As the Marvel Cinematic Universe grows larger every year, add on Spider-Man/ Peter Parkers introduction in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, fans were eagerly anticipating the wall crawlers “Homecoming” into the official Marvel Universe. Spider-Man: Homecoming is worth the wait and all the hype, to finally see a film get not just some, but every aspect of Spider-Man absolutely right. Tom Holland, in his second appearance as the character, is given his own full length feature, and if you thought he was great in his brief Civil War appearance, you’ll love how well he encapsulates the wall crawler in Homecoming. Director Jon Watts finds the perfect balance in the film, giving both Peter and Spider-Man the perfect amount of screen time, never overshadowing one with the other. Clocking in at just over 2 hours, the movie has plenty of time to give the movies main villain, The Vulture, a backstory that fits not only the film, but gives the MCU a sense of cohesiveness, rarely felt outside of an Avengers movie, referencing different events from both phases of films. This being the Vultures first cinematic appearance it seems proper to spend this much time introducing fans to the character, seeing that audiences by now undoubtedly know the origin of the titular wall crawler, given this being his third franchise reboot. The Vulture never suffers from the generic villain syndrome either, giving him very grounded, and relatable motives. This is in large part thanks to Michael Keaton. Keaton gives an otherwise forgettable character his first and maybe best performance, taking what sounds like a lame and nonthreatening character and turning him into a relatable, compassionate and at times menacing Villain, on par with Alfred Molina’s portrayal of Doctor Octopus in 2004’s Spider-Man 2.

Unlike previous entries in the franchise, similar to Iron-Man’s cinematic debut, Homecoming keeps a grounded and small scale story, giving Spider-Man a much needed close to the chest type story to familiarize audiences with the character and give him time to shine in his own adventure before throwing him into the deep end in next years Avengers: Infinity War. This shrunken down scale of the movie also allows time to expand on the supporting characters of Peters life, such as Marisa Tomei returning as Aunt May, Jacob Batalon as Peters best friend Ned, Laura Harrier as Liz, and returning MCU favorites John Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. as Happy Hogan and Tony Stark. Tomei’s age was criticized as being “too young”, but her chemistry with this younger take on Peter works really well and the two have great chemistry together. Batalon has great chemistry with Holland as well, providing not only most of the movies laughs, but a valuable ally and friend to Spider-Man/ Peter Parker. Harrier plays the love interest to Peter and although her return to the Marvel universe seems unlikely, she proves a unique character never seen in a Spider-Man movie to date. Despite what the trailers make it seem, John Favreau takes the reigns as Spidey’s sitter, back seating Tony until Spidey gets in over his head. This works well for the movie, bringing in Iron-Man only when the story calls for it, giving Happy much needed screen time since his absence after Iron-Man 3, and again balancing the characters very well, while still reminding us this is Spider-Mans show. 

Michael Giacchino again composes a memorable score, easily one of the best scores to come from a Spider-Man movie. The movies special effects are as good as this years Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, proving Marvel still has what it takes to keep up in the ever expanding special effects world. Homecoming does a very nice job trying to break the traditional layout of the comic book movie. With spectacular action scenes and high school events and montages that feel reminiscent of an 80’s John Hughes movie, Homecoming never feels like your traditional summer blockbuster, with one of its best scenes being an exchange of dialogue between Holland and Keaton. With what has been a slow start to the summer movie scene, Spider-Man: Homecoming couldn’t have come at a better time. Starting off summer with one of Marvel’s best movies to date, and an overall smart, well put together film, Homecoming is not just a clever name for the return of one of Marvel’s most popular properties, but one of 2017’s best movies.

9 out of 10.

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