Review of Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) by Anz F — 10 Aug 2017

Fair Warning: there will be small spoilers in this review that identify scenes and the actions of Spiderman.

Ultimately, Spiderman: Homecoming is about a young man learning the value of friendship and the value of just being who you are, where you are. Spiderman (played by Tom Holland) is such a well-made movie that expresses how being famous is not what a hero is about. Played by a very young high school boy, Peter Parker begins to navigate and form his identity as a web-slinging super hero. Wanting to be more than just a neighborhood, friendly Spiderman, he seeks bigger tasks and missions that puts him and his friends in danger. Although Spiderman is ditzy and nerdy to the max, he takes on this new role of wanting to do the best for everyone, even his enemy the Vulture (played by Michael Keaton). Spiderman is one of the best Marvel movies produced due to his compassion for other people no matter the background and his willingness to help.

In the beginning of the movie, Peter Parker wants to help out the city with his new and improved suit made by Tony Stark. He sets out to helping around the neighborhood, catching bike thieves, "car thieves," and solving many other minor crimes. After spending over a year waiting for the Avengers to call him and inform him of a new mission, Peter grows impatient and seeks out for trouble. While looking for other ways he can help improve himself and his visibility to the city, and ultimately the Avengers, Spiderman catches robbers who use alien-made weapons to steal money from an ATM. Seeking to stop them and gain the Avengers recognition, Spiderman shoots in to the ATM bank to put them to justice; however, Spiderman's plan to take these men out turns on him, for the alien-made machines end up destroying much of the bank and his friend's grocery shop across the street. His desire to help almost cost him his friends, and his cats lives.

As Spiderman continues to find these strange yet dangerous men that have alien-machines, he runs into an even bigger problem: the Vulture, a man with machine wings that give him the ability to fly. Spiderman, tracked by Tony Stark and Happy, figures out a way to bypass the suits system to remove the tracking device and go after the Vulture. On his quest to stop the vulture, Peter Parkers friend, Ned (played by Jacob Batalon), carries around a very dangerous crystal from the alien ship the Avengers defeated in The Avengers. Spiderman, on his quest to defeat the Vulture and figure out his plan, understands the power behind the crystal and sets out to destroy it before it destroys his friends. Spiderman's courage to help his community and the world from evil emphasizes the quality of this movie and how it is not just another action and romance film. Although Peter Parker is a nerd and has a very quirky attitude, he showcases compassion for everyone, even his enemies.

Peter Parker has a mad high school crush on Liz (played by Laura Harrier) and wants to make things right by taking her to their school dance. Getting ready with Aunt May (played by Marisa Tomei), Peter sets off to pick up Liz to head to the dance. Little does he know, her father is the Vulture. His uneasiness allows for Liz's dad to figure out his identity and threaten him with staying away from himself, his work, and making sure his daughter has a good time. This is where we see Spiderman's courage and his ability to leave the girl he likes to save others, an action of putting others before yourself.

In comparison to the original Tobey Maguire Spiderman and the recent The Amazing Spiderman played by Andrew Garfield, Spiderman: Homecoming hit off with a home run with Marvel fans and the films comedy. Although Tobey is the original Spiderman from 2002, his movie is very old fashioned because of the early technology they used in the film. The Amazing Spiderman was a killer movie, mainly because of the mouth-watering actor, but in the second movie, there appeared to be too much going on. Spiderman: Homecoming had a balance of small romance, not as intense as the Tobey Maguire movie, and also a decent amount of action and comedy, similar but not as intense as the Andrew Garfield film.

The actors used in the film also made Spiderman: Homecoming an outstanding movie. Michael Keaton, showcased as the Vulture and enemy to Spiderman, was featured in an earlier film called Birdman, where he was the superhero, and was ironically placed in the Spiderman role as the villain with wings: the Vulture. Even though he steals from the government to build and expand his weapons, he never views himself as the bad guy. For instance: he accidently incinerates a worker of his and expresses that he really didn't mean to. At the end of the movie, Keaton is approached in jail by a guy who wants revenge on Spiderman, but because he wants to abandon his criminal life, he says he doesn't know who that is and walks away.

Spiderman showcases his willingness to serve others, even though recognition from the Avengers was his goal. In the end of the film, he was given a choice to work alongside the Avengers AS an Avenger instead of just a neighborhood Spiderman, but he realized that he doesn't need the recognition and he could do an amazing job continuing to be a friendly-neighborhood Spiderman (although that new Spidey suit was pretty amazing with such a good offer). This movie expressed both action and small minimal romance, but it better highlighted the importance of helping others before yourself. Amazing movie, 11/10, would highly recommend to all. Absolutely loved the enthusiasm and young Spiderman and the young Aunt May-she looked way good! Very hilarious film too. Make sure you stay for the end to capture the importance of Patience from Captain America.