SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING – Rated PG-13 – 2 hrs 13 mins.

SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING – Rated PG-13 – 2 hrs 13 mins.

Starring Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr., Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Zendaya & Donald Glover

Here Comes Spider-Man!

After our introduction to Spider-Man in “Captain America: Civil War”, fans were left eagerly-anticipating the new look and feel of the character. The film opens as cleanup from the Battle of New York against Loki and the Chitauri is underway. A small construction crew is hired to remove all of the alien items, until they are shut down by Stark Industries. Fast–forward eight years later. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” introduces us to Peter’s normal, everyday life. Struggling for something more after the events in Germany (see “Captain America: Civil War”), Peter spends his nights thwarting small crime in the city. Until one night, he encounters powerful and enhanced weaponry that nearly kills him. With Peter wanting to investigate and contribute, and Tony (aka Happy) keeping a watchful-eye, he must discover who is making all of the weapons. Peter faces the ultimate test in-balancing his public life and his secret one, but he must do so in-order to protect his city, and those he loves.

Tom Holland stars as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. As we witnessed in “Captain America: Civil War”, Holland’s charisma and youthful-nature fit the character perfectly, as it gives us one of, if not, the most true-to-from iterations of the character. Michael Keaton plays Adrien Toomes, the man tasked to clean-up New York and who eventually becomes Vulture. Robert Downey Jr. reprises his phenomenal role of Tony Stark/Iron Man, as he is serving as the “father” figure to Peter. Marisa Tomei returns as Peter’s attractive aunt, May Parker. Jon Favreau is back as Tony’s most-trusted assistant, Happy Hogan. Gwyneth Paltrow reprises her role of Pepper Potts. Laura Harrier plays a high school senior who shares her affections for Peter, Liz. Donald Glover has a small role as Aaron Davis. Jacob Batalon plays Peter’s best friend and “the man in the chair”, Ned. Zendaya, Tony Revolori, and Abraham Attah play fellow classmates of Peter: Michelle, Flash, and Abe. Bokeem Woodbine plays one of Toomes’ associates, Herman Schultz/Shocker. Hannibal Buress has a small role as a high school gym teacher, Coach Wilson. Tyne Daly plays the woman in-charge of Stark’s asset containment, Anne Marie Hoag.

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” does a marvelous job of establishing Peter Parker in the MCU; it’s filled with humor, storytelling, and plenty of action, which makes it not only one of Marvel’s finest, but the best Spider-Man film yet! First of all, the film relies-heavily on Tom Holland, which is a great thing because he IS Peter Parker. He absolutely nails it, from his moral contemplations to his interactions at school; he is absolutely the most accurate Peter Parker yet! Also making the film such as success is how “young” his character still is. In “Spider-Man: Homecoming”, he’s only 15 years old. Not only do they make plenty of references to the fact, but he is still figuring-out how to use the suit, let alone for what. I love that he isn’t fully-defined or functioning, it makes him seem much more real and it’s a breath of fresh air in the “origin story” canon. It also brings a great father-son dynamic between him and Iron Man, which is clearly what Tony has wanted all along. The supporting cast is great as well: it’s always fun to see Happy, his friends (primarily Batalon) offer plenty of comedic moments, and Keaton is (to the surprise of no one) an excellent villain. Not a villain in the typical sense of the word though. Keaton’s Toomes is the film’s primary antagonist, but I loves how he wasn’t focused on destroying the World or killing innocent civilians; instead, he had his own agenda which I thought was a great change-of-pace for the MCU. While being released under the Sony umbrella, obviously Marvel had their hands-in this as well. This showed that, with compromise and understand, that a joint-studio superhero production is entirely possible; maybe there’s hope for “Fantastic Four” yet! Michael Giacchino’s courageous score is a great addition to the film as well, one that I can’t wait to listen to once it’s released! Sure, the film strongly-benefits from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (with countless references, characters inclusions, etc.), but it is also a great free-standing superhero film that everybody can relate to. Just make sure you go-in knowing as little as possible! “Spider-Man: Homecoming” has a run time of 133 minutes and it slings-by! “Spider-Man: Homecoming” is yet another monstrous hit for Marvel and a badly-needed one for Sony; 2+ hours of pure entertainment, the Spider-Man that we’ve always wanted, and one of the best MCU films yet!

STAY UNTIL AFTER THE CREDITS!!

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” follows Peter Parker after squaring-off against the Avengers, while he is in-search of his true purpose. The film features plenty of humor, a fantastic story, and a ton of awesome action sequences. If you are going to the movies this weekend, go see “Spider-Man: Homecoming”!!

Rating 4.5/5 

Tony Mosello