Jasonic's Favorites: Spider-Man: Homecoming
Hello, and good evening, Internet!
With the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day happening this week, it is shockingly perfect timing to revisit the Tom Holland series of films from the beginning.
Released in 2017 (9 years ago, can you believe it?!), Spider-Man: Homecoming was the first of the Tom Holland Spider-Man solo films in the MCU. After Marvel and Sony worked out a deal to share the rights of the character, Spidey was allowed to exist for the first time in the MCU starting with a brief, but significant appearance in Captain America: Civil War. With Spidey already proving to be a profitable superhero after his previous five solo films in his own universes, Homecoming released to a high grossing as well as significant critical acclaim. This one has become one of the most beloved MCU films in general with passionate Spidey fans having their fair share of criticism, but loving it no less. People who know me know, no doubt, that Spidey has been and continues to be my favorite superhero and my history with the franchise and specifically this movie proves it; back in 2017, this was the movie I broke a personal record with by watching it on the big screen FOUR different times! I had planned a group outing in the months building up to its release, watched it them, saw it again with my dad immediately the following weekend, then that following Monday, my sister wanted to see it with me having come to adore the MCU and Tom Holland as a rising star. A couple months later, I took other friends to see it at the cheap seats. If that doesn't tell you I'm a crazy Spider-Man fan, I dunno what will! That said, the movie WAS so great I didn't mind getting to see it so much that first year -- plus the Blu-ray release that following Christmas. I have passionately followed just about every Spider-Man project since the years preceding it and have consistently gone back to enjoy some clips outside of watching the whole thing. Even with how much I just gushed about the amount of times I've seen it already, I will ask as I always do: does it truly deserve any amount of criticism that people may give it? To find out, let's make our way to Queens, suit up, and web-swing our way into Spider-Man: Homecoming!
***SPOILERS AHOY***
The main story takes place soon after Captain America: Civil War; first, it opens with a prologue set soon after The Avengers where Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) and his salvage crew are salvaging alien tech from the dead Chitauri around the city before the Department of Damage Control take control of the operations. Learning that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) was the one whose joint effort with the U.S. government allowed the takeover, Toomes is put out of business before his crew decide to keep the tech and use it to sell weapons on the black market. Eight years later, 15-year-old Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is enthusiastic about working with Tony and the other Avengers as he goes about his sophomore year of high school with homecoming on the horizon. After quitting the academic decathlon team to focus on being a friendly neighborhood crime-fighter, Peter eagerly waits in anticipation for Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) to get back to him about a mission only for Peter to encounter a band of thugs robbing a bank using extreme alien tech. When Peter's bodega he visits is destroyed in the commotion, he goes home only to find his best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), in his room, having witnessed him crawl on the ceiling. An over-excited Ned continues to ask Peter questions about his powers and whether or not he should tell everyone his secret. Upon overhearing Peter's crush, Liz (Laura Harrier), admit her crush on Spider-Man, Ned lets slip that Peter "knows" Spdier-Man and they get wrapped up in the idea of "bringing" Spider-Man to Liz's party. Though Peter contemplates what to do, he has his work cut out for him when an explosion appears nearby and Peter investigates the scene; he witnesses a couple of Toomes's crewmen trying to sell weapons to criminal, Aaron Davis (Donald Glover), only for Peter to swoop in and confront the men before they escape. A chase through the neighborhood results in a lotta property and comedic chaos before Toomes himself swoops in dressed in his vulture-like wingsuit to drop Spider-Man in the lake; though Peter nearly drowns, he is saved by Tony's remote-controlled Iron Man suit, Peter warning him about the gang wielding these extreme weapons and asking for help. Tony declines to help because it's beneath the Avengers' paygrade, leaving Peter to figure it out for himself. All the while, Peter recognizes that Tony has placed a lot of restrictions on his newer high-tech suit and does what he can to remove first the "Training-Wheels Protocol" in order to access his suit's full abilities. Hoping to prove himself a worthy Avenger, Peter will go to extreme lengths to take down his enemies and discover what it means to act on his street-level escapade to ensure the neighborhood stays safe.
