Spider-Man: Homecoming Review

    If there's one franchise that Hollywood loves to reboot it's Spider-Man. He's arguably the most iconic superhero on Marvel's roster but we have not really had a great Spidey move since 2004 with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. Although Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man films had good qualities, it overall did not land with audiences. Fortunately for movie and comic book fans, Sony and Marvel Studios struck up a deal that would have the young, web slinger officially become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We got a glimpse of Tom Holland's interpretation in Captain America: Civil War but it was only a short sample of the character. Although this is the third reboot in recent memory for the beloved web crawler, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a wonderful addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and also greatly shines as a coming of age film.

     Spider-Man: Homecoming picks up almost immediately after the events of Captain America: Civil War. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) must learn to juggle the everyday obstacles of not only fighting crime in New York City as Spider-Man but also the struggles that come while trying to get through high school.
     Spider-Man is my favorite superhero from Marvel. What makes the character so likable is how relatable he is. All of us were in high school at one time and experienced the awkward situations that come with it. Marvel discussed prior to release of this movie that they want to combine a John Hughes feel with a superhero movie and they did just that. The dynamic between Parker and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) is incredibly humorous. The diversity in this movie is also a big aspect that stand outs that other movies down the road could benefit from.

     One of the weaker points in most Marvel movies is the villain. Besides Loki, we have not really got a good antagonist in the MCU. Luckily, they went out and got Michael Keaton to play Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and he knocks it out of the park. Every time he's on screen he is incredibly menacing but you understand where his character is coming from. He's a blue collar worker that is down on his luck because of the New York City attacks in the first Avengers movie. Him and Holland seem to work off each other very well.
     Holland is the stand out of this movie. For most people Tobey MacGuire is their favorite Peter Parker while Andrew Garfield was the better Spider-Man. Holland has them both beat in my opinion. Marvel going after a younger actor to play the title character was a wise decision and having the movie primarily take place in high school was a splendid idea. Audiences will be able to tell how much fun Holland is having as the character.
     This is not like the previous five Spider-Man movies. Although there's a fair amount action, the movie does not heavily rely on action set pieces. There are some really well done sequences but it's not quite the Raimi movies and that's where I think audiences will be let down.
     Overall Spider-Man: Homecoming is wonderful addition to the MCU and a fresh take on the character. It is a movie that benefits from being seen in theaters because the few action pieces it has are very well done. Audiences will have a lot of fun with this movie!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10