Two years later saw a sequel that is seen by many including myself as the best Spider-Man film. The hype for a third installment was at an all-time high. Then as soon as it came out in 2007, the downward spiral started. The choices made in that film has given us some memorable guffs. From the random dancing and Peter Parker's emo look.
Then 2012 saw me get pretty angry. After initially planning a fourth installment, the failure of part 3 forced Sony to do a premature reboot. I don't them going for a different look. But to give it a five-year gap was far too soon. I get that the deal Sony had was that they had to make another film to keep the rights to the source material. But with Maguire still fresh in our minds, having Andrew Garfield come in as well as everything else just made me angry for this happening so quickly.
Their re-branding gave us The Amazing Spider-Man. The first film was perfectly fine despite it being another origin story that we have already seen. Then its sequel two years later just saw them do the same mistakes with Spiderman 3. Too many villains, and it was all about setting-up a new universe rather than just giving a standalone story.
Now with Marvel finally securing co-creativity control with Sony, many fans are hopeful that this third birth of Spider-Man could be its most successful one. With youngster Tom Holland now taking the reigns as the web-slinger, the hype was pretty good.
Would you believe it, I had a really fun time with this one. It opens up well, I liked how the story was tieing in with The Avengers and I had already laughed a good amount before the second act. I was surprised at how much of the story was non-generic. It talked about high-school life and growing up, as well as having your typical fun and exciting superhero action. After that, the fun remained there and I still laughed consistently throughout the solid action set-pieces and well executed character moments. There were also some unexpected changes to the dynamic of the film that kept me invested.
Tom Holland I thought did a great job as both Spider-Man and Peter Parker. You could feel that everyday-man persona that makes the character of Spider-Man so popular and relatable. I would be very pleased if he eventually becomes the definitive version of Spider-Man.
Michael Keaton was one of the more solid and memorable villains in Marvel as Vulture. I liked his backstory, he was never over-the-top and they gave the character more than enough screen-time to make us understand him.
I loved the involvement of Robert Downey Jnr. and Jon Favreau. They had great comedic value and the way they linked in with the story was very entertaining. I had my doubts that their screentime could make it into more like an Iron Man film. Thankfully, that was never the case.
A great standout in the supporting roles was Jacob Batalon. He was great with Holland, and created most of the laughs. There was also great work by Zendaya. She might not have had much time on screen. But it was wisely utilized.
Sadly, I thought Laura Harrier was weak as the love interest.
I wasn't too hot on the casting choice of Flash Thompson played by Tony Revolori. I liked him in The Grand Budapest Hotel. But this role just did not feel right for me.
Another one where I'm still a bit unsure on, is the casting Marisa Tomei as Aunt May. It does feel weird seeing someone a lot younger play a role that in the source material is for a much older looking lady. She did not fully win me over. But Tomei's performance is getting me there slowly.
I was not expecting to say this, but I felt that the writing was the films strongest aspect. There is a great amount of comedic moments, cultural references and general sharpness and wit in the script. I don't think I had laughed that hard at a Marvel film since Guardians Of The Galaxy in 2014.
I also liked that fact that a lot it felt like a standalone. They have ignored the origin story and got straight into the action, because they know that we the audience know that particular story like the back of our hand.
I must mention a personal negative of mine. There is a small use of my favourite villain from the animated series that ended up being wasted. It was a real shame for me, and I hope to see it fully used in the future.
While some of the younger audience members may get bored by it, as it lacks constant action and moves at a slightly slower pace. I think on the whole this is a lot of fun and very enjoyable.
I wouldn't call it great though. There is a lot of formulaic moments that you see in any superhero film, and the stakes might not be that high to make my rating an exceptionally high one. But there is a lot to like and it has a good amount of twists and turns and even some clever self-referential moments.
Holland could be the Spider-Man everybody is wanting, and this tone could be the one we have for this particular superhero.
I still think Spider-Man 2 is the best one. But Homecoming comes awfully close.
I must mention that there are two scenes during the credits, one in the middle and one at the end. The first one is just pure set-up for the sequel. But the last one is just for comedic value, and it's brilliant. You may get annoyed by it. But you may also feel that it was very clever and funny at the same time. In my opinion, it could well be the best post credits scene in a Marvel movie ever.
Rating: 7/10
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