens with a recap of the events of 'Captain America: Civil War' told from Peter's perspective. This was a great refresher if like me you haven't seen the film in a while or if you've never seen a film in the MCU before. Viewers could easily go into this film and understand the majority of the story having to see the other fifteen predecessors. It also provides a great introduction to the elements of comedy in the film compared to other Marvel film.
The majority of this comedy comes from parodying previous Spiderman films. One of the first jokes in the movie is when Spidey is changing into his suit. In previous films we see him run into an ally then a few seconds later see him run out of the other side in his full costume. In Homecoming, however, he runs into an alley, webs his bag to a wall and we watch him for about a minute as he takes his shoes off along with the rest of his clothes and puts his Spidey suit on, almost forgetting to 'activate' it before he leaves. This is heavily reminiscent of Deadpool and provides humour through realism creating a relatable hero for kids to look up to and laugh at.
A similar joke is told when Spiderman is hanging upside down after saving his love interest, Liz (Laura Harrier), from falling in an elevator. His suits A.I, Karen (Jennifer Connelly), who he previously confined his feeling with. tells him that this would be the perfect time for him to kiss her, referencing the first Toby Maguire movie in which he was hanging upside down when he first kissed Mary Jane. In Homecoming, however, Spidey's web breaks before he has the chance to kiss her and he falls down the elevator shaft, providing an element of physical comedy to the film.
As far as this love interest goes, I felt as though it was well done because it did not consume the story. In previous Spiderman films, we can see the repetitive nature and use of 'the damsel in the distress'. In 'Spiderman' Mary Jane is captured by The Green Goblin, In 'Spiderman Two' by Doctor Octopus and in 'Spiderman Three' by Venom. Similarly, in 'The Amazing Spiderman' Gwen is captured by the villains in both films. It was refreshing to see that this did not happen in this film, in fact, they even went as far as making Lis the villains daughter. The Vulture (Michael Keaton) wanted to protect her not kidnap her.
Comedy is also created through the exaggeration of peoples actions. From the opening scene, characters are over the top in how they speak to display the energy and vigour of teenagers. I did feel though, however, there was slightly too much of this in the supporting characters. Characters such as Ned (Jacob Batalon), Michelle (Zendaya)and even Captain America (Chris Evans) in his cameos occasionally diverted seriousness from scenes. There was at times too much comedy in this film which could maybe be solved by removing some of the supporting characters. As well as this the supporting characters are not given much characterisation and are very much only there for Peter's convenience.
The character development is initially a problem for Peter as well as in the first three-quarters of the film we don't see much change in Peter's way of thinking. It is only towards the end of the movie we see the changes being made. The film is primarily a bildungsroman, a coming of age film. The film's title 'Homecoming' is symbolic of Peter having to find his way home to a normal teenage life after being caught up in the superhero Civil War. At the beginning of the movie all Peter wants is to be a member of The Avengers, but by the end of the film, he just wants to be a 'friendly neighbourhood Spiderman' in his home. As well as this it is a pun on Spiderman coming home to Marvel from Sony.
The film took quite a few liberties with the characters, in particular with Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori), Peter's high school bully. In the comics, he was your stereotypical high school 'jock' whereas in the film he was a science nerd like Peter who comes from a more privileged family. This was a result of changing the setting of Peter's typical American High School to more of a gifted school for rich kids. This did not make the film worse, however, as in many ways, it was great to see a newer adaptation of the character.
Another character who the film changed quite drastically was Michelle, who at the end of the movie is revealed to be MJ, Peter's future wife. In the comics she also wasn't particularly bright and uses her looks to get by, becoming a model and an actress in many versions. In this version, however, she was a nerd like Peter. She also looked very different from her comic counterpart, swapping the red hair of the character for a dark brown. There is not much to comment on this as MJ was only a supporting character in this movie but hopefully, we will see more of her in sequels.
Obviously, it's impossible to talk about characters in the film without bringing up Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). Yes, she was younger but this didn't really take anything away from her character. I must admit that I was a little sceptical after seeing her in Civil War but, like MJ, she did not have a huge role to play in the movie so there isn't much to comment on. I could see that the film makers made a conscience effort to make her look older with the big glasses and choice of clothing, but it just seemed like a desperate attempt to appeal to fans of the comic version. Ultimately Rosemary Harris will still be my Aunt May. I am interested to see what's going to happen the next time Peter appears now that Aunt May knows he is Spiderman.
As a fan of the comics, I liked all of the references and nods the films included to other aspects of Marvel. For example, the school that Peter goes to has a student run news station in which one of the presenters is Betty Brant, who later becomes the receptionist and a reporter for the Daily Bugle, the newspaper company Peter becomes a photographer for. This could be seen as both a positive and a negative for the film as if you are not a Marvel fan these could confuse you. Either way, you could watch 'Spiderman Homecoming' many times and still not pick up on all of the references.
