Is Spider-Man: Homecoming good?
It’s fine.
Wow, just fine?
Just fine. It’s better than the two Amazing Spider-Man movies (because everything is better than the Amazing Spider-Man movies – yikes!) but as the broader sweep of the superhero genre goes it’s ultimately a small, pretty shallow, ultimately forgettable film without much in the way of substance or emotional investment – which it feels like it was “meant” to have but just… doesn’t.
How does it compare to the rest of Marvel Cinematic Universe?
It’s probably the most disposable-feeling, least-consequential MCU installment since Thor: The Dark World. That’s not to say it’s of the same quality (or lack thereof) as that film, but in terms of A.) How much it feels like it “matters” in the grand Marvel meta-narrative and B.) The degree to which you should feel obligated to rush out and see it right away… yeah, it’s about right there. In that respect I guess it’s similar to Ant-Man,though I found the human drama in Ant-Man much, much more involving than this.
Okay, what’s the actual storyline?
Our story picks up a few months after Captain America: Civil War, with Peter Parker having a difficult time re-adjusting himself to teenage life. He’s now overly pre-occupied with when he’ll get to go on Big Boy superhero missions again and pestering Tony Stark about how he might become a full-fledged member of The Avengers. This ends up causing him trouble within his already difficult high-school social life. He keeps blowing off his friends, schoolwork and potential romantic opportunities so he can pester Stark and Happy Hogan about his next assignment. But this also leads him to take stupid, dangerous risks in his superhero outings that might end up putting an end to his career just as it’s taking off.
It sounds like there’s a cheeky-metaphor worked in there…
Yup. Marvel actually made Sony release a whole movie about the hero of their “their” superhero franchise begging Robert Downey Jr. to please, pretty-please, let him be in more of the Avengers movies.
That’s almost kind of mean – oh! Speaking of which, who are the villains?
Michael Keaton is the main antagonist, Adrian Toomes aka “The Vulture.” Here he’s reimagined as the leader of a group of disenfranchised construction workers who feel they got screwed out of the lucrative “cleaning-up-New-York-after-The-Avengers” contract when Tony Stark decided to handle it himself through the Damage Control initiative. There’s also about 4-5 other Spider-Man villains (and/or references to them) among his crew and colleagues, but that would be spoiling.
How is Michael Keaton?
It’s Michael Keaton, so he turns in a solid, natural-feeling performance despite pretty thin material. As is typically the case with the first installment Marvel films, the bad guys really aren’t the focus here, though Vulture gets more “depth” than most especially toward the end. They’re leaning really hard on the idea that these are pissed-off working-class nemeses for a similarly “underdog hero,” which is a smart throwback to the original comics where Electro was just an electrician and The Scorpion started out as a janitor.
How did the controversial “diversity push” with the supporting cast pan out?
Pretty well! The high-school stuff is consistently the better parts of the film, while the action is forgettable and there’s no real “iconic” dramatic spectacle like the train fight in Spider-Man 2 or the upside-down kiss from the first movie. What’s especially nifty about the “reimagined” characters is that the film treats it all completely unremarkable. Peter is really the only white kid in his immediate circle of friends, his main crush is Black, his best friend is Asian, his NYC surroundings are similarly cosmopolitan and none of it is deemed worth remarking upon – even in at least one instance where it might have factored into why a certain reveal is a surprise.
How is Marissa Tomei?
Delightful, but surprisingly underused. I’m pretty sure the same basic “cool aunt” character from Big Hero 6 had the same amount of screen time. There’s a weird running gag where everyone in New York keeps bringing up how hot she is – as though they, too, somehow know that Aunt May is usually a little old lady.
Does Iron Man dominate the movie?
Not really. His presence makes sense, and whether your tired of Robert Downey Jr or not he showed up to play here – it’s not just a “phoned in” cameo.
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