Review: Spider-Man Homecoming

2017 has seen the release of some particularly excellent superhero films - the elegiac Logan, the rousing Wonder Woman and now the giddily enjoyable Spider-man: Homecoming. As its title suggests, this is both a return to form for the beloved webslinger (whose previous screen incarnations - Sam Raimi's Spider-man trilogy and Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-man duology - garnered mixed reactions from fans) as well as a fantastic example of the teen movie genre. It's also an auspicious sign that the intellectual property marriage between Sony Pictures, who own the rights to the character, and Marvel Studios, who have been trying to get the character integrated into the MCU, may be a fruitful one.

Certainly the crowd-pleasing appearance of Marvel's own boy wonder during the superhero showdown in Captain America: Civil War was a most mouth-watering appetiser of the main course that is Homecoming. Part of the issues with the previous incarnations was the fact that, as boyish as both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were, there was no getting around that they were on the mature side and thus the character more angst-ridden and narratives inclined to embrace the "with great power there must also come great responsibility" trajectory. That arc isn't ignored in Homecoming but it's made all the more resonant precisely because this Peter is allowed to be and act his age.

It also helps that the screenwriters forgo the usual origin story and instead focus on the events following the battle in Berlin. Though Peter is eager to be a full-fledged member of the Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) isn't exactly ready to induct new members so Peter bides his time, donning the Spidey suit so he can patrol his Queens neighbourhood for any signs of criminal activity and pestering Stark's Guy Friday Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) for news on new assignments. Outside the suit, he's just an ordinary kid, crushing on decathlon teammate Liz (Laura Harrier), geeking out with best buddy Ned (Jacob Batalon), getting ragged on by smug rich kid "Flash" (Tony Revolori), and doing his best not to worry his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei).

Peter wants to prove his mettle to Stark and he gets his chance when he crosses paths with Adrian Toomes aka Vulture (Michael Keaton), a former city contractor whose salvaging company went out of business after Stark partnered with the federal government to form the Department of Damage Control following the Battle of New York. Enraged that the same person who caused the damage is now being paid to clean it up, Toomes convinces his crew - Brice (Logan Marshall-Green), Schultz (Bokeem Woodbine) and Mason (Michael Chernus) - to keep the alien technology they've found amidst the debris and turn it into weapons they can sell. The very profitable business has ensured that Toomes can provide for his family and he's not about to let some guy in a costume ruin his status quo.

Villains have always been a problem in most superhero films (though Marvel deftly circumvented that by spotlighting the internal conflicts that bubbled over in Civil War and which will continue in Avengers: Infinity War), but Toomes stands apart. He's no megalomaniac trying to take over the world, he's a man just earning a living. Which is not to say that he is one of if not the best baddie the MCU has ever had. It was a stroke of genius to cast Keaton, who has unintentionally created his own Avian trilogy - first Batman, then Birdman and now Vulture. Keaton perfectly calibrates Toomes' villainy, rooting his portrayal in humanity rather than overplaying the character's psychosis. One of Toomes' most chilling moments lasts but a second or two when he spots Spider-man thwarting another one of his deals on the Staten Island ferry - the diabolical flash in his eyes is reason enough for one to worry about Spider-man's fate.

One could go on about all the things that Homecoming does right - the hilarious method it uses to integrate Captain America, the way it nods to its sexier Aunt May, its homage to teen classics The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, its witty reference to the 2002 film's famous upside-down kiss, the impracticalities of having to chase bad guys through the wilds of suburbia (where he can't swing from skyscraper to skyscraper with ease), Peter learning all of his suit's capabilities on the fly, and the constant struggle between being a 15-year-old kid and learning how to be a superhero. What he comes to realise is that the latter isn't always about saving lives but rather learning to live with the fact that, despite all one's best efforts, not every life can be saved.

Unfailingly entertaining, Homecoming does what all superhero films should: leave you wanting more.

Spider-man: Homecoming

Directed by: Jon Watts

Written by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers; based on the comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Starring: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Favreau, Hannibal Buress, Bokeem Woodbine, Tyne Daly, Michael Chernus, Logan Marshall-Green, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Angourie Rice, Tony Revolori