Movie Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Ref: Spider-Man: Homecoming

I loved this movie, I loved it a lot (really just as much as the original) and I will say that Tom Holland did an excellent job as Spiderman and I’m really really excited for him in Civil War.  And this was revived me from The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  

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No quotes, sorry.

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Context:

I saw many trailers for this and honestly too many trailers for this movie that I near-ruined it for myself.  Even just watching one trailer can really spoil good chunks of the movie for you.  I’m hoping to stay as far away from them once Civil War hits.  

Technicalities and Functioning:

So I thought that the cinematography in this film was very interesting.  I loved the camera angles, movements, and loved a good bunch of the extreme long shots that were fit into the film.  What the film really makes use of is the technique of frame-in-frame using different things and objects like the trees or the corners of a boat for example, which really added a sort-of unique charm to its style.  Every shot was very smoothly put together; it made me feel nice.  [I’m trying to find more to say about this and thinking more deeply into my brain, but at the time I was more focused on actually watching the movie and enjoying it instead of analytically calculating its technical merits (whatever that means)]

Content:

I thought that there could’ve been more work on the comedy bits, as Spiderman, we know he’d need more snarky, sarcastic remarks whilst fighting and though Tom did a very wonderful job at playing the part as Peter Parker, I felt like he needed some more umf in his step for playing Spiderman.  In The Amazing Spiderman, Andrew’s Spiderman was funnier (in my opinion), he had that comedic charm that fit very well with Spidey’s personality.  There were definitely funny bits and pieces in Homecoming, I wish that they’d push a bit harder on some of these jokes, really bring out more to them.  I felt like a good bunch of the humor used in this film were “disney-esque” or what I’d consider “disney comedy” where it’s not really funny but with a sitcom, you’d probably think it’s more funny just because “other people are laughing with you”; some of it seemed forced, I think it should’ve been a more natural thing.  All in all, it wasn’t bad though, I just expected a bit more comedy being it a movie about Spiderman (it’s kinda his thing).  

I loved the film’s usage of inclusion and diversity (not sure if it was forced and or planned out to appease the mass but it worked).  

SPOILER ALERT:

Not only was Parker’s love interest a person of color, she was also biracial and so that added to another layer of twists and turns for Sir Peter Parker!  He also had a best friend who was a person of color and even the entire set for the students walking the school was a diverse group of people (which I loved!).  It was a type of spiderman movie that we wanted and needed and I think that this movie really provided that entire setup.  

Spiderman is shown as a weak and feeble, child, a kid, he’s 15 years old and he’s also the underdog of the Avengers group because he is not fully acknowledged by his skill and power as a superhero.  He is a child but he also a neighborhood hero and “nothing special”.  All throughout the movie, he tries to find, attack, and destroy bad guys but he continues to fail and fail and fail and as the movie progresses, you can feel your faith in him start to diminish.  Tony loses faith in him, he gets his suit taken away from him, he’s returns to being a school boy and then BAM he comes back.  That’s a very typical setup for a superhero like spiderman, a very typical story for him but there’s a charm in that.  It was very nice to see this genuine and pureness of Spidey’s character in this film, he fought bad guys because we all need to do good.  He helped people because he wanted to, he doesn’t want to kill anyone not even bad guys, he’s basically expressing the moral that we should also do the same: we should help out one another and not do bad things.  And in this pureness, in this “cheesy moral”, it brings me back to my youth, in a way, where I thought of the world as good and evil, as black and white and two dividing lines, you’re either one way or the other, and this sort-of moment of reminiscing helped me to love to the film even more (there’s just that pureness in it, a sort of innocence).  

I also enjoyed how they steered away from the problems and issues faced with The Amazing Spiderman 2.  I complain very heavily about this movie because it focused too much on romance and Parker’s love interest instead of his job as being a superhero.  In Homecoming, Parker has two options: his love interest or his duties as Spiderman and he always goes for the latter, no matter what.  He is dedicated to his work and he’s very serious about being a superhero (which is what Spiderman’s supposed to be).  Bringing back that moral of being the good guy, being the superhero, saving the world from bad guys, Spiderman had this drive of saving people and actually BEING A SUPERHERO instead of “I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR MY GIRLFRIEND BECAUSE I LOVE HER TOO MUCH”.  And I’m wouldn’t say drop the love interest altogether but it shouldn’t be AS important as being the actual spiderman, crime-fighting, streets-of-New-York-saving, swing on my webs, sarcasm and laughs for you and me, friendly neighborhood spiderman!  He didn’t allow his love for a girl be his full motivation, he saved people because he really wanted to and not because he needed to impress anyone (and yes I will definitely note that in the beginning he was actually tempted on doing so but ended up being responsible not to, it counts!).

All in all, the movie was fantastic.  I’d also love to add that the ending did not feel like an ending to me, where I’d normally feel empty and would want to cry because I want more.  It feels more like a hopeful, hell yeah I just watched Spiderman and I know the next one will be just as awesome kind-of feel (even though they may not make another one anytime soon and will be more focused on doing Civil War, though I’d really love another Spiderman featuring Tom Holland as Spidey again, that would be super awesome).  

Tom did a great job.  He fit the role as Parker so well!  He was great doing his job as this sort of nerdy, dorky kid that’s in love with the popular girl, strong but shy, super smart, adorable, and very charming.  HE WAS AMAZING.  I’d definitely say that he’d probably need to work on being Spiderman a bit more (like the actual man in the suit) because that’s where there’s like a gray line between being like “okay yeah it’s Parker in a suit” and “it’s spiderman, true form of Parker where he’s the cool dude now, he’s not in school he’s the man of the streets, sort-of Spiderman” (hopefully that makes sense).

Rating: 9/10, I liked it, I really did and I will definitely recommend anyone to watch it (watching it 3D IMAX was a very good choice for me so that would also be part of the recommendation as well lol).