Spider-Man Homecoming falls into the same slot as the lesser MCU movies. Probably not Iron Man 3 or Thor 2 levels of mediocre/bad, but it definitely left a sour taste in my mouth. And it's no fault of the lead actors, who truly put on a show. But this film ended up being the weak middle of a year where three MCU movies premiered, the other two being monumental levels stronger than the third. Considering how good some of the upcoming movies are, it just got me to thinking that maybe Marvel is just not that accurate with their films. Some are fantastic. Some are okay. Some are just mediocre. And aside from a few great acting performances, (chiefly from our lead hero and villain), this might be one of the weaker entries into the series.
Plot: Fresh off of his debut as a secondary member of The Avengers, Peter Parker (Tom Holland), continues to fight crime in the streets of New York City once he's deemed too inexperienced by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). Stark compels Peter to focus on his academics and leave the crime fighting to the professionals, but Peter cannot deny his inner passion for saving the people of New York and thus opts to be Spider-Man in secret, unaware that his mentor had placed a tracking device on it to ensure he was staying safe. He has several run ins with a gang of criminals led by former salvager Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), who has stolen several weapons of the Chitauri who invaded New York with Loki several years earlier and makes even more deadly weapons, including a robotic vulture-like exoskeleton.
With his passions for academics and crime fighting constantly at war with one another, Peter finds himself missing important events including the Academic Decathlon in Washington DC to pursue and fight the Vulture and his weapon smuggling allies, only to be chastised and later punished by Stark for being too reckless. But when the power core for most of the weapons are revealed to be unstable grenades from the aliens Loki led, Peter once more dons his old and worn Spider-Man suit to confront the Vulture, all while unexpectedly becoming involved with the daughter of Toomes romantically and going with her to the Homecoming Dance.
What's Bad?: While I appreciate the fact that they wanted to develop the father/son relationship between Tony Stark and Peter in this movie, he is in this movie way too much. It's almost distracting to see RDJ on screen so much in a movie that isn't one of his own or an Avengers movie. Nothing against him as an actor, as I love RDJ and Tony Stark, but it'd kinda be the equivalent of Thor being in half of the Doctor Strange movie. It robs from what could have been a solid movie and makes it a crossover. If Stark had a handful of glorified cameos, that would have been one thing. But he practically has a starring role in this film and it distracts from what could have been an interesting movie in a clash between Peter and Toomes over not only his practices but also their relationships with Liz.
There's also the matter of a hole I will also address in my Infinity War review when that goes up. Considering how deep we're into the MCU and how iconic an IP Spider-Man is, it gets tougher to believe that Peter would ever be forcibly sidelined by anyone, ESPECIALLY Tony Stark, for disobeying him. We all know he had to have his climactic showdown with Toomes and was going to have his chance to fight alongside Stark against Thanos, but the stakes of him being taken away from being Spider-Man are practically non-existent. And when the stakes are not there and the movie does not do a good job of masking it's flaws, we're left with a stale and repetitive movie that seems like it's pulling it's punches.
What's Good?: While too much RDJ is a distraction for me, the film rides on the backs of both Tom Holland and Michael Keaton, who do excellent in their roles. Although I'm not the biggest fan of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, I feel he is the best on screen Spider-Man we've ever had. He doesn't feel too old like Tobey Maguire did and he isn't that trash fire Andrew Garfield, so that's good. he is a kid in a world full of super heroes and villains. And that's a welcome sight in a universe where the superheroes are constantly trying to one up each other. As for Keaton, he's definitely in the upper echelon of MCU baddies (I might end up having to do a countdown of them). He may not be particularly memorable, but he definitely portrays an air of menace and viciousness that quite a few baddies seem to ignore. Definitely up there with the likes of Kilmonger, Ultron and Obadiah Stane as far as I'm concerned.
Also, I really enjoyed the side characters in Peter's world. I loved Zendaya as Mary Jane (weird that they had Liz be Peter's love interest when she was there) and Marisa Tomei is an outstanding Aunt May for such a young Peter Parker, serving not only as a surrogate mother, but also a kind and sympathetic role model for Peter. Other characters like Ned can be a little much on me, but it's more along the lines of whether or not you like the side tier Avengers over someone truly obnoxious in the storyline. He's fine as comic relief, but that's about it.
Speaking of which, the comedy is pretty on point in this one. It's definitely more reserved in comparison to both Guardians 2 and Thor 3, but it's more forgivable here than it would be with the constant one liners in something like Ant Man or Age of Ultron. The movie is unapologetic about being lighthearted and comedic in places, while also being honest and sincere in others.
Overall: Spider-Man Homecoming isn't a terrible film, per say. It's just not up to snuff with the content that is coming out from the MCU at this point. We're about to go on a three film ride that will leave us all practically speechless with how well they are all done and it's unfortunate that the one less than stellar egg from the MCU beforehand had to be this one. It's a decent movie and has it's moments, but unless you want a movie that is mostly a crossover between Iron Man and Spider-Man while not directly advertising that, I'd say this one is a decent one to skip.
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