16 – Spider-Man Homecoming
So Spider-Man finally gets his own movie. Finally. Spider-Man has always been a fan favorite, and I think Tom Holland is an incredible version of the character. Not only is he more age-appropriate than earlier versions like Toby Maguire or Andrew Garfield, but he does a great job as the unmasked hero, Peter Parker. He has an air of innocence and teenage realism that the other actors often missed. And of course, it’s always special when Robert Downey Jr. shows up as Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man.
And of course, we have to mention the awesome villain, Adrian Toomes, the Vulture, expertly played by Michael Keaton. Keaton is one of those actors who has been around for a long time, and pretty much everything he does is good. He seems to throw himself into his roles and this is no exception. And we are used to seeing him as the hero, Beetlejuice notwithstanding. But here, he plays the bad guy, and it is so good! He is even frightening in the way he treats Parker, once he makes the connection to Spider-Man.
The visual effects for this movie were, as you might expect from an MCU movie, were incredible. All you have to see is the whole Staten Island Ferry scene to know that. When the Ferry gets cut in half, length-wise, and Both Spider-Man and Iron-Man pull it back together, it was so cool to watch on the screen. It was epic, and this is only the first of the MCU Spider-Man films! The action was exciting, and the story was fantastic. Add to that the perfect cast and their phenomenal acting, and you have yourself a great movie!
But there was so much more to it than even that. In Captain America: Civil War, we got a great introduction to the character within the franchise. We all loved him there, but here they expanded on the character. We didn’t need to see the origin story again, it’s been done before, more than once. We all know what happened. Here, the filmmakers concentrated on what it means for a teenager to deal with being a high-school student and a superhero at the same time. Even Parker’s approach to being a crime-fighting hero came from a realistically immature perspective, which was smart. Even the emotional angle of Parker overcoming his teenage insecurities to find his strength and beat the bad guy was great to watch in the exciting climax.
But more than that, the movie firmly established Spider-Man in the overall tapestry of the MCU, cementing his place, his role. They tied things into the bigger picture with how the Vulture acquired the technology to become a super-villain. It was the alien Chitauri tech recovered from the Battle of New York in the first Avengers film. And they showed pieces of the Airport battle from Civil War from Parker’s perspective. Such a cleverly-written script!
I also really liked how the narrative stepped back and changed the role of Mary Jane into the new character of Michelle, who is called MJ. She payed homage to Mary Jane, but was a completely different character. Zendaya was great. She was not even portrayed as Peter’s love interest, though it did leave it open to that potential in the future. And I can’t forget another made-up character, Ned, Spider-Man’s funny side-kick, played by Jacob Batalon. He was funny, but not stupid. Again, he was a believable teenager, which was the point. And there were a few other smaller parts that were important to the story, like Liz, Parker’s actual love interest, who just happened to be Toome’s daughter, played by Laura Harrier. We also had Jon Favreau, coming back as Happy Hogan, and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Donald Glover, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Michael Chernus, Martin Starr, and Tyne Daly coming in to fill out the cast. It was a really good and smart venture into the character of Spider-Man, in his first solo film in the official MCU franchise.
Top 10 Favorite Parts
- A Film by Peter Parker – The events of Civil War from a different perspective.
- Spider-Man stops the ATM robbery
- Peter leaves the party to chase down the first Shocker
- Toomes kills the first Shocker by accident
- Peter is trapped in the Damage Control Deep Storage Vault and his conversation with the suit lady.
- Spider-Man rescues the students from the Washingtonn Monument elevator.
- The Staten Island Ferry scene and Stark’s talk with Peter afterword. “If you’re nothing without this suit, then you shouldn’t have it.”
- Toomes threatens Peter in the car before the Homecoming Dance. Keaton was so scary in that scene!
- Peter finds the strength to get himself out from under the collapsed building.
- The climactic battle between Spider-Man and the Vulture on the outside of a flying airplane!