SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

"If you're nothing without the suit then you shouldn't have it..."

It was a long wait from the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Iron Man for Spider-Man to join the legion of heroes that made up that world. And in last year's Captain America: Civil War, it finally happened, and to near perfection. Spider-Man's Homecoming...if you'll pardon the pun...was finally at hand, and now, he's got his own solo movie. Question is...Does it deliver everything fans wanted it to? And fortunately, for the most part, the answer is yes.

I'd just like to say from the start that Spider-Man is my all-time favourite Superhero, so naturally my expectations were held very high for this film, after all, Marvel finally had their hands back on their most famous property. That being said, the movie is still technically in the hands of Sony, the company behind the character's not so...brilliant...outings, so I had my concerns, minimal as they were...

In truth the chance of this happening again was small...

Those concerns aside for a moment, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a really fun movie. It's not perfect, and there are moments, mainly in the first act, where everything feels a bit messy, but it is still fun to watch. The plot follows Peter Parker not necessarily during his first days as Spider-Man, but after the events in Civil War, his fame is certainly rising, and this film shows how those events have changed both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. As a gang of criminals use alien technology to develop high tech and very dangerous weapons, Peter must go against the advice of his Mentor Tony Stark and take them head on.

When it's put like that, the plot itself is quite simple, but the film does devote a good amount of time to Peter when he's out of the costume, and while I guess that's necessary, the two plots, one of Peter and one of Spidey, didn't always flow as well as they could've done. I didn’t really find myself caring a huge amount about what was happening in Peter Parker's life when I knew another Spidey scene must be just round the corner.

On the topic of scenes featuring the hero, there are a fair few, and they're all a lot of fun to watch.

Spider-Man's action scenes were both funny and dynamic, however, some of them would've prospered by not being shown in the trailers, especially the suit's gadgets and extra tech, which would've all been nice surprises had the trailers not shown them off months before. The scenes were fast flowing and more often than not contained a lot of Spider-Man's quirky and often funny commentaries on what was unfolding around him.

On to Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland.

In Civil War, Holland got very little time to shine considering Spidey only gets two or three scenes in the film, that being said, he did a great job, and that continues here. He brings exactly what's needed to the role of Spider-Man and portrays the awkwardness of Peter Parker a bit more realistically than the first two versions did. Peter goes through the film trying at every opportunity to show Tony Stark that he can be a hero, and Holland delivers those scenes very well.

In the role of the villain, we have Michael Keaton as the Vulture.

In full honesty, he probably won't go down as one of Marvel's best villains like so few do. Yes, Keaton does bring a good performance and certainly comes across as more...snarly, than most villains do, in that way only Keaton can. And while that did help his character in this film, like so many other Marvel movies, the focus wasn't every really on him or the reasons behind his actions. Plus, you have to way up how much time Keaton actually spent in the role considering the villain he's playing. All that aside, he was good fun to watch, even if I'll still remember him as Batman before anything else.

The other big role in the film obviously goes to Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark. Well, I say big role...

Yes, he's in the film, and in Peter's mind, he's a big presence. Rightfully so, as he is Peter's hero. But in the film in general, he doesn't show up a huge amount. I think I counted four scenes, if that. And honestly, I think that's a good thing. I didn't want to stop focusing on Spider-Man just so Iron Man could take centre stage, and I didn't have to. Tony Stark is a part of this film, but he doesn't distract from Peter's story.

All in all, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a fun film, one which finds it's place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe fairly well and is a solid base for the character's future films in this world. The action scenes were as fun as they ever have been, and it just goes to show that superheroes like Spider-Man are loved for a reason. It's not a dark film, and rightly so. Peter Parker's world isn't as complicated as most superheroes, and neither is his film. It's simple, and it works. That being said, there is still part of me that knows this film would've benefited from being in Marvel's complete control, as opposed to being split between them and Sony, with a director more used to making Superhero films...

Also...I'm quite liking Spider-Man's 'homemade' costume, and I kinda wish it had more time on screen...