Spider-Man has had a rough cinematic history, as everything
after Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 was
met with mixed reviews. Spider-Man 3 was
considered a cluttered mess of a film; overloaded with various subplots and
villains, notably the “emo Peter” scenes during the film’s second act. The Amazing Spider-Man was far from
“amazing”, as it was merely a modified rehash of Spider-Man’s origin story and
mischaracterized his alter ego of Peter Parker. The second Amazing Spider-Man is considered the worst entry in the character’s
history in film. Including many of the issues carried over from the previous
film (such as the aforementioned mischaracterization of Peter Parker), this
movie suffered from massive issues in pacing and character development. In both
films, Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy had as much emotion as Bella Swan in the Twilight film franchise; and Andrew
Garfield’s Peter Parker lacked the intelligence his character is known for
(even a child would have known rubber does not conduct electricity, you do not
need a YouTube video to figure that out). Thankfully, since Spider-Man became
integrated into the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, the character is being adapted as faithfully to the source as
possible. Matter of fact; one of the praises of Captain America: Civil War was the perfected version of Spidey
portrayed by Tom Holland. (When people say, “third time’s the charm”, they are
not bluffing). Despite having a mere fifteen minutes of screen-time throughout
the entirety of the film, fans (such as myself) were excited for this version
of Peter Parker and could not wait to see his future adventures unfold.
Spider-Man has made a fantastic comeback and an amazing homecoming as he made
his entry into the MCU. Welcome home, web-head; I am overjoyed because my
favorite super-hero is being treated with the utmost amount of care and respect
he deserves.
To start
this critique, the movie is thankfully not an “origin story”; at least not in
the traditional definition of the term. Nobody wants to see Peter Parker
getting bit by a radioactive spider and Uncle Ben’s murder for a third time.
Thankfully, this movie picks up with Peter already aware of his spider powers and
it focuses on him learning what it truly means to be a hero; emphasizing Uncle
Ben’s famous quote “with great power, comes great responsibility” and using
said quote as the film’s theme.
Speaking
of Peter Parker, I am overjoyed that Sony has accurately portrayed the
character in this version. His high intellect is emphasized more than his
predecessors (especially Andrew Garfield’s version), as he is known to heavily
rely on it over the course of this film. On another note, Tom Holland’s version
of the character feels like he leaped right out of the comics; notably the Ultimate Spider-Man series, as Holland
draws inspiration from that universe’s Peter. As for the other side of the
coin, Holland’s Spider-Man is essentially “on point” with what is seen in the
main and Ultimate comics (as the Marvel
Cinematic Universe usually combines elements from both). In this film and Captain America: Civil War, this Spider-Man is a wisecracking, naïve,
lighthearted hero; as opposed to the brooding and overly emotional versions
portrayed by Garfield and McGuire. While I rank McGuire’s version higher on the
list (mostly for nostalgic purposes); I believe Tom Holland is truly “the
Ultimate Spider-Man” and blows his predecessors out of the water. Thankfully,
the antagonist of this film is also a significant improvement over his
predecessors; he is also a villain that has never been seen in cinematic form.
Using
a Spider-Man villain that has never
been used in cinema is a massive advantage this film has over the previous
ones. Since there is only one interpretation, the filmmakers are given a
massive amount of creative freedom as they are essentially creating a character
from scratch. While I do not know about Adrian Toomes aka The Vulture as much
as I do about Green Goblin and Doc Ock, but I was impressed with his cinematic
debut in Homecoming. From what I do
know about The Vulture, it seems this version takes heavy inspiration from his Ultimate version (despite bearing the
name of his mainstream universe counterpart), similar to our protagonist. His
character arc seems similar to the nameless man who would later become Joker,
Deadshot, and Scott Lang’s version of Ant-Man; a man so desperate to support
his family, he turns to criminal activity for survival. Toomes is not inherently
evil; he simply wants the happiness and well-being of his loved ones,
especially his young daughter. Michael Keaton was an excellent choice to
portray the character, not because of his previous superhero experience, but
for the wide range of emotions he can portray and how realistically he can
portray a character. I enjoyed his role as Batman and Ray Kroc in The Founder (the latter I am hoping to
review someday). Back to Keaton’s character; he has no desire to take down
Spider-Man (nor does he want to), he merely sees him as a nuisance.
The
supporting cast of the film is as brilliant as the main members of the cast! To
start, while Marissa Tomei nailed the role of Peter’s Aunt May, I felt she was
too young for the character. Aunt May is supposed to be an elderly woman, and I
do not understand Marvel and Sony’s decision to make her younger. I believe
Tomei shared this sentiment as well; as she opted to make her character look
the age she is supposed to be. (Unfortunately, Marvel did not follow through
with this idea) As a result, Tomei’s version of the character is unfortunately
the butt of a “hot aunt” running gag. I did enjoy the aspect of her character’s
personality being similar to her Ultimate
Universe counterpart, as she is (for
the most part) against Spider-Man and Tony Stark. She believes Spidey to be a
menace to society, and claims Stark is nothing more than a womanizer (I
completely agree with you, May. I am not a fan of Tony Stark, either). Stark is
essentially unchanged in terms of appearance and personality. However, he feels
obligated to keep Peter out of trouble and be responsible for him. He
encourages the young man to continue being a hero, but he wants Peter to remain
street level for his own safety; this is the reason he does not want the boy to
become an Avenger. He feels Peter is not ready and lacks the experience to face
higher threats such as Loki, Ultron, and Thanos. As much as it makes me want to vomit when I
say this, Stark’s actions towards Peter are completely justified as he is
simply keeping watch on him. When Stark confiscates Peter’s suit, he is doing
so to teach him a lesson. Peter did not need the suit to be a hero; he simply
needed to do what is right to protect all that he cares about. Although it was
not explicitly said, it seems Stark is the one to teach him the iconic lesson “with
great power comes great responsibility” in this film.
In the plot
department, it seems the romantic aspect of this version of Spider-Man is not
as emphasized as it was in the previous incarnations. While Peter does have a
romantic interest for a classmate named Liz, the relationship between the two
is relegated to a minor subplot. Unlike Mary Jane Watson or Gwen Stacy, Liz is a
minor character, and the female lead could arguably go to Peter’s classmate
Michelle (portrayed by Shake it Up’s
Zendaya Coleman) or Aunt May. The movie strictly keeps the focus on the titular
protagonist and his journey, as a Spider-Man
movie is supposed to do. While Peter has a massive amount of character
development in the film, I felt like more time could have been devoted to
developing the supporting cast (aside from Tony Stark and Adrian Toomes). I
desperately wanted to know more about Liz, Michelle, Peter’s friend Ned, Aunt
May, and maybe his late Uncle Ben as well (I just do not want to see his murder
for the third time in a row).
Overall, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a
nearly-perfect film. Currently; it is tied with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 as the best film in the
character’s cinematic history, and it could possibly be the best film to be
made under the Marvel label (I
consider it the best in the MCU so far). It has the potential to beat The Avengers, Deadpool, and Logan for the spot of “Best Marvel Movie”.
The film perfectly portrays the life and daily struggles of Spider-Man, making it feel like a perfect
adaptation and it definitely feels like the movie leaps right out of the comics.
I am not biased when I say this, I am definitely looking forward to seeing more
of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe. Welcome home, Spidey; we are glad to have you back where you
belong!
