So, I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming on Sunday, and I loved it. I know, I say that about every movie I see, but I’m serious. It had to have been one of the absolute best times I’ve had watching a movie, ever. I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face for most of the movie, as it just perfectly captured the essence of the character of Peter Parker and the high school setting. Whenever something good happened for Peter, or he did something to help someone else, I smiled, and it was an actual grin. I loved every minute of it. So, I’ll describe the plot a little (it’s actually extremely comprehensive), then get into the rest of my thoughts on the movie. Obviously, there are spoilers, so here we go:
SPOILERS FOLLOW!
The movie starts off with Adrian Toomes, played by Michael Keaton, working with his company to clean up the Chitauri tech and rubble off the streets of New York under a city contract. He is interrupted and told by a government official that the government now has complete control over the cleanup, as they have formed a deal with Tony Stark’s new “Damage Control”. He is left practically bankrupt, as he put so much money into this operation. He and his crew steal keep the tech they still have instead of turning it over, and decide to use it to create high-tech weapons to sell on the black market.
It then transitions to a video Peter Parker made during his trip to Germany to partake in the airport battle from Captain America: Civil War. It’s pretty funny, and is a good way to introduce us to Peter’s personality and sense of humor.
Peter finishes his school day and hurries into an alley, where he changes into his suit and goes around the city helping people. He catches a bike thief, gives directions, stops a guy from getting in his own car (rather hilariously), and then stumbles upon the ATM scene from the trailers. He goes in and makes the remarks about them not being the real Avengers, and they end up destroying the entire street corner with their high-tech weapons, which Peter takes notice of. He sneaks home, and his identity is discovered bu his friend, Ned. He later goes to a party at Liz’s house, the girl he likes, with Ned. He leaves the party prematurely and intercepts an arms deal between Aaron Davis and two of Toome’s henchmen, Brice and Schultz. The goons flee in their truck, and Spider-Man gives chase. The goons are careless, and lose a piece of Chitauri tech while escaping. Toomes, in his Vulture suit, intercepts Spider-Man and drops him into a body of water. Spider-Man is saved by Iron Man and retrieves the tech, realizing that these are the guys who made the weapons from the bank.
Brice and Schultz return to Toomes’ headquarters, and Brice is killed by Toomes when he threatens to take his talents elsewhere. The mantle of “Shocker” is passed on to Schultz, as he inherits the shock gauntlet that Brice owned.
Peter and Ned discover that the weapons dealers are going to Maryland, due to a tracker that Peter placed on them. He rejoins the Academic Decathlon’s group that is going to Washington, D.C. for the national finals, so he and Ned can track the dealers from their hotel room. While in the hotel, Peter and Ned remove the tracker from the Spider-Man suit that Tony Stark placed inside of it, and disable the beginner’s protocol. Peter leaves the hotel at night and ends up at a gas station where the Schultz and some other goons are waiting in a van. Meanwhile, he activates his suit’s new tech, which includes an AI similar to J.A.R.V.I.S. or F.R.I.D.A.Y. He intercepts the van and the Vulture as they try to break into a truck transporting Chitauri tech to the Damage Control HQ. He stops them, but gets knocked out inside the truck.
Peter wakes up in Damage Control’s warehouse, and tries to figure out how to escape with his AI pal, whom he names Karen. He takes a crash course on the new tech, and then bypasses the warehouses security to exit the facility and try to make his way back to the Academic Decathlon tournament in time. He doesn’t, but Michelle, played by Zendaya, wins the trophy for the team.
The team then makes its way to the Washington Monument, where they take the elevator to the top. Michelle stays on the ground. Peter, as Spider-Man, is trying to get there quickly, as he has found out that the Chitauri tech is basically a bomb, and Ned is carrying it in the elevator. When they get to the top, the “bomb” explodes, putting the elevator at great risk of falling. Peter climbs up the monument and breaks through a window, to the chagrin of the DC Metro Police, and stops the elevator from falling. He saves his teammates, and they make their way back to NYC later that day.
In NYC, Peter finds out that the arms dealers, along with the “Vulture guy” are going on a Staten Island Ferry to carry out a deal. He makes it onto the ferry and stops the deal, but government agents are already aware of the deal, so they turn on Spider-Man. Toomes finds out that Spider-Man is there, and attacks as the Vulture. Spidey takes away his gun and sticks it to the floor, but it goes haywire, blowing the ship in half. Vulture flies away, and Spider-Man tries to web the ship back together, eventually getting help from Iron Man. Iron Man chastises Peter for being so careless when they get back to the mainland, and he takes away the Spider-Man suit.
Peter more or less goes back to his normal life before the suit, and rebuilds his relationships with his friends. He ends up telling Liz that he likes her, and she agrees to go with him to Homecoming. There’s a cute little montage of Aunt May helping him get ready for the dance, and using YouTube to learn how to tie a tie. Peter gets dropped off at Liz’s house, and when he knocks on the door, he is greeted by Adrian Toomes. He introduces himself as Liz’s father, and acts like a normal dad, making quips and asking about his life and how he is around Liz. Liz comes downstairs, and Toomes takes a picture of them. He is going to be their chauffeur to the dance, so Peter and Liz get in the car, with Peter noticeably tense and uncomfortable.
