To See or Not to See: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming is a fun, fresh take on a superhero that has seen his fair share of movies.

In this Spider-Man update, we skip Peter Parker’s Spider-Man origin story (THANK GOD) and jump right into his time as a neighborhood vigilante in Queens. Peter (played by a winsome Tom Holland) is a junior in high school, and, like any teenage boy, has awkward moments and big romantic crushes. As Spiderman, though, Peter is trying to impress Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) so he can be seen as a “real” superhero and work with the Avengers. Tony Stark basically gives him his driver/lackey Happy (Jon Favreau) to report into…and Peter is mostly ignored.

When strange weapons start showing up around his neighborhood, Peter decides to take matters into his own hands. With the help of his tech-whiz best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), Peter used his debate team school trip to D.C. to discover where these weapons are coming from. He does (and the answer is somewhat shocking), and, of course, saves the day.

The cast is super strong in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Marisa Tomei plays a fairly young and hip Aunt May. Michael Keaton is an unexpectedly Mafia-like bad guy. Setting up for future sequels to this franchise is a new-and-improved Michelle aka MJ (Zendaya). A fun rival of Peter’s is Flash played by Tony Revolori. The visuals are, in typical Marvel fashion, very high-quality. The fight sequences are big and exciting. The shining star is, naturally, Tom Holland. His Peter Parker is pitch perfect. He seems age appropriate for the character and story. He has a naivete about him that makes him relatable, but he also has a budding confidence that makes him a potential new Tiger Beat cover guy. This is a superhero movie that will draw in both guys and girls, young and old.

All in all, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a whole lot of fun.

★ ★ ★ ★ out of 4

Photo Credit: Columbia Pictures