After drafting Peter Parker as Spiderman as a sort of Avenger in Civil War audiences did wonder if they were going to give the wallcrawler his own solo film. It made sense, he was one of Marvel’s biggest names. Possibly THE biggest name. There was however a problem. Spiderman isn’t owned by Disney (he’s not alone there. The X-Men and The Fantastic Four aren’t either, that’s why we had 2 different actors portraying Quicksilver. It’s unclear whether Disney’s recent acquisition of Fox will bring the X-Men and the FF back into the fold and allow them to use the characters in MCU films in the future), he’s a Sony property, and they’d already made 4 movies using him. Marvel then came up with a plan, Sony would continue to own the character, but would lease him to Marvel/Disney and thus was born Spider-Man: Homecoming (pretty sure the title is a reference to the deal).
I approved of a lot of what they did with Homecoming. Not quite sold on him being ‘mentored’ by Tony. Tony can barely look after himself, I don’t see how having him mentor someone else is a good idea. I’m also not a huge fan of making him a regular Avengers member (which is where I think they’re heading despite the ending of the film). I know in the current versions of the comics Spiderman has been affiliated with the Avengers, but that roster is ever changing much moreso than the films, but they will need every hand to the pump when they go up against Thanos in the Infinity War. As an aside the current official Avengers roster seems to consist of Iron Man and Vision. War Machine is still in physical rehab and at long odds to recover sufficiently to resume active duty. Captain America, Falcon, Ant-Man, Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch are all fugitives, same probably goes for Black Widow. Black Panther is hiding Bucky in Wakanda and busy ruling the country. Thor and the Hulk are both off planet.
The scenes with Peter fumbling his way through being Spiderman were highly entertaining and I loved him giving the old lady directions, that’s real ‘friendly neighbourhood Spiderman’ stuff (not pleased that Tony came up with that tag, either). I get why his hi tech Spidersuit (or should I call her Karen?) had a training wheels protocol, but I did ask myself why the Iron Man suits that Tony let Rhodey fly around him didn’t have the same thing. Honestly, did he do any training whatsoever? I did question how hi tech Tony had made the suit he gave Peter. Peter was doing fine before he got that suit, I can see who fitting better works and the enhanced vision, but more than 52 web settings? That’s just overkill. What Tony did was think of Peter as being like him. A really smart guy with his mind as his greatest asset and the suit does the physical work for him, but Peter isn’t like that. The spider that bit him gave him enhanced strength, agility, speed, senses and the ability to walk up walls. The only thing he added was the web fluid. He doesn’t need a super smart suit. I think the suit caused some of the problems to be entirely honest.
I can see why Peter acted the way he did and it didn’t help that his go to guy at Stark was Happy, who had apparently been taking a course of Tony’s ‘how to be a dick’ pills.
I was glad that they didn’t simply rehash Peter’s origin story again. That’s been filmed at least 3 times before and we didn’t need to see it again.
Loved so much that they did, though. Aunt May, Peter’s friend Ned (he’s never had a friend really before), the new version of MJ, Liz; the object of Peter’s affections, how awful Flash was, the villain (the Vulture awesome!), everything just worked. Eager to see more of Spiderman.
The casting was one of the things that they got right made it work. Tom Holland and Marisa Tomei reprised their roles from Civil War. Robert Downey Junior played Iron Man again and Jon Favreau and Gwyneth Paltrow appeared for the first time since Iron Man 3, and it was clear from the ending that Pepper and Tony are back together as a romantic item and not just a working couple.
Whoever cast Jacob Batalon as Peter’s best friend the nerdy Ned, was inspired. He made a great ‘man in the chair’ and was the source of much of the film’s humour. Laura Harrier did a good job as Liz and wasn’t just another mean girl. Zendaya’s interpretation of MJ was an interesting take on the character and not one that many people would have expected.
One of the best bits of casting was Michael Keaton as the Vulture, and Liz’s Dad (I did not see that coming). Keaton is a talented and recognisable actor, despite how he made his name in films like Nightshift, he does menacing very well, even when he’s not wearing a bat costume (I wonder if he’s the only actor who has played both an iconic hero and a villain for the two major franchises?). Fortunately the character wasn’t killed, because I would like to see him again, and there’s a reason why he keeps Pater’s actual identity a secret.
The cameos were many: Tyne Daly as a government official who causes salvage worker Adrian Toomes to break the law and become the Vulture. Kenneth Choi was Principal Morita, and I can’t help but think as the same actor played a Howling Commando by the name of Morita in Captain America that the principal is a grandson. Peter’s much put upon teacher Mr Harrington was a great turn against type by Kenneth Star, best known as ascerbic Guilfoyle in Silicon Valley. Jennifer Connelly voiced Karen, which is a nice bit of casting when you know that she and Paul Bettany (Vision/Jarvis) are a couple. For some reason there was a lot of fuss about Donald Glover as a petty thief who helps Peter find the Vulture and his gang on the ferry. Stan Lee’s cameo was tiny, he’s an angry resident who shouts at Peter when he sets off a car alarm trying to apprehend someone in the act of car theft.
Jon Watts directed. A fairly new face on the scene and I think that helped with the freshness of the film as a whole.
A sequel is guaranteed. I can’t see Spiderman not being of use in Infinity War either. This new Spiderman may hold the interest for more than a couple of films, which has been the fate of the previous 2.
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