This Parker fits nicely

IF Spider-Man: Homecoming is the reboot we had to have, at least it is a classy one. This is the third time the story of the web-slinging superhero has been told since 2002, and this time the role of Peter Parker is played by Tom Holland, as Spidey’s story is officially integrated into Marvel’s sprawling cinematic universe.

We last saw Spider-Man during Captain America: Civil War, when Tony Stark drafted the untested teenage superhero into his team to fight Captain America.

Spider-Man: Homecoming picks up the story shortly after those events, as Parker returns to his boring life back in New York City. He got to keep the cool suit Stark made for him, but despite his eagerness to work with the Avengers again, they just don’t return his calls.

So he is stuck in the cycle of going to school all day, and using his powers to fight petty crime and give directions to little old ladies in his spare time.

But he gets his chance to try to prove himself with the arrival of the Vulture.

Otherwise known as Adrian Tooms (Michael Keaton), he is a brilliant weapons engineer who is salvaging alien technology and turning it into superweapons that are finding their way into the hands of street thugs and criminals all over New York. He has also made himself a nifty set of wings. So against the advice of Stark, Parker decides to bring down the Vulture on his own.

This movie endeared itself to me straight away by being the first Spider-Man movie brave enough to use the old Spider-Man theme music in its opening titles. It was actually a very stirring piece of orchestration and really set the tone for the movie. An excellent decision.

And can I just say thank goodness we didn’t have to do the origin story again. Homecoming makes only the briefest passing mention of Spidey’s genesis and just gets on with telling its story.

Now, in just about any other film I would probably consider it to be lazy storytelling to assume this much existing knowledge on behalf of the viewer. But this is the second time this story has been rebooted, and we didn’t need to do the whole radioactive-spider-Uncle-Bendying thing all over again, did we?

Maybe there are people out there who aren’t familiar with the backstory and wanting to know how it all started, but that story has been told twice already in two previous franchises, so maybe it’s fair to just assume a little pop culture knowledge this time around.

Instead we are just dropped into the middle of this kid’s double life. A huge part of Spider-Man’s appeal as a hero is his relatability for awkward, nerdy teenage boys. A lot of this texture was lost with the last reboot — Andrew Garfield was just too pretty to be believable as geeky Peter.

But Holland captures all of that awkwardness and angst perfectly. He looks and sounds the part and I totally believe him as some 15-year-old who inherited the suit after a lab accident and just found himself living this double life, with the tricky balance of being unpopular at school while resisting the urge to tell everyone of his alter-ego.

One of my big gripes with any superhero film is not getting to see the hero in costume enough. Here we do actually see him suited up early and the action is great, but the climactic battle sees him basically fighting the bad guy in his trackies, which is a tad disappointing.

There is some very good writing at work here, not just in the way it fits the story into the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but there are also some genuinely clever twists and reveals, as well as neatly setting up the villain for the next movie.

Keaton is a fantastic bad guy, and I kinda liked seeing the in-gag of the Birdman star playing another kind of bird-man in this movie. As a villain, he is creepy, intimidating and mesmerising, an excellent choice.

There is some occasionally dippy-looking CGI, though. Mostly the effects are great, but from time to time the characters don’t quite look like they’re part of the scene. It might just be an artefact of the 3D conversion, but they pop just a bit too much.

Running for two hours and 13 minutes, Homecoming is a long movie, but it feels much shorter, thanks to its snappy pacing and excellent dialogue. It pokes a lot of fun at itself, really nailing the cartoonish vibe, but never pushing it too far, with director Jon Watts keeping a good balance of humour and drama.

And is it just me or are Stan Lee’s cameos (contractually obligated as they are) getting more and more obnoxious each time?

Spider-Man: Homecoming is a snappy, funny and enjoyable flick, being that much better precisely for not rehashing the stuff it doesn’t need to. Can’t wait to see more of him.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is now showing at Village Cinemas and Cmax, rated M. Rating: