When taking a look at "Homecoming," you have to also take a look at the silver screen history of Marvel’s wall-crawler. His most famous villains and challenges have been explored before, so what does Homecoming do to make itself seem new and worth seeing? Well, it approaches those ideas with a kind of focus and perspective that hasn’t been seen in a Spider-Man film yet.
Peter Parker is a kid. Yes, he’s always been a younger hero compared to the rest of the MCU, but this Spider-Man is literally a kid. He can’t drive, still goes to High School, and has a curfew. This is, again, nothing new for Peter, as the idea of a kid superhero was explored in both previous incarnations of the arach-kid.
However, "Homecoming" smartly realizes that because he is a kid, a Spider-Man film should be about High School and being a kid first and foremost. Only after establishing this should the hero side of the story come in to supplement it. Homecoming takes this route and pulls it off gloriously; thanks to great dialogue and characters.
It feels like what a John Hughes superhero film would be. The interactions between Peter and his friends are very genuine and relatable. Scenes set inside classrooms and on school trips feel like they are in a teenage comedy, not a superhero movie. This kind of perspective helps Homecoming feel very fresh.
It also dives deeper into the two sides of Peter’s life than previous films. There are moments when the temptation is high for Peter to either follow his spider-sense or his teenage heart. Both have benefits and detractions, leading to a tightly knit plot that hardly feels predictable. Do we, the audience, root for Peter to save the day or stay in class?
Great character work from Tom Holland also makes it difficult to always root for Peter. Sometimes he is kind of an ass, leading to a great dynamic shift throughout the film. The rest of the cast is also excellent. Marissa Tomei, Jon Favreau, and Robert Downey Jr. aren’t on screen as much as you’d think, but that isn’t a bad thing.
Downey Jr. pulls real emotion here, and it shows in scenes between Peter and Tony. Peter’s friends are also extremely charming. Special praise goes to Jacob Batalon as Peter’s friend Ned and Michael Keaton, who pulls a sympathetic and emotionally charged performance as Adrian Toomes, successfully breaking the Marvel bad villain streak.
Action wise, it isn’t the biggest of the MCU, but it doesn’t need to be. This is a smaller story, about a smaller superhero. Like "Ant-Man" before it, there aren’t any huge ‘Infinity Stone’ worthy moments, because that’s not what the character calls for. Instead, Peter whips around Queens, stopping bank robberies and bike thieves, letting the audience take in some great cinematography and visuals.
Pacing is also a huge strong suit. Not once does it feel like we’re getting too much Peter or too much Spider-Man. Not only is it well paced, but Homecoming is an origin story, without the origin. Instead of retreading old ground to tell how Peter got his powers, it smartly sticks to how he learned to be the Spider-Man that he truly can be.
This prevents the audience from feeling like we’ve seen all of this before and alleviates the possible sense of fatigue. Couple that with a great, big band inspired score from Michael Giacchino, and you have the makings of the best "Spider-Man" film to date.
"Spider-Man Homecoming" manages to feel like a breath of fresh air, due to a tight focus, a well written plot with great dialogue, detailed small scale action, a great musical score, and inspired performances from the entire cast. Marvel understands that to continue pushing its series forward, they have to make a film that’s more than just a superhero film with some different genres thrown in. They have to treat it like a new genre first, before they treat it like a superhero film. And that’s where “Homecoming” succeeds the most. 5/5
Tom Holland stars as Spider-Man in Columbia Pictures' SPIDER-MAN™: HOMECOMING.
