Homecoming is the best Spider-Man
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (PG13)
Many have hailed this as the best Marvel film.
While I don't agree with that, Spider-Man: Homecoming is the best Spidey film there is.
After 15 years and five attempts, the character has been brought under the wing of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it is very apparent where he truly belongs.
Both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were pretty good with their takes on Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but Tom Holland utterly nails the character.
For starters, he's actually is a young guy, not a 30-something playing a teenager.
There's also genuine excitement and euphoria from Holland himself, which translates really well to this version of eager puppy Peter Parker.
The story picks up where Captain America: Civil War left off. The epic airport battle where we first see Spider-Man in Civil War is recapped through Peter's video clips taken on his phone camera.
We see how the 15-year-old juggles school and the opposite sex, while enthusiastically finding heroic stuff to do, such as stopping bicycle theft and helping old women with directions.
Peter, under the mentorship of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is dying to get back into action and to be a fully-fledged member of the Avengers.
Of course, Peter thinks he's more than capable to step up to the big time and thus doesn't take to Stark's "training-wheels programme" too well.
So when he stumbles onto Adrian Toome's (Michael Keaton) business of converting alien tech into deadly weapons, Peter knows he needs to take action whether or not he has Iron Man's assistance.
Director Jon Watts' action set pieces are impressive, tight and fast-paced. Not bad considering this is only his third film.
Unlike the other Avengers' and the earlier Spider-Man films where most of the bad guys are over-the-top, Keaton's villain just wants to make money to give his family a good life. His story is grounded in reality.
However, what truly makes the difference that the past five Spider films failed to grasp is that Watts never forgets that this Peter is still a kid, despite having great powers.
There is one particular moment near the final act that speaks volumes, and totally convinced me that this Spider-Man is for keeps.
Holland, who proved that he has acting chops in 2012's The Impossible, is the right person for the job. Bravo.
Rating: 4/5
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