Spider-Man has returned to the MCU!
Spider-Man: Homecoming premiered this week and is currently the #1 movie at the box office, though it did come a bit under the expected $125 million estimate. It will be interesting to see just how many legs Spider-Man: Homecoming will have in the coming weeks: Will it get squashed? Or will Spider-Man: Homecoming go on to become one of the most well regarded Spider-Man or comic book movies of all time?! Time will tell!
I thought I would share with you my thoughts on Spider-Man: Homecoming in the form of “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly!” Yeah, sort of a wrestling reference, but I think it fits well with the movie. I’ll say, off the bat, I did like Spider-Man: Homecoming a lot, and my nine year old and thirteen year old boys liked the movie as well, and they also liked it better than Wonder Woman. I think I actually preferred Wonder Woman a bit more myself as I went into Wonder Woman not knowing what to expect, but once again Disney (or Sony) spoiled a lot of Spider-Man: Homecoming in trailers, so I knew the entire movie before walking in to the theater. I’ll add even though basically almost everything was spoiled, it didn’t take away from any of the fun of Spider-Man: Homecoming–and it was a lot of fun!
Now on to the article!
The Good:
Tom Holland: I felt Tom Holland was the perfect Peter Parker. He certainly looked the age and played the part well. I think I noticed he called Jon Favreau “Hoppy” a couple of times, which might of been a result of his British accent. No big deal really, but I thought I would point it out. This kid will be around for a long time. Very likable and friendly. Your “every day guy.”
Michael Keaton: What can be said about Michael Keaton other than genius! I think as comic book fans we all love Michael Keaton ever since the 1989 Batman movie. For me, it was Night Shift, Mr. Mom and Johnny Dangerously that hooked me into being a Michael Keaton fan! I thought his Vulture character was great! I was actually rooting for Vulture! And what a cool suit! We have a new #1 MCU villain, and judging from the post-credit scene, it looks like we’ll see more of him!
Robert Downey Jr.: I’ve been reading some complaints online about how Spider-Man: Homecoming featured either too much of the Avengers or not enough. I had no problem at all with the amount of screen time that RDJ had in the film. I actually didn’t expect it would be all that much as this is a Spider-Man movie and not an Avengers or Iron Man flick. My 13-year-old son got a little tweaked when Peter Parker basically got all “OCD” about contacting Happy and Tony. I really didn’t have that big of an issue as you have to remember that Peter doesn’t have a dad and looks up to Tony Stark (Iron Man, billionaire, Avenger) to say the least. Plus, Tony gave Peter a first taste of the “action” in Captain America: Civil War. Once you get a taste of the “action” you never want to give it up!
Update: For those asking about May Parker and Marisa Tomei: Obviously this version is vastly different than the comics and any of the other preceding actresses who have played the part. I had no problems at all with Marisa Tomei’s version. I will say that I am glad they cut the scene where May saved a little girl and Peter witnessed it, meaning May was an inspiration for Peter to become a hero. I don’t think that fits with the Spider-Man mythos. It was also pretty cool about the reveal with May at the end; however, I felt it took away from Aunt May always knowing (or eventually knowing) she knew Peter was Spider-Man, but pretended she didn’t–meaning she supported Peter as Spider-Man, but didn’t want him to know (or worry about her). Another question I have is that since May is Italian in the movie (they say as much), does that make Peter Parker Italian? I can’t recall off the top of my head if Aunt May and Peter Parker are blood relatives. If not, May seeing Peter in his boxers could be kind of weird (lol). I’ve never thought of Peter Parker being Italian myself, so…
Zendaya: Loved Zendaya as the character of Michelle. A miserable loner who basically hates everyone and everything (or does she??). I can relate to the character as I’ve come across one or two girls in my school years that have had similar attitudes (lol). I also liked how they pulled a bait and switch: Michael Keaton showed that his daughter liked to do art with the drawing of the Avengers; all through the movie Michelle was drawing pictures, which may have led you to believe that Michelle was Vulture’s daughter; however, as I was the first to point out, that wasn’t true. Nice!
Donald Glover: How cool was it to have Donald Glover in the movie? Not only was he a fan-favorite choice to play Spider-Man Miles Morales, but Glover’s character let it be known he had a nephew in the area, as Glover plays the uncle to Miles Morales (The Prowler). I thought it was also cool that Glover was giving Spider-Man tips how to be Spider-Man.
Jacob Batalon: Probably the break-out character of the movie, possibly even more so than Tom Holland. I want a best friend like Ned! Jacob Batalon was terrific in the film, and he and Tom Holland have great chemistry! Definitely want to see more of this, and I actually really liked all the high school scenes. I couldn’t but help think to myself, “This would make a great TV show.”
Chris Evans/Captain America: It was good to see Cap back! And it was pretty funny! Chris Evans appeared as Captain America in inspirational classroom videos during gym class, for detention and the post-credit scene. The remarks surrounding the videos from the teachers and coaches was hilarious.
