Spider-Man: Homecoming: A Spider-Man for a New Generation

I watched Spider-Man: Homecoming with my sister this afternoon as she had yet to see it (and for probably the third maybe fourth time), and I thought it was pretty good, not nearly as spectacular as I initially thought, but still a fun, funny, and novel comic book film.

I never really bought the high schooler aspect of Peter Parker's character prior to this film, Tom Holland really sells it.

The story itself is pretty unique as far as Marvel films go, because it's not so much of a Spider-Man film as a Peter Parker film. Yes, there's a good deal of web-slinging in the plot, but the majority of it revolves around Peter's life itself, from wanting to become an Avenger to enduring the trials and tribulations of high school. Peter is also very much changed from both Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire's versions, being somewhere in between Garfield's ingenuity/levity and Maguire's awkwardness. The film completely forgoes his origin story, it being regulated to a single line, and the entire character of Uncle Ben, who isn't mentioned. However, his place is taken by Tony Stark, who tries (and somewhat fails) to be the father figure to Peter that he lacked. One of my personal favorite elements of the plot was that of Vulture, the antagonist. A thief, he's not initially hostile to Peter, and in fact is the principle voice of not escalating the conflict, only doing so after his operation is essentially exposed. Hell, he's not even a particularly imposing villain, after all, his only goal is to make enough money to sustain himself. The growth of his crew from contractors to inventors was interesting, especially as they really just seemed like a group of (illicit activity aside) ordinary working men, and the principle members had personality. Really, though this film would seem like a comic book movie, I'd argue that it's closer to a drama with comedic elements throughout.

Keaton plays the dark mirror of Birdman, and manages to make a minor antagonist feel menacing.

Technically I didn't notice really anything interesting at play in this film, though both the Spideysuit and Vulture's Glider were pretty darn cool and had personality to them (as in they felt grounded in the world). There was really only one scene that I feel is worth noting from a technical aspect, which takes place at the start of the climax. We see good use of closeup shots, long pauses, and lighting used to convey a character's realization, and even by the acting alone it is a great dramatic scene. However outside of this I didn't notice anything that stuck with me in this film. It's just another visually pleasing, but somewhat forgettable technically Marvel film. Hell, this isn't Citizen Kane, though I wish a comic book film was to be perfectly honest.

Ned steals every scene he's in, and his friendship with Peter is probably the highlight of this film, they just feel authentic in all their geeky glory

In summary Spider-Man: Homecoming is a fun watch. Is it a good film? Decent, nothing spectacular, but it's a great and novel comic book movie, and a great improvement over The Amazing Spiderman series. If you're tired of world-threatening plots or trashy high school romantic dramas, Spider-Man: Homecoming has both of those covered with a smaller and more down to earth tale to tell about responsibility and balancing aspects of one's life.