As a Spider-Man film, this movie has a much lower stakes conflict than most because the writers went out of their way to make it feel fresh and not repeat too much of what went on in previous Spider-Man movies. I, personally, commend it for doing that starting with the fact that it does not retread the origin yet again; instead, Spidey already existed in the MCU prior to Civil War below the radar, but not out of sight from Iron Man. The origin suit is seen briefly, only playing a significant part in the climax and Uncle Ben's fate is only faintly hinted at in a line Peter says about everything Aunt May has already been through recently. The abundance of writers on this movie and director, Jon Watts, clearly knew full well that Spider-Man's origin was common knowledge that it didn't need to be retold out of Peter's expositional answers to Ned's over-enthusiastic series of questions. Another thing it does differently quite well in regards to Ned himself is the fact that the best friend finds out about Peter's identity early on instead of it being a tension point throughout the entire thing; sure, you have people questioning if not distrusting Peter because of his consistent absences, but none of them rehash the same dynamics as James Franco's Harry Osborn in the Raimi films. For that matter, Ned was unintentionally made similar to the Miles Morales best friend from the comics, Ganke Lee, so that Harry himself wasn't remade again. This was a great move on the writers' part as, had a majority of the same characters from previous films been recasted, fans likely would have worried and groaned about the possibility of them reusing the same tired Spider-Man plotlines and tropes. Contrastly, many passionate fans have mentioned complaints about the things this movie does differently that I want to address; for one, the connection and reliance this Spider-Man has toward Tony Stark/Iron Man isn't all bad. It has led to many jokes and nicknames like "Iron Boy Jr." for this Peter Parker and was certainly a point of contension for the worst thing about this movie and its sequel. In hindsight, I disagree; Iron Man never overshadowed Spider-Man's presence for much of the movie and, after the fantastic followups of RDJ's character in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, it gave our beloved Tony Stark a stronger conclusion and lasting legacy for those who know. With us happily living in a reality where Spider-Man joined the MCU, it's hard to unimagine it and try to tailor what could have happened with Iron Man instead had we never gotten and MCU Spider-Man in the first place. Andrew Garfield's planned cinematic Spider-Man universe could have been limping along and we never could have gotten some of the most fantastic MCU films and characters out of Spider-Man. And with that, I'm thankful this reboot exists in the first place.
As per usual in the MCU, the acting is exceptionally great as it is! Tom Holland is a much more chipperly eager version of Spider-Man, having that enthusiastic young boy vibe that many have associated with this version moreso than other versions. As one of the MCU's newest actors at the time, he got his first chance to shine in and out of the suit with one of my favorite moments being when he goes into the New Yorker accent in the Washington Monument elevator as if channeling Andrew Garfield. His standout moment here is the moment he's stuck under rubble toward the climax; being just a kid still in this version, he's screaming so pitifully over being stuck that you can't help, but feel bad for him when he starts whimpering. This being followed by an epic recreation of a moment in the comics he lifted rubble off himself makes Holland an exceptional, if not fantastic Spider-Man for the MCU! In his shadow, Jacob Batalon is a very unique best friend for Peter Parker; he has that uniquely supportive role with an equally eager attitude that Holland has, his enthusiasm about being "the guy in the chair" being one of the highlights of his character. He would go on to be quite a meme with his character still later down the line and be part of the very watchable trio of himself, Holland, and Zendaya. Speaking of Zendaya, this is her MCU debut and she does a great job at being a significant nobody in her role of Michelle Jones; any keen-eyed followers might have suspected she would be the MCU's MJ from the beginning, but I simply thought she was an entirely new character based on the name and looks being unrelated to Mary Jane Watson. Her identity as a person, however, is different enough from Mary Jane that it doesn't feel as much like fanservice as she's the more reserved and brutally honest type that most would assume has no friends -- until she does. Supporting cast members are more in the background for this installment and even in spite of that, Marisa Tomei is a nice eye-catcher literally; her take on Aunt May is young and hip enough that it feels more modern compared to the more familiar and elderly Aunt Mays of the past. Her main shtick is that all the older men like her, which can get repetitive throughout the series, but, in all honesty, it adds some much-needed modernly hip charm to such a classic character. Beyond her, Robert Downey Jr. maintaints presence in the saga as Iron Man here, radiating the charisma that made him and his character so well-liked. Him trying to be mentor and like a father to a budding Peter trying to act and do his own thing showcases the side of RDJ that hadn't been seen yet in the MCU and he gives a great tough-love speech about 2/3 of the way through that really sticks with you. Avid MCU fans know what weight and meaning his line, "If you died... I'd feel like that's on me," means in the long run and the fact that it was another thread of the MCU so masterfully set up here says wonders for how well-written a figure like this Tony Stark was.
