Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man's film partnership with Hollywood can be akin to that of an abusive relationship. It can be traced to when Sony gained the film rights of the character and helmed the projects that Sam Raimi directed followed by the reboot films Mark Webb directed. What all of those movies have in common are the behind the scenes meddling executives made that were released into the final products, despite the directors resistance against them. When it comes to the past main leads, Tobey Maguire deserves credit for starting the role, even though he suffered from the repeated written formula for his role in the trilogy, which never let his character properly develop (affecting his performance in the process), and only did half of the character personality justice (the nerd aspect); Andrew Garfield, on the other hand, was allowed to let his character grow based on the circumstances at hand (giving a great performance along the way), despite also doing the other half of the character personality justice (cocky smart aleck) and looking older for the role. Personally between both of them, I prefer Garfield's portrayal over that of Maguire. (If you're interested in the behind the scenes shenanigans in more detail, go on youtube and watch Midnight's Edge documentary on Spider-man) Sony and Marvel have entered a new deal for the character to finally return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, except without Andrew Garfield in the role. Tom Holland made his debut as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, with limited screen time, and was one of the two new characters introduced who made an impression (I will elaborate more on the other character in February in my review of his film). Now the time has come for Marvel and Sony to prove that they can hopefully produce a good Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2, which isn't saying much considering how half of the movies have been (even though the MCU future of the character is uncertain due to negotiations between the two studios). *INSERT RANT HERE* I entered the theater ready to see how the quality of the movie holds up and left the theater liking the experience from it despite desiring more depth in parts of the movie that I will discuss.

Marketing Rant: Normally I would mention how I felt about the trailers I've seen at this point in the review. However, the marketing campaign here didn't leave me with a good impression of what's to come primarily because of how much of the narrative was shown in the trailers that were released. It's nice to be teased and get excited about the Marvel movies in general (such as the teaser we have seen in Thor: Ragnarok) but I believe due to Sony's involvement since they are distributing it (though it could be Marvel's fault at being overzealous with the property), the marketing was affecting fan anticipation in how much they actually may have revealed within the narrative. While I'm confident the quality of the film is maintained, the excitement I have for it has diminished due to the social media marketing for it. And the theatrical poster doesn't do this movie any favors in bringing so much clutter. I'm bothered because this is the third iteration of the Spider-Man character and, to be honest, I only got interested in Marvel primarily due to the aforementioned Spider-Man movies instead of the entertaining members of the Avengers in the MCU. Please take heed of social media and try to avoid following pages or groups that show clips and sneak peaks of blockbusters this magnitude in order to keep a number of the secrets they have a surprise for you.

Plot: The plot follows our titular character after assisting Iron Man with the airport fight in Captain America Civil War and his effort to prove himself capable of joining the Avengers by going after a powerful criminal while struggling to handle his high school life. Because the movie is experienced enough in knowing not to show us the main characters tragic past that's been shown in the past movies, it just carries off with his life in the present time. The focus is primarily on his coming of age journey to accomplish this goal, which is both a strength and a weakness of the movie as a whole. This kind of story is familiar and depends on the actors performance is conveying a character worth rooting for (which I'll touch on in the character section). The execution of the main storyline is well handled in showing Peter learning the ups and downs of becoming a hero in order to impress Iron Man but it's incredibly predictable in the cliches you would expect from a Marvel movie. There is an amount of hand holding going on for him, which makes sense as he's still learning about his super suit, but while the lesson is abundantly clear in his coming of age story, it can get tiresome after too much of it (even though that's the point of the story). The problem is that this is more of a family friendly (sort of) Marvel movie rather than a Spider-Man movie that has been built in the hype. Due to the focus on the main storyline and the overabundance of comic relief throughout the movie, it highlights an issue that will be discussed (SEE MARVEL FATIGUE). The high school environment does bring in a fresh new setting but it's only shown a little bit due to the primary focus being on what takes place outside, which affects building proper connections to the students around the main character. Overall the plot in Spider-Man Homecoming contains a well handled coming of age storyline for the titular character but outside of that arc, the cliches of the Marvel fatigue hold it back from being a great product leading to an entertaining but somewhat underwhelming experience.

Characters: The characters to focus on are Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Adrian Toomes/Vulture (Michael Keaton). Peter is our titular protagonist whose coming of age story collides with his teenage ego and reckless nature in his superhero endeavors and high school life. Tom is one of the standout performers and does a great job in balancing both of the necessary sides of the character: being an awkward nerd in high school and the smart aleck overeager crime fighter in New York. He proves himself to be the best believable and relatable incarnation of the iconic character out the actors who portrayed the role. Adrian is a salvager who becomes a weapons trafficker following a Tony Stark led business decision and comes into conflict with Spider-Man during his own nefarious plans (basically another Iron Man villain). Michael is the standout performer and is fantastic when his story arc comes into play as it introduces a fascinating concept to Peter, though the problem is that it's shown in the last third of the film instead of bringing it up earlier to make Adrian more interesting. One of the issues with more focus on the storyline between Peter and Adrian is the lack of focus or discarded time on building on the formers relationships with a minor character or two in his life. Honorable mentions go to Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) with the former giving a nice portrayal of this caring role, even though it feels like there was a few more scenes she filmed with Tom that were left out of the film in favor of more comic relief and the latter does a good job in trying to mentor the kid in the right direction, even though he doesn't know how to be a decent one due to his common sense blunders in the past and present. A mixed honorable mention is Peter's friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) because on one hand the actor gives a fine performance and has a few good scenes in there, but, on the other hand, the cliched friend who unintentionally gets his friend in trouble once he knows about the secret identity can get grating after a while (though that's just a personal thought there since other people liked the character). Overall the while the two main leads shine in their performances and storylines, the rest of the characters in Spider-Man Homecoming are just necessary archetypes and plot devices you would expect in a Marvel movie and a few of them needed to be fleshed out a little more to create more of a personal environment for the titular character.

