Review of Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) by Tanner R — 12 Dec 2017

If you were going into Spider-Man Homecoming thinking it would be another re-hash of the old Tobey Maguire story or if you thought it was just a new spin on what they did with Andrew Garfield then you will be disappointed. This new take on the Spider-Man story done with what the Marvel machine does best, is a fresh new fun spin on the timeless tale that is Spider-Man. The Marvel movie making machine added a nostalgia feel that brings you back to the days when you would watch the spider man cartoons on TV in the afternoon after school or for those a bit older, reading the comics after school in the afternoon.

What Spider-Man Homecoming's director Jon Watts and all the writers of the film do well is the character development of Peter parker aka Spider-Man played by Tom Holland. This moves take on Spider-Man is one who is not good at being Spiderman yet. He has to learn to become a superhero throughout the movie but it is very funny because he keeps messing up. When he does save the day in this movie it's not without its consequences or collateral damage. Tom Holland was the best choice for the part there could have been. He has the age look of a young teen and the personality to crack jokes at the bad guys in the middle of a fight. All in all if you were expecting a dark and gritty movie or another one of those re done over and over again origin stories, you will be pleasantly surprised that his is neither of those.

The movie starts out with Michel Keaton working on clean up from the events of the first Avengers. When the government comes in and tells them that they cannot be doing that anymore and this prompts him and his workers to go into the life of crime. Tom Holland's peter parker starts by "vlogging" what his side of the story was from the movie Civil War. This sets the tone for us to see how each of these characters will change throughout the movie.

After we are introduced to peter parker's aunt may, it is very apparent that peter is looking to fill a void in his family dynamic by the way they interact with each other and his aunt trying to fill both parental rolls for him. With his constant drive to impress Tony (Robert Downy jr.), he is constantly trying to get into contact with Happy (Jon Favreau) Tony's assistant to find out when the next mission is. On the other side of the story we are following we see Michael Keaton's "vulture" character already deep in the life of crime, steeling supplies for him and his crew to create and sell weapons.

When peter and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) try to use Spider-Man to make them seem cool at the high school party of the girl they both have a crush on Liz (Laura Harrier). During the party peter must leave when he has a run in with The Vulture and his henchmen. When inevitably this goes bad and Ironman must come and same peter. Tony tells him to stay away from the situation but again this only leaves peter more wanting to win over the approval of Tony who he considers his father figure.

One mess up after another leads to Tony taking away Peters Spider-Man suit. Peter Is very upset but is comforted when his crush lets him know that she wants him to take her to homecoming. After the classical getting ready montage, and the walk to house door of Liz, the door is answered by none other than Adrian Toomes aka The Vulture (Michael Keaton). Peter is visibly shook when he realizes that Liz's dad is the person who he has been after this whole time. When Toomes also makes the connection of peter and Spider-Man, he threatens him to stay away or he will hurt the ones he loves like his aunt or his friends.

When he confronts the Vulture he must make the choice wither he should save the Vulture or leave. I won't spoil the entire thing but during this end fight scene you can truly see the change the movie has been setting up for Peter the entire time. The change we see in Peter from a kid who only cares about escaping his normal everyday life to someone who will do anything to defend it.

The character development that this movie brings not only to its stars like Michael Keaton's "vulture" and tom Hollands Peter Parker/Spider-Man but to its side characters like Jacob Batalon's "Ned" or Laura Harrier's "Liz" was astounding. They all had their own arcs in the movie bringing them to more developed characters than just people who are there to make the main actors shine or exposition. The movie as a whole brings the view back to high school along with peter, going through high school problems but with the backdrop and pressure that comes from wanting to help people. This combined with the humor and the relationship building between characters, makes it a great movie.