The funny thing about Spider-Man in film so far, is despite five films and two very different takes on him, we’ve not actually had a definitive take on the character. Maguire was a good Parker, but not the most comfortable wise cracking Spider-Man, Garfield a more naturally quippy Spidey, but was barely recognisable as Parker. Enter Tom Holland, a young, baby-faced actor with such a natural, infectious likeability he was able to be the best part of a billion dollar film featuring heroes we’d had a dozen films to know and love.
Ill skip right to it, this is the definitive Spider-Man. He is simultaneously a better, more charismatic but still vulnerable Parker, and a less over the top, jokey Spidey, but still full of humour and fun. As much as I love the Raimi films, you never bought that Peter was a kid in school, it always felt to me they were trying to touch on it, and then go past that time in his life, whereas in HOMECOMING its built into the very foundations of the story and the character, and because of that (and again, just how god damn great Holland is) it just works. Its a Spider-Man film! He has to deal with school, with the big dance, being pushed around occasionally, there’s a quiz tournament, a party at the girl he has a crush on’s house, oh and stopping a network of criminals that aren’t high profile enough to trouble Stark and the Avengers. Its just… Spider-Man.
What the film does so well is actually explore this new Peter Parker, and bring in some fresh bits on what being Spidey would be like, we get to see all his troubles, both those at school, but also mastering his powers. He isn’t the all-action hero of the previous films, swinging from skyscrapers with effortless grace, he isn’t taking out half a dozen goons without a scratch, hes clumsy, he makes mistakes, he tries and he tries but sometimes it doesn’t work. Hes a kid. He makes kid decisions, kid mistakes, hes smart, but nowhere near the finished article and when he overreaches there are consequences.
One of my only issues, and it is small because HOMECOMING is a massively enjoyable film and after a few watches will probably settle as my second favourite Spider-Man film, just behind 2004’s SPIDER-MAN 2, but at times it lacks that extra added weight those first two Raimi films had. It feels very light at times, which works in its favour for the high-school parts, and while they do get close with a very good scene in the 3rd act, it never feels as consequential, as heavy as those sequences like Norman Osborne’s funeral or Otto Octavius sacrificing himself. Also, and this is even more minor, one or two of the moments are slightly oversold, not in a terrible way, just that the audience was already there, and didn’t need the extra pointer to get it, the main two culprits being from a great bit of humour in the first act, and a more emotional one in the third where at both points it felt like they were nudging you in the arm a little too much.
By and large though, the film is very good. Micheal Keaton is a fantastic villain, we are actually able to see his point of view, even empathise with him, meaning hes probably the best villain since Loki (although I did love Ego from GOTG: VOL 2). The humour in the film is fantastic, it doesn’t beat you over the head with jokes, but there’s a great mixture of visual humour, witty dialogue and enjoyable character moments. Marisa Tomei is a great Aunt May, Peters group of pals are all very good in their roles, his best friend Ned the standout in terms of comedy moments and screen-time, but Liz and Michelle are both excellent, with room to explore further in a sequel. And for all the bluster about this being an Iron Man film, Tony isn’t actually in the film all that much, and when he is its purposeful, rather than a shoehorned in cameo like some had feared.
Speaking of fear, there was a lot of talk about the high tech suit Peter uses, gifted by Tony, which has more gadgets and gizmo’s squeezed into it than even the first few Iron Man suits, this worried me. The thing I love about Spidey is while being a genius, his suit is relatively low-tech. The web shooters and fluid are sophisticated bits of kit, but besides that its basically a bit of red and blue cloth, so going from that to a suit that has head up display, a JARVIS like A.I interface, trackers, tasers, a hundred different web shooter settings and the like, that was a huge worry for me. But you know what, they actually made it work, both in terms of the world around them (of course Tony massively over-engineers a suit for a 15 year old kid), but more than that because what they do with it was actually a lot of fun, and they use it as a key part of Peters journey. I was so ready to hate it, and they won me over, so big props to them.
I’ll have to give it a few re-watches to place it on my top Spider-Man films, but there’s every chance it comes in just below SM2, and I think for many, this could be their outright favourite. Tom Holland is a superstar who delivers the best version of the character in its history, the film is fun, its smart, it is overflowing with heart and features the best running gag in a comic book film to date. Somehow, they’ve made a 3rd iteration of SPIDER-MAN feel fresh and exciting, which is something of a minor miracle.
(As always, and it baffles me people still don’t do this, stay till the very, very end. It’s completely worth your time)
that lego guy 