Action: With the exception of two scenes, the action for this movie is played too safe and is utilized comedically. For those of you have unfortunately seen the trailers for the movie, your excitement for those big pieces scenes might be affected by the marketings overexposure (it affected me in that manner but only a little bit. The gadgets in Peter's suit are very handy and lend themselves to some genuine laughs, though it would be the same type of humor you would expect from a Marvel movie. Due to the family audiences for the hero, the stakes of the action scenes are significantly lowered compared to the Spider-man movies of the past. In a universe where main characters from Iron Man to Black Widow have been evolving from humans to gods, this kind of danger isn't at all a threat to characters like spider-man, though due to the fact that Peter's still a novice and is learning on the job you can expect him to make some fumbles going against minions who are no threat to him whatsoever. Any of the fight scenes between him and Adrian, however, are a great treat to watch due to the stakes the two characters share with each other. It's also worth noting that Peter doesn't have his infamous spider sense throughout the movie (either he has it and it's not mentioned for some odd reason or it's been neutered and he'll have to grow into it in the later movies). Overall while the action in Spider-Man: Homecoming fail to raise the physical stakes for the main character despite him being a novice learning about the suit's capabilities, there are highlights to look out for as Peter learns how his spider suit works (though the excitement for them depends on your exposure to the marketing campaign of the movie).

Marvel Fatigue: I know I have been complaining a lot about this movie (I want to reiterate that I liked it and would still recommend it) but it's a reflection of the trends and problems of the studio at hand. There have been 16 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point and in their evolution over the years, they have settled into quirks that audiences have come to expect from them such as utilizing comic relief to cover up any character or story flaws in the film. Normally it would get irritating as the jokes would all pile on in every individual movie and team up movie, but the emotional connection made to these films and the effort made in creating a quality product helps ignore the blatant troupes people get tired of and appreciate what's being produced. However, for every Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Civil War, there's a Dark World, Incredible Hulk, and a Homecoming that comes to remind you that if the writing doesn't hold or if the comedy overshadows proper development for an environment we should care about, then how long will it take until we reach a limit where if they won't make that consistent quality instead of relying too much on quirks then why should we spend time out of our day on you? We want to care about what's happening now instead of setting story pieces up for later installments and covering those tracks with predictable quirky troupes we've been spoon fed too many times from the studio such as one too many adult jokes that come out of nowhere. Quality products been perfected before the MCU where the previous Spider-Man movies (good or bad) took time to establish the environment and key character relationships to build on. In contrast, a return to a modern MCU movie ignores some of minor characters and just pushes for an adventure figuring that if they attempt enough jokes that we might not notice the lack of bonding moments with those people and primary focus on a coming of age story while taking on a villain. The more they spoon feed us this formula, the more movies like Logan and Wonder Woman standout for established high stakes, developing characters, and environment building that makes audiences root for the protagonist even more. This makes us want more unique quality products instead of more Tony Stark clones like Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man: Homecoming (though the former two are more enjoyable than the latter in building their worlds better and utilization of side characters with the main protagonist). If an entertaining MCU film means more quirky immature jokes and less effort building the atmosphere and people of the world at hand that audiences crave for, then why should we care about anything in their movies at all?

Overall Consensus: Spider-Man: Homecoming is a pleasant lighthearted Marvel film that brings the titular character into a fresh new setting, though as a Spider-Man movie its focus on its main storyline ignores potential bond building moments important to the hero. ⭑⭑⭑

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You like Spider-Man and want to see how Tom Holland performs in this coming of age story. You want to a Marvel movie play it safe in terms of the action, story, and character. You have seen the previous Spider-Man films and want to see how it compares to them. You like comedic Marvel movies with self-aware humor. You like predictable typical high school movie. You want to see how this superhero movie compares to the superhero movies that came out this year so far. You are eager to see the Easter Eggs hidden throughout the movie.

Reasons to avoid it: You don't like any of the aforementioned actors. You don't like Marvel movies. You don't like comedic cliched superhero movies. You don't like typical high school movies. You don't like movies with Star Wars or car product placements. You want to develop an emotional bond for the main character.

Coming up next: Jubilant July has gotten off to a decent start with a superhero movie whose webbings stuck the landing but not without very visible flaws that hold it back. From this point on the anticipation can only get better as we move onto the next movies with our next stop. We return to the prequel reboots of a science fiction series whose recent successes have been making audience members go apeshit (pun intended) over how good they are. Will the third installment be the charm and great follow up to the previous two entries? Tune in next time as Screening Spectacles will watch and review War for the Planet of the Apes!