Liz twist: The Vulture daughter twist was a big surprise for me. When Michael Keaton opened the door, I think the entire audience was like, “Holy sh-t!” Well, played Marvel!
Iron Spider Suit: How cool was that new Spider-Man suit! We don’t know if it was the actual Iron Spider Suit (with tentacles), but I couldn’t wait for Peter to have tried it on! What a tease (lol!)! Maybe we’ll see it in another movie?
The Bad:
Spider-Man CGI: I’m not a fan of the way the Spider-Man costume looks on screen. It’s too bright and comes off looking really fake. It’s cartoony or looks too much like a video game. It doesn’t look like they changed much from Captain America: Civil War.
Spider-Man’s Enhanced Combat Mode system: I wasn’t a fan of this at all. Certainly, it was a cool nod to the comics with all the different web shooters, but I felt it completely took away from the Spider-Man character and made him an “Iron Man.” I hope with Tony giving Peter back the costume that the Enhanced Combat Mode is completely disabled. I don’t mind Spider-Man’s eyes moving, but all the different systems, instant kill, etc. need to go. Maybe some of the enhanced stuff should have been a part of the Iron Spider Suit from above (or quite possibly there are further enhancements for that suit?). I also felt the enhanced options downgraded Peter’s intellect, sort of what Christopher Nolan did with Batman in The Dark Knight Trilogy by having Lucius Fox create all his suits and equipment.
Female AI Karen: See above, but I wasn’t a fan of this as well. At one time Peter is receiving directions from Karen who is telling Peter to jump here, jump there, etc. I thought it was pretty ridiculous and didn’t come off well. Unneeded. I did, however, enjoy the part when Karen told Peter to kiss Liz, which was a reference to the upside down kiss from the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie.
Marketing teased Spider-Man on skyscrapers/Avenger Tower: Now this wasn’t that big of a deal to me, but I did see online chatter about not getting a Spider-Man “money shot,” which would be Spider-Man on a skyscraper. Peter actually revealed he hasn’t been on a skyscraper as he mentioned he hadn’t been up that high before when on the Washington Monument; so there is that. However, a poster or two for the movie showed Spider-Man on Avengers Tower, which would have been cool to see. Still, I’m not all mad by it, as basically Marvel stuck with the “Doctor Strange-route’ in that Peter is new to being Spider-Man, much like Doctor Strange didn’t become the Sorcerer Supreme in his own movie. There is still at least 3 or 4 more appearances by Spider-Man in the MCU, so plenty of time for Spider-Man skyscraper moments. Why show all your cards?
Liz: Didn’t really see a lot of chemistry between Holland and Laura Harrier on screen. I didn’t buy that Peter actually dug her. Just my two cents.
Happy Hogan: Couldn’t stand the character in the movie. He came off like a big dick. I suppose they were going for that, but Favreau rubbed me the wrong way.
Spider-Man joining the Avengers: Tony Stark asks a 15-year old to join the Avengers? And he asks him to stay at the new Avengers facility with a bunch of adults? Seriously? Marvel has to be careful how they handle this one, because while Peter is Spider-Man, he’s still a young boy. As we’ve previously argued here at Cosmic Book News, this is akin to asking a child off to war. It’s a fine line. They did handle it well in Captain America: Civil War, so they need to be careful going forward, especially in Avengers: Infinity War. Now before you argue (because I know what you are going to say), it’s completely different if Spider-Man goes out on his own, but if an adult (Tony Stark) is giving him the keys to a tank, that’s a bit iffy in my book.
The Ugly:
Flash: Not a big fan of liberal replacement of characters for PC purposes. My argument has always been to just create new ones. I don’t want a white Luke Cage or Black Panther. That said, Tony Revolori played the perfect rich-kid intellectual bully. I definitely wanted Spider-Man to bunch him in the face!
Michelle MJ: Spit in the face to comic book fans as Kevin Feige sells out for PC Hollywood BS. I dare Kevin Feige ask Karen Gillan if being a red head means nothing and see her response. Ridiculous, completely unnecessary and disrespectful to anyone that’s a fan of Spider-Man or Mary Jane.
Bokeem Woodbine: Another PC replacement. White Shocker dies, Woodbine becomes Shocker #2. Again, just create a new character. I will say Michael Keaton sold it well when he blasted the first Shocker and then told Woodbine he’s the new shocker. That was pretty funny. Still, just create a new character instead of going the PC route. Maybe I can blame Sony for that as they were responsible for the disaster of the Ghostbusters reboot.
Just to reiterate, a lot of the above is me nitpicking. I did like Spider-Man: Homecoming a lot and can’t wait to see what they do with him in The Avengers: Infinity War!
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” is directed by Jon Watts starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Michael Keaton, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Tyne Daly, Bokeem Woodbine, with Marisa Tomei, and Robert Downey Jr.
Synopsis:
A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.