The film's themes shine out through its use of dualism, for example, the juxtaposition between the rich and the poor. This is illustrated in many ways. One way is through the contrast of the symbols of New York City, home to the rich and powerful like Tony Stark, and Queens, home to people who are feeling the consequences of living in a world of heroes, like our villain, Vulture. The Vulture tells Peter in the final battle of the movie that 'the rich and powerful, like Stark, they don't care about us,' highlighting the divide that is growing ever more present each day. We also see MJ commenting that the Washington monument was built by slaves. We see a clear power divide in America throughout the movie and for all of the characters. You could even break it down to the school itself, Peter lives in a small flat with his Aunt, whereas Lis lives in a big house capable of throwing a house party for her whole school year.
This is ironic as perhaps the most identical pair in the movie are The Vulture and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). Both characters are father figures in the story but both have very different tactics. Tony acts as a father figure for Peter, however, for most of the film we see him take things away as Peter becomes more rebellious. The Vulture, who is Liz's father, is constantly giving her things acquired from his crimes. This fathering tactic is ultimately what separates two very similar characters. They both fly around in a super suit, they both have a child figure in this movie and they both made their fortune selling arms.
The Vulture's motivation stems from him losing his job in cleaning up after the disaster in New York that took place in the first Avengers Movie. An unknown company takes over but The Vulture and his friends steal some of the alien technology in order to start a business selling high tech arms to criminals. It was great to see other villains as well as The Vulture in this movie, such as The Shocker and The Tinkerer, all recurring Spiderman villains. To me the antagonists were the highlight of this film as with previous solo superhero movies, Marvel has not had much success in this area.
Perhaps the greatest thing about The Vulture was that he was relatable. At the start of the movie, he is just trying to 'clean up the city' a lot like Spiderman is, but he is stopped by people who are 'in charge'. He is just trying to do what is best for his family and because he is so much like Stark, it is easy to understand his motivation which is crucial to creating a great villain.
The film did a great job of isolating it's setting to Queens. The only time to film leaves this setting for a longer period of time is midway through the film when Peter goes on a trip with his class mates to Washington DC. In past Spiderman films, we have seen Spidey become the hero of New York, with epic shots and fight scenes in famous land marks like Times Square and The Empire State Building. This is because, as I have previously mentioned, New York already has its heroes in the Avengers, What the MCU needs is someone who will 'stand up for the little guy', which is what Spiderman stands for.
This is at its core a very American Ideology. Peter Parker symbolises America in many ways which were excellently conveyed through this film. America as a country can be seen as a very young nation who has had power thrust upon it, much like Peter is a young teen, fifteen in Homecoming. He receives a great amount of power firstly from the spider that gave him his wall crawling powers and secondly through Tony Stark when he gives him his suit.
We see Spiderman wrestle with this power all the way through this movie. At first Tony limits his powers with a 'parental lock' on the suit. This reflects the idea that America is still under the influence of other superpowers. Spidey, however, removes the lock and thus becomes independent in his own right. We see him arguing with Karen who wants to kill Spidey's targets. His struggle is internal as he has to decide whether or not he uses his powers as judgement on others.
This excess of power, however, comes at a cost in that it puts civilians in danger, as symbolised by Spidey trying to stop Vulture on the boat and thus causing it to split in half and sink. Tony tells Peter that 'if [he's] nothing without the suit then [he] shouldn't have, clearly commenting on America's need for weaponry and power and what would appear to be a lack of values.
That being said there were inconsistencies in the suit which distracted from the film. For example, sometimes Peter had to shout what kind of web he wanted, for example, web grenades but sometimes he didn't. I found this distracting from the fight scenes as the suits consistently broke their own rules
As far as casting goes, there is not much else to say. Obviously, Michael Keaton is a well-established actor who is great in all of the roles he plays. I have already mentioned the supporting characters, but they were more of a disappointment because of writing rather than the people playing them. Tom Holland made an amazing Spiderman and was the perfect mix of Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire. He was certainly the most believable Spiderman today acting in his movie like we would act if we were given his super powers. My only criticism would be that he did not talk as much during fights as Spiderman should. This was something that Garfield really got right, as seen in 'The Amazing Spiderman Two' when he is constantly talking and even whistling whilst fighting the Rhino at the start of the movie.
The first after credits scene confused me slightly as it was very vague. I'm guessing that the man we saw talking to Keaton's character is Scorpion, another classic Spidey villain and that his friends on the outside are Oscorp. The second after credits scene was Captain America talking to us about patience, an older joke in the movie. This was fun even if I have already said they could have cut him out of the movie.
Overall I thought 'Spiderman Homecoming' was a great film that felt like an origin story without retelling us Spiderman's origin story. The characters were funny and the villains were intimidating and Tom Holland as Peter Parker made Spiderman feel very real. Although maybe not as good as the original Toby Maguire movie, 'Spiderman Homecoming' is a great addition to the MCU roster and I am excited to see Tom Holland reprise the role in coming years.
Thank you for reading this far. If you liked this review then make sure you share it on social media and let me know down below. Also feel free to comment any suggestions on things I should review next. Next week may be a little different as it is my birthday next Thursday. There will still be a review up but I cannot guarantee it will be on the 27th.
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