Spider-Man: Homecoming (SPOILERS)

With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility...

What better way to start this review than with the words that encapsulate everything about quite possibly my favorite superhero of all time: Spider-Man! I've been a fan of him since I was introduced to him as a boy. Recently, the famous wall crawler has not seen good years in the media. The Raimi movies were cancelled due to disputes with Sony, then the same happened to Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man series. In the realm of animation, the awesome The Spectacular Spider-Man series was cancelled and replaced with Ultimate Spider-Man, which has since ended in time for a new series to come soon. To say Spidey hasn't seen good days recently would be a massive understatement. However, the MCU has been able to reach a licensing agreement with Sony and have finally brought him into their universe, and the final product has been quite successful. There was promise when he was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, but Homecoming has more than solidified the fact that Spider-Man has finally found a place to stay for however long that may be. That said, is it the truly definitive version that has come to pass? Well, not for me at least. And here is why that is the case:

UPS

1. Tom Holland is fantastic! Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield did great in their takes as Spidey, but Holland may just surpass them as the definitive live-action version of the character. He just feels so natural in the role and really embodies a gawky young teenager trying to balance out his normal life from his life as Spider-Man while also feeling like he's on top of the world thanks to his newfound powers. He really did a spectacular job and I can't wait to see more of his adventures as time goes on. 
2. The other cast members were great fun as well. Robert Downey Jr. is as amazing as always playing Tony Stark, but here there's a different side to him that I don't think we've seen before; the one where he acts (or at least tries to) like the father Peter never had, with the moment he takes Peter's suit being the highlight of that particular side. Meanwhile, Jacob Batalon does well as Ned, sharing a great dynamic with Holland that more than makes up for the absence of Harry Osborn and providing fantastic comic relief that makes him just as lovable. Laura Harrier also does a great job as Liz Allan, Tony Revolori does his best to make a badly written Flash Thompson work (more on that later,) and Zendaya delivers a unique version of MJ(!?) Marissa Tomei also does fine even if Aunt May doesn't exactly work this time around (more on that later as well,) and Jon Favreau even gets to do more this time around as Happy Hogan, who really gets the chance to shine here. All in all, the cast is great and I loved each and every one of them. Now of course, a good hero would not be complete without a good villain, and thankfully...
3. Michael Keaton is awesome as the Vulture! While it seems clear that he's stuck with playing characters who dress up as creatures that fly, Keaton just seems to kill it every time. The MCU has started a trend in creating villains that prove just as interesting and memorable as the heroes and aren't named Loki, with Vulture really kicking that into full force! He's got a motive that is compelling and relatable, while providing enough menace to be a genuine threat, and the twist revealing him as Liz's father was extremely effective and unexpected, raising the stakes for Peter and making things extremely personal. Also, his theme song KICKS ASS!!!
4. The tone really fits the film. It's got an upbeat feeling that works well with the high school setting and with Spidey's antics whenever the Vulture isn't involved. This movie is also