Here we are, shuffling to theaters to see yet another reincarnation of our favorite web slinging hero. After a power struggle between corporate spearheads Sony and Marvel, the latter has finally adopted the rights to the character and now brings us “Spiderman: Homecoming”.
The character has seen multiple portrayals, both for animated TV series and live-action blockbusters, yet many forget that Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” (2002) starring Tobey Maguire essentially kick started the superhero genre, ushering in the age of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s portrayal worked just fine for what they were, Tom Holland, (in my personal opinion) expertly and definitively plays the character the way it was always meant to be played, and helps make this film not only a successful one, but one that benefits and fits perfectly into the MCU timeline.
Director and Writer Jon Watts was faced with a very difficult problem insofar as how this Spider-Man movie would not only hold up against the Raimi “Spider-Man” trilogy or the pair of “The Amazing Spider-Man” movies, but be better and original. So, the first thing the writers did away with was the origin story. Doing this was an incredibly smart move to make because everyone knows about the radioactive spider and how Peter Parker became Spider-Man, everyone knows about Uncle Ben’s death and how that transpired. And now, thanks to this foreknowledge, we are able to spend more time on this new story.
“Spiderman: Homecoming” presumably takes place a few weeks after the events of “Captain America: Civil War”. Peter Parker, with a new suit courtesy of his newfound mentor Tony Stark, returns to New York and waits for his chance to prove himself as a prospective member of the Avengers. In the meantime, Peter struggles with high school life, Homecoming, love interests, and a new rising villain played by Michael Keaton.
One of the key things that sets this movie apart from its predecessors is that even though Peter Parker has been Spider-Man for a couple of months, he is still learning how to be a superhero, meaning he didn’t seem to develop expert martial art techniques overnight like Maguire and Garfield’s Spider-Man’s seemed to have. Another key element of Holland’s performance is that he approaches the character as a kid, which is what Peter Parker is, a kid who is prone to make naïve and stubborn decisions and make mistakes that take awhile for him to learn from. In short, we see Spider-Man fail more than he succeeds and we immediately view him as a relatable and realistic character. This is what was severely lacking in Maguire and Garfield, both already too old to play a high school Peter Parker. The sense of realism also extends to the high school in which the movie is more or less predominately set. The school is diverse, there are awkward student announcements, and of course the dynamics of high school romantic entanglements.
The film definitely takes a lighter approach to its themes and action sequences and works for the film is trying to accomplish, which is a modernized version of bildungsroman, the coming of age of Peter Parker as Spider-Man, and this goes back to Tom Holland’s performance. Holland offers a sarcastic and agile Spider-Man on one hand and an awkward and completely lovable Peter Parker. Not only that, but we see both characters at very vulnerable positions and see how each react when you quickly realize that Holland, throughout the film, merges the two personas together in realizing that it’s not the million-dollar suit that defines him, but his actions.
The only glaring problem with the film is the somewhat unclear motivations of our villain. This is a consistent problem with MCU films. The Vulture (Michael Keaton), is branding new weapons made from the remnants of the battle for New York that took place in the first Avengers movie in 2012. Even upon a second viewing, I still couldn’t pinpoint what exactly the Vultures motivations were and why he risked so much in this film.
Michael Giacchino made his scoring debut with Marvel in 2016’s “Doctor Strange” and now has brought a new and fresh score to Homecoming. His new fanfare-inspired theme for Spider-Man is among the first cues we hear in the film so it’s firmly cemented in our ears. Giacchino takes advantage of this by bringing back this theme in ways that reflected the stages of Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s characterization. When we see Spider-Man, we get the full phrase; when we see Peter Parker, Giacchino only utilizes the chords of the theme so it's present but not as in-your-face. It’s only until the end of the movie is the full-phrased theme connected to both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. The soundtrack is available for purchase on iTunes and Google Play.
In more ways than one, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” finally did the character of both Peter Parker and Spider-Man justice. The film truly is a Homecoming for the character and is slated to hit theaters again with a sequel on July 5th, 2019.