On the way to the dance, Toomes asks Peter about stuff he does with Liz, and through things Liz says, like “He has a Stark internship” and “you were there, then you left, and Spider-Man showed up and saved us”, Toomes deduces quite easily that Peter is the Spider-Man who’s been messing with his business. He has Liz go in while he gives Peter the “Dad Talk”, and threatens to kill him and everyone he loves if he ever messes with him again. He tells him to go inside and show his daughter a good time and to forget that this ever happened.
Peter goes in and almost immediately ditches Liz to stop her father from his final heist, that of the jet leaving Stark Tower with millions in tech. Peter gets his homemade costume from under his locker and is greeted outside by the Shocker. He gets beat up pretty easily by the Shocker, and loses his web-shooter in the process. As he’s about to be killed, Ned comes out and uses the shooter on Shocker, sticking him to a bus. Peter goes on to confront Toomes at his hideout.
Toomes greets Peter with his new and improved Vulture suit, and takes out the support pillars of the building they’re in, crushing Peter under the concrete rubble. It takes all of his strength to get out, but he does, and catches up with the Vulture and the jet. The jet eventually crashes with Peter and Toomes on it. On the beach, they have their final confrontation, where Peter barely wins. He has the chance to leave Toomes for dead, but turns him in to the police instead. The movie ends with Liz and her mother moving to Oregon as they await her father’s trial. Peter gets invited to the new Avengers HQ in upstate New York by Tony Stark, and is invited to join the Avengers for his efforts, and is given a new, high-tech suit. Peter turns down the offer, and opts to be the “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man” that Stark wanted him to be before. Stark accepts this, and gives Peter back his suit. When Peter tries it on in his room again, Aunt May walks in on him, discovering his secret identity. Then the movie ends.
ACTUAL REVIEW THOUGHTS
I loved almost everything about this movie. It got the high school atmosphere and conversation right, and made Peter Parker a more relatable protagonist than most superheroes. He’s just a kid trying to be something great, and it isn’t easy. He also acts like a kid, doing stupid things that endanger others without thinking about it. He’s vulnerable, as displayed in one of my favorite scenes, where he is crushed under the rubble. He’s not a godly superhero. He’s a kid, and he’s crying for help, tears streaming down his face. He’s not made for this. But he can be great, and he ends up being the most relatable and supportable superhero I’ve seen in a while. Tom Holland deserves a lot of credit for his portrayal.
Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes is probably my favorite MCU villain as of yet (yeah, better than Loki), because he is also relatable. He’s a dad trying to make ends meet for his family, so when Tony Stark screws him over, he turns to crime. It explains why Liz has such a nice house. He makes some horrible decisions and does some horrible things, but you understand why he’s turned to this life of crime, and you feel for him sometimes. Keaton also is able to go from nice dad to menacing killer and businessman in seconds, and he pulls it off flawlessly. Keaton’s performance elevates the entire movie and those around him, and Keaton and Holland make for possibly the best hero-villain pair in the MCU. They’re both great.
The supporting cast is pretty good, with Zendaya’s Michelle (MJ, whatever) character being fun, and Aunt May actually being interesting for once. Most of the action is good, with the final fights being standouts, as Peter is stripped off his tech and has to be a hero without it. The best parts of the movie, though, are just dialogue scenes, where characters interact and do normal stuff. Peter Parker is made into an interesting guy, and his struggle with being a kid and Spider-Man is great.
The movie skips over the origin of Spider-Man, which is a breath of fresh air, and gets right into the story. And kudos to the screenwriters, because the over two-hour movie is never boring. Most of the plot and character development was good to great, and the humor is fantastic. Like I said, I was smiling the whole time, which meant I was really liking the movie. Also, the plot twist with Toomes being Liz’s dad was brilliant, bringing a whole new level of understanding to Peter and the audience. It all made sense. The MJ thing was dumb, because Michelle isn’t Mary Jane (thank god, because Mary Jane was annoying). It’s just fan service so you can go “OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH”. Besides that though, the movie is great. The jokes and quips are funny, the action is good, and the characters are fantastic for the most part. This all comes together to make, dare I say it, my new favorite Spider-Man movie, and possible favorite MCU movie. I don’t say that lightly, because I’m a huge fanboy of these movies. But I mean it. You need to go out and see this movie, as it is the best iteration of Peter Parker yet. It makes me remember why Spider-Man is my favorite superhero, and makes you remember that being a superhero can be fun when the right person is under the mask. I’d give this movie a:
10/10
This movie is awesome. I can’t recommend it enough, to anyone, really. I might be a little overboard with my excitement, but I just really liked Spider-Man: Homecoming. Let me know if you agree in the comments, and give me other thoughts. Thanks!!
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