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Review: ‘Spider-Man — Homecoming’ finally gets it right (Includes first-hand account)

In an age of remakes and reboots, it’s becoming frequently common to see one character played by multiple actors in the span of a couple decades. This is especially true in the superhero universe where the stories are seemingly infinite, but the performers’ commitment comparatively brief. Even a multi-picture deal typically runs down in 10 years or less, leading studios to start anew after each cycle. The latest franchise to be rebooted with a fresh face is one of Marvel‘s youngest heroes in tights: Spider-Man. In the first standalone film of the reboot, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter Parker is still learning to flex his superhuman muscles.

After assisting Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in his civil war with Captain America (Chris Evans), Peter (Tom Holland) is ready for more action… but Tony wants to take things slow. He assigns Happy (Jon Favreau) to be Peter’s “Stark internship” liaison, and tells the kid to have fun with his new suit and getting kittens out of trees — i.e. being a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man and leaving the big stuff to the adults. But during a routine patrol, Peter comes across a new form of weaponry capable of mass destruction. When no one wants to listen to him or help take down the suppliers, Spider-Man takes it upon himself to track down the bad guys.

Holland is the third actor to don the red and blue suit in 15 years, but this new Peter represents some positive changes for the character. Most notably, he’s ditched the broody teen angst for an enthusiastic, fun-loving kid that enjoys his secret ability and saving people. Thankfully audiences are also spared another rehash of Spider-Man’s radioactive origin story since he was experimenting with his powers before Tony even tapped him for assistance. While he dreams of being the newest Avenger, he settles for being “on-call” and ready for action. On the upside, he did get a pretty sweet suit out of the deal — even if all its functionality isn’t available to him.

They seem to have finally pinned down this character by incorporating his naiveté and sarcasm to create a personality that is endearing and entertaining. Also, being able to sporadically include Iron Man in the narrative helps support the smart-alecky energy captured by director Jon Watts; though he’s not the only one popping in for cameos. Captain America appears in several hilarious “the more you know” type videos played for students at Peter’s high school at various points in the film, including gym class and detention. In addition, his best friend (Jacob Batalon) keeps things interesting as he struggles to keep a lid on Peter’s secret identity and occasionally combines their nerd skills to make Spider-Man a better crime fighter (or get him into trouble).

Michael Keaton plays Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. Vulture, the movie’s villain — and is he ever a great bad guy. Toomes feels the world ripped him off enough and now he’s getting what he deserves by any means necessary, which in this case includes stealing and selling dangerous, illegal weapons to other criminals. But he’s also a devoted family man who rationalizes his actions by attributing it to providing for his loved ones. His battles with Spider-Man are pretty standard, but the final showdown is both emotional and epic in typical Marvel fashion.

Although Sony’s superhero movies don’t typically have end-credit sequences, this one has one of the most amusing that’s completely worth the wait (even if audiences are told otherwise).

Director: Jon Watts
Starring: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton and Robert Downey Jr.

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Sarah Gopaul is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for film news, a member of the Online Film Critics Society and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved critic.

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