As far as villains and other supporting members, we gotta start with Michael Keaton; I didn't see much of Batman '89 prior to this movie, but I knew full well that Batman was the man's breakout superhero role. This Batman "infiltrating" the MCU is a welcome addition as the man is very well-meaning in making a living and supporting his family, however... his villainous ways and conniving attitude make him despicable as the Vulture should be. Tension especially spikes at the reveal that he's Liz's father and the moment he pulls the gun on Peter and starts actively threatening him is the most genuinely villainous I've seen Keaton act in live action. He did a stellar job as the main villain and apparently worked well alongside Tom Holland with a few "I'm Batman" jokes here and there on set. As a Spider-Man fan, I think Vulture and Shocker is a neat villainous duo, but much can't really be said about the actors Logan Marshall-Green and Bookeem Woodbine playing Shockers Jackson Brice and Herman Schultz respectively as they are really just one-note lackeys. Similarly, much can't be said about Laura Harrier as Liz Allan (Liz Toomes if you wanna get technical); she mainly exists in the movie to be "the girl" whom Peter likes from a distance with her subtly showing some interest despite his constant absences. She's nice and friendly, but that doesn't make her as much of an interesting character; the main interesting part is when the villain is solidly revealed to be her dad, a part that created massive tension for me in the theater that I was completely put in Peter's shoes -- shaking, looking pale, unable to look away. While Liz may have been more of a love interest for the sake of there being one, I can at least say some refreshing things about Tony Revolori as "Flash" Thompson; unlike all other depictions that depict this dude as a big white jock bully, this version is Guatamalan and more of a snobby rich kid type of bully who is smart with almost nothing to show for it. His bullying is done more out of jealousy to infuriate Peter -- which he never lets get to him -- rather than the dated cliche trope of a jock beating up a nerd because he's big and they're small. He would go on to be a highlight of the first Tom Holland trilogy with other supporting cast members getting their time to shine later on -- Angourie Rice as Betty Brant for example. With that, I'd say that this movie was full of solid casting decisions that really influenced the Spider-Man side of the MCU and carried over into other stuff.
A lot of this film's action scenes and CGI are a highlight as per Spider-Man tradition; seeing the gag reel on the Blu-ray I own allowed me to see that there was SOME stunt work with Tom and his stunt doubles on wires, but outside of that, most of the action scenes appear to be CGI. I can't say that it's the most stellar action ever in Spider-Man films, but it gets the job done with showing a more inexperienced Spider-Man struggle in different environments than what we're used to. Specifically, the Queen neighborhood swinging scene after the party scene has it where Spidey might low-end swing and zip across buildings only to comedically come to a golf course clearing with nothing to swing from, leaving him to rapidly jog across the field and the sprinklers go off. Once the van chase scene commences, we have Spidey struggling to hold onto a web as it drags him along the road -- him screaming, "Ah, my butt!" -- as he clumsily knocks over a row of trash cans causes some property damage. Upon losing his web's grip on the van, we get him running and swinging across the neighborhood to try and catch up again in an epic nod to the 80s classic of Ferris Bueller's Day Off; the film even goes as far as to show that movie running on a TV at the point where Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller is running through the neighborhood to which Spidey calls out, "Great movie!" With as much comedy and clever nods like this this one scene has, I would argue that it's the best action scene in the movie because we don't get much like it in Spider-Man films in general and it's rather fresh enough for a more modern take on the character. Beyond this scene, there isn't as much action to write home about though I am thoroughly entertained enough from watching the fights in the second half; the Vulture himself, for one, is definitely CGI for a majority of his fights, but you can hardly tell because he looks so well-integrated whether or not Michael Keaton's face is showing. The encounter with Vulture on the Damage Control trailer being hauled is hardly much of a fight, which can be disappointing for some, but the ferry encounter with him and Shocker plus the final fights make up for it enough. The whole Staten Island Ferry scene is debatably a highlight action scene with Spidey maneuvering himself with his webs around the Vulture's attacks before he webs up Vulture's weapon and it ignites, splitting the ferry in half. One of my favorite underrated shots in this scene is the Vulture raising his wingsuit's wing close to the camera to cut through Spider-Man's webs, which shows how much of a menace the Vulture can be even to something as durable as Spider-Man's webbing. The final battle is very much an underrated scene as Spidey and Vulture struggle against each other at a high altitude on and around the invisible plane; the plane crashing into Coney Island's beach area and Spidey and Vulture fighting amidst the wreckage makes for an intense encounter, Spidey having his mask off in typical Spidey movie fashion. It's not as brutal as the Sam Raimi films' final battles and, frankly, Spidey doesn't throw any punches in this movie, but the brutality of Vulture slamming Peter against the ground and picking him up by the hood with his wing makes for some intense imagery before Vulture attempts to scurry off with a crate of weapons instead of killing his foe. The buildup to this point and resolution of Spidey rescuing his villain to leave him for the cops makes for a proper Spider-Man ending where he learns the lesson of responsibility in a different way, which, in my opinion, makes it a great if not underrated Spidey flick.
