Spider-Man: Homecoming

17. Spider-Man: Homecoming

For a film franchise to be rebooted for a second time in less than five years, something must not be working right? When “Spider-Man 3” underperformed, and its director and star walked due to creative differences, the “first” reboot came along in 2012. A new star, director and visual style showed there was still some string left in the web. Enough to have two instalments, but then when things stalled again after “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”, the geniuses at Marvel saw their chance. 

As Spider-Man had been Sony studio’s hottest property for a decade, they weren’t keen to let him go, as they had plans for a Sinister Six movie featuring the continuation of Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man. But nothing could stop Marvel, and as their expansion plans continued, Spider-Man was the last piece of the Avengers puzzle. 

In 2017, with another new star, new director and a very new style, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” hit the screens. But as you will know if you’ve seen “Captain America: Civil War” (or you haven’t but read my review) you saw Spider-Man make his first appearance there. In his first solo outing since joining Marvel’s Universe, Peter Parker is just your friendly, neighbourhood Spider-Man, helping old lady’s cross the road and saving cats from trees. But the backstory is skipped here, so you won’t see another version of he radioactive spider biting Peter, or the death of Uncle Pen. Rather, Aunt Mae is the only one on the scene (and much younger) and by the start of this film, Peter has already had his powers for about six months. 

Skipping the backstory you know so well and have seen twice before, Homecoming gets straight into proceedings, with Peter Parker attending school, and trying to prove himself as a hero. Since helping out Iron Man in Germany during the Avenger-hero smackdown, Peter’s had a taste for the super-life and wants more of the action. But Tony Stark is reluctant to let him out of the cage too much and restricts his enhanced Spider-suit to do just a few basic tricks.

But after Spidey gets wind of a local villain selling super-charged weapons to crooks, Peter feels this is his chance to stop the bad guys and finally get accepted as an Avenger. But the problem is, this is a new Spiderman, and much younger than the reincarnations you’ve seen before – he’s naïve, over-optimistic and extremely ambitious as to what he can do or is allowed to do. This eagerness gets Spidey into some tight spots with the local crooks, and he has to be helped out – and lectured – by Iron Man on a few occasions. 

Aside from the familiar plot of the hero learning how to control his powers, overcome his fears and fight the bad guys, Spider-Man: Homecoming also has a fun story at its core. It has a younger cast, with a more youth-focused plot, centring most of its scenes at the high school or a party. Young actor Tom Holland fills the suit well and balances the dual role of the awkward adolescent and daring daredevil. The villain, Adrien Tooms / The Vulcher, is also a more three-dimensional and believable villain than we’ve seen in a Spider-Man film before and is played well by Michael Keaton. Also great to see him back in a big film after his career resurgence in “Birdman”. In fact, the whole cast is well picked, playing their respective characters perfectly, with the highlight being newcomer Jacob Batalon, who plays Peter’s nerdy, over-supportive friend Ned. 

And how does this new Spider-Man tie in to the world of the Avengers? Given Tony Stark approached him to join the team, and also gave him an awesome suit, he feels a responsibility to keep the young tyke on a leash. As Stark can’t always be there, he assigns his long-time assistant Happy to keep an eye on the kid. But Peter Parker, being a teenager at the end of the day, doesn’t like to be followed, so breaks a few rules to go after the bad guys on his own. Iron Man steps in at just the right time to help him out and impart some wisdom on the power and responsibility of being a hero. Yeah, yeah, sounds like “With great power, comes great responsibility” as so famously coined in the original Spider-Man, but you won’t hear that overused line here. This is a different looking, and different feeling Spider-Man, that has begun as a side character finding his place in an Avengers-world, but also shows some skills and smarts to step away from the team and be his own hero. 

With Spider-Man now being part of the Marvel Universe, the story in “Homecoming is well thought out, with plenty of cleaver tie-ins to Civil War, and other Avengers characters who get a mention. Even if this new Spider-Man hasn’t formally joined the ranks of the Avengers yet (that will happen in Infinity War), he is still very much a kid with his feet on the ground, and part of the community of ordinary people who are no strangers to heroes. In fact, the people of the Marvel world are kind of desensitised to the existence of heroes as seen early in the film when Spider-Man is trying to help local citizens, they aren’t too impressed. To them, he just looks like a kid in a suit trying to be a hero. This plot device is part of the films humour, and a central component of its appeal. It’s a fully self-aware film, that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but also doesn’t underplay itself as not important enough in the world of heroes. 

This is Spider-Man after all; one of the most popular super heroes of all, and given he’s had another successful screen rendition for the third time in fifteen years, is testament to the characters staying power. It will be great to see him strut more of his stuff in “Avengers: Infinity Way” and surely his own sequels to come along in the future. I will always be a huge fan of the Tobey Maguire-era Spider-Man films, and thought Andrew Garfield was okay, but Tom Holland is the new guy, and with some well-refined acting skills already for a fairly young guy, I’m looking forward to what he can do with the character.  

Post Credit scenes – Spider-Man: Homecoming was a fun movie, and its second post-credit scene is purely that. But it’s first, is a nice nod to the villain of the piece. Adrian Tooms, aka The Vulcher, has been locked up in jail. Upon arriving, he is approached by an inmate who heard a rumour Tooms knows who Spider-Man is. Tooms, who does know the true identity of the web slinger, says he doesn’t, which is a reflection of his well-drawn character. Was he denying the knowledge purely to have some pull in prison, or did he feel a loyalty to Spider-Man’s safety, for saving his daughter, and his own life? The scene is enough to tease that this villain may return. And the second post-credit scene, which you will need to hang around for right until the very end of the credits, shows Captain America walking into the screen in the same fashion as he did in the film (appearing in several educational videos), giving a quick speech about patience and waiting… which sometimes doesn’t pay off… kind of like waiting for this post-credit scene. It’s smart, and funny – like the film itself.  

 

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