SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
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Does Peter Parker feel at home in the MCU? SFX snares the movie in its critical web.
released OUT NOW! 12a | 133 minutes Director Jon Watts Cast Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Zendaya, robert downey Jr, Jon Favreau
We’re sure you all agree that if there’s one thing the world doesn’t need, it’s another version of bloody Peter Parker being bitten by a bloody spider and learning how to be bloody Spider-Man from bloody scratch. It’s been done too many times – most recently in the enjoyable but ultimately rathertoo-familiar The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 – and we’re sick of it. If he needs to be rebooted at all (and he does, after a deal between Sony/Marvel Studios that left poor Andrew Garfield out in the cold), all we ask is that filmmakers bring on the fully hatched Spidey and just... well, let rip.
And that, in a nutshell, is what Spider-Man: Homecoming does. From the very second it starts we’re immersed in Peter’s world with barely a moment to draw a breath; there are no flashbacks to radioactive laboratories or background-filling introductions here. The movie begins with Peter’s own filmed footage as we revisit his MCU debut in Captain America: Civil War and experience his breathtaking glee at not only being around other superheroes, but also having a purpose. But then comes the “homecoming” part of the film’s title... because it ends. Sent back to New York, Peter still has Tony Stark’s amazing Spidey suit with him but nothing much to do, barring stopping the odd bike thief or helping lost old ladies. He’s adrift, a superhero with nothing to be heroic for, while the rest of the world rumbles on.
Thankfully – for him at least – Michael Keaton’s nicely layered bad guy soon shows up, a salvage expert who has used alien tech from the Chitauri invasion to build weapons as well as a powerful Vulture suit (got to love the meta Birdman vibes here). Predictably, Spidey and Vulture go head-tobeak, and suddenly this young whippersnapper is proving to the Starks of the world that he’s part of the big leagues, too.
That’s actually a carefully spoiler-free simplification of a pleasingly packed film that might run to 133 minutes but zips by like, well, Spidey swinging between skyscrapers. The story really does fly, leaping from setpiece to setpiece crazily but never illogically – everything feels grounded and believable (despite the occasional moment of computer-gamey CGI, which seems to be a downside to every Spider-Man film to date). Best of all is Tom Holland, who feels so fresh and convincing as the wisecracking, love-lorn, nerdy teenager that you forget any other Peter Parker ever existed. He’s sparky and charismatic, a perfect everyman (or everyteen) and a guy you can identify with on every level – even if that level is hanging
Holland is so convincing as the lovelorn, nerdy teenager
off the side of a plane mid-flight. What’s truly stunning about
Homecoming, though, is its comic timing. Director Jon Watts may be a relative newbie to the big screen but he honed his craft on satirical show The Onion News Network, which probably explains why there are so few duff jokes and so many absolute zingers. We’re not just talking about the script, mind you, which Watts only co-wrote – it’s evident in everything. Scenes which might have fallen a little flat are given extra oomph not only by the performances but by everything from camera placement to editing; rarely do these staples work in such harmony as they do here.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is absolutely hilarious, from the moment it opens to what is surely the best final line in any film you’ll see this decade.
There are two stings – one mid-credits and one at the end – but neither, sadly, tie in to other MCU films. This is largely due to the character’s complicated Marvel/Sony rights issues, that have not only frustrated fans for years but have bought many a lawyer’s vacation pad. Alas, it seems that while we’ll definitely see more of Holland’s webslinger, from now on he won’t integrate quite as seamlessly into the MCU as he does here. Which is a shame, because Holland and Robert Downey Jr really crackle together on screen – not only in costume, but as Parker and Stark, too.
Let’s face it, if you’re only 19 and you can go toe-to-toe with Iron Man and come out on top, you’re something pretty special. As is this movie.