Spider-Man: Homecoming

The 447th film I have seen in theaters…

spoilers to follow

Peter Parker, fresh off his battle in “Civil War” returns to life as a Sophmore in high school. Although warned Iron Man to not get involved in anything too big, Peter discovers that “The Vulture” is running an illegal super-weapon business in the NYC underworld. Despite orders from Stark, Peter decides to put a stop to it, and hopefully earn a place on the Avengers roster.

Tom Holland was such a good casting decision. This kid captures the exact right energy needed for Peter Parker. He has proven himself superior to McGuire in this respect.

Michael Keaton is the Vulture! He was another tremendous snag for this cast. The scene of him in the car with Peter? Amazing.

RJD and Favreau return as Stark and Happy. I like that Happy has been demoted to Peter’s “watcher”. RJD has some great scenes, but not enough to detract from Holland. Great performances.

Zendaya is Michelle, one of Peter’s classmates. The last minute reveal of her nickname, MJ, necessitates a 2nd viewing. This knowledge changes the way we perceive her character.

Donald Glover, Now Lando and once a Spider-Man hopeful, is “The Prowler”. Him mentioning his nephew was a fun easter egg. That nephew is of course Miles Morales, the young man who becomes Spider-man once Peter dies… oh. crap.

Marisa Tomei continues to play “Hot” Aunt May. Her final scene nearly stole the entire movie.

Jacob Batalon is Peter’s best friend- Ned Leeds. In the comics, Leeds becomes one of the Hobgoblins, so we will see where this ends up. He was great.

Playing Liz (Toombs? Allan) is Laura Harrier. She is ok in the role, but does not have all that much to do. The revelations in the third act change that a bit as her father is revealed to be The Vulture.

Tony Revolori, who was fantastic in Grand Budapest Hotel, is Flash Thompson. No longer a jock, her is more of a spoiled rich kid. He did all right. I came to dislike him, as I should.

There has been a lot of “outcry” about the multi-ethnic casting of this movie. In this regard, it is not the traditional (lilly white) Spider-man we have seen before. What this film becomes is a more realistic portrayal of NYC. Peter’s classmates SHOULD be multicultural. That is New York. Aside from this brave choice, they are all fantastically cast. Hiring actually young people to play teens is a smart move. The only thing that detracts from this is the fact that none of them are very well fleshed out. You can make an argument that they are background players and should not detract from the main story, a valid argument. Not sure if it will be seen that way by many.

Now that the elephant in the room has been mentioned, this stands as one of the better Marvel films. I think I may like it more than any other Spider-Man film, not a particularly difficult task. Spiderman 2 still holds the crown though. Maybe after 10 years of re watching this one will rise higher.

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