Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is back and he’s having the time of his life. And so are all his friends. Even the villain.
Tom Holland is the newest (age appropriate) Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming and he’s definitely the best one yet, in case that wasn’t clear enough for you from Civil War. We finally get to see a real teenager play a high school student who just so happens to have been bitten by a radioactive spider that gives him super powers. But other than that, he’s just another normal kid who hangs out with his friend best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and harbours a secret crush on Liz (Laura Harrier).
When he’s not in school, he’s going to his “internship” at Stark Industries. Oh, he also attempts to stop Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) a.k.a. Wing Suit Guy a.k.a (eventually known as) Vulture from stealing weaponry from the Department of Damage Control while making sure glowing radioactive bombs don’t blow up. You know, just super casual stuff that every 15-year-old does.
What comes as a shock to absolutely no one is that the Spider-Man movies are actually a lot of fun when we don’t have to keep being reminded that Uncle Ben dies. Without that dark cloud looming over us, we can just focus on Peter Parker learning how to be a superhero, while still trying to figure out how to be a teenager. There’s something so refreshing about seeing Peter worry about normal teenager things, like going to homecoming, asking a girl out, and dealing with school bully. Peter Parker is learning to become Spider-Man, but Spider-Man is also finally learning how to be Peter Parker.
Holland never takes himself too seriously as Peter, and that’s what makes him such a good choice for the role. It takes a teen to know a teen. I have a feeling many teens will relate to and appreciate Michelle’s (Zendaya) sarcastic, dry, awkward humour. And while the characters in Spider-Man: Homecoming are obviously crucial and well-cast, it was great to see that Queens ended up being a character in the film as well, even highlighting the significance of bodegas in New York and their beloved cat mascots.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is not only a great superhero movie, but there’s also a great teen movie underneath all the web-slinging. It’s not a film that fits neatly into one genre box, just like Peter and his friends can’t all be neatly labelled as one specific high school stereotype. Homecoming can be hit or miss, but rest assured, Homecoming is a guaranteed good time. Just don’t walk in thinking it will completely change your life, which is pretty much the same advice I would give to any freshman.
Rating: 7/10