While MCU music still hasn't been the strongest in film history, this movie has a few good scores and licensed music choices that make it stand out in ways that are significant to me. Film score genius, Michael Giacchino, was behind this movie's background score and, while there aren't terribly many standouts, there are a couple memorable melodies and integrations here and there. The opening Marvel logo, for one, integrates the iconic "Theme of Spider-Man" that has been around since the 60s, re-adapted, and covered since the Sam Raimi movies. This implements the hero's familiar theme before we dive into newer stuff that Giacchino provides; a little leitmotif that he integrates throughout is a little bouncy and represents the youthful, energetic nature of this version of Spider-Man well -- I am unsure what it's called on the soundtrack, but it is there in Peter's life scenes as well as his heroic Spidey scenes and even in the credits. At one point I even listened to the Vulture's theme out of curiosity and, I will say it works quite well! Titled " As far as the licensed music, this is some of the best selection in any Spidey movie; debatably the main theme of the movie, "Blitzkrig Bop" by the Ramones is a fun, high-energy piece that represents Spidey's energy well. Its inclusion in the opening montage of Spidey going around Queens to stop crime -- or stuff he thinks is crime -- as he also greets and helps civilians in order to build a report for Happy and Tony Stark. It serving as the initial credits song very much makes it the main theme of the movie and the song I associate most with this Spidey. One of the more underrated choices that I enjoy is, funny enough, "Save It For Later" by The English Beat. It plays during Peter's homecoming prep montage as he's choosing the suit, polishing his shoes, learning the Windsor knot, and how to dance with girls all with Aunt May. As a Spider-Man fan and fanfic writer, this entire scene led to me incorporating a similar scene in my Spider-Man fanfic where he and Aunt May are similarly preparing for homecoming, but it's more spread out, fleshed out, and with an emotional beat regarding Uncle Ben. As the main "theme song" for the story, I also chose the "Save It For Later" song because it's an 80s song and I did an 80s motif in the story. This movie also clearly took inspiration from the 80s and 80s movies so it makes sense why I would choose that; as someone born in 1995 who adores the 80s, I appreciate a lot of ideas and culture from it and love how this movie plays on it enough to inspire my own story.
So, overall, Spider-Man: Homecoming was and still is a fantastic Spider-Man film! It has an underrated story approach, integrates Spidey well into the MCU, has great acting, great action and CGI, and some underrated, but much needed music choices. There's a reason so many adore Tom Holland's Spider-Man still to this day and it starts with this movie if not Captain America: Civil War before it. He has stayed a hallmark of the MCU since his debut and this movie cemented that. Had it been anyone else or if Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man Cinematic Universe continued as planned, we never would have gotten what we did with this Spider-Man's presence gracing the MCU. He has become one of my favorite Spider-Mans as well as one of my favorite characters put to film; my sister, father, and I have adored him among the other actors in this series and are more than excited for it to continue starting with Brand New Day. With what this particular film does well, I give it I give it an A- and recommend it to Spider-Man fans alike!
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
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