Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Release Date: 07 July, 2017


What's It About: Peter Parker balances his school life along with waiting for a chance to prove himself as an Avenger using a suit he was gifted by Tony Stark.


The Good: The grounding of the story's elements really helps it to fit into a real-world scenario. Both Peter and Toomes are both enhanced by technology and are thus just normal people. Peter spends most of his time at school doing work and practicing for the academic decathlon. Particularly well performed was Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes/Vulture, who salvages Chitauri technology and sells it on the black market. He's a morally ambiguous character who isn't distinctly 'villainous', and this adds another dimension to complicate Peter's judgment process. There's threads of connection to the larger shared MCU, including cameos from Tony Stark and Happy Hogan, and even a visit to the Avengers HQ.


The Bad: This isn't so much an origin story as it is a coming of age of a teenager. There are no genetically-engineered super spiders, no crazy superpowered villains and no guilt-ridden anguish for murdered family members. We've seen that. Twice now, and Marvel knows this. That said, all that is part of Spidey's origin, so if you were hoping for a shiny MCU version of the story, you're straight out of luck. This is more a teen drama than a superhero film.


Best Performance: Zendaya as Michelle "MJ" Jones. Jones is definitely the standout character, who plays a somewhat anti-social and eccentric girl who participates in the same extracirricular activities as Peter and who also voluntarily sits in detention. She dresses quite tomboyish and has neither particularly masculine or feminine behaviors, and sort of just seems to be interested in doing her own thing. I never knew Zendaya for her acting skills (mostly her Disney and music stuff), so I was a bit impressed that she made it into a large feature film like this one.


Should I Watch It: This is the Spider-Man we wanted. Tom Holland is the best Peter Parker so far, who keeps his boyishness and dials back hard on the science to make it much more relatable. If anything, it's a story of him wanting to fit in with his peers, with the girl he likes, and with the Avengers, but over the course of the film he learns the responsibilties that one must uphold in order to keep those positions earned.


Post-Credits Scene: Mid-credits only


Similar Films: The previous Spiderman films, the rest of the MCU


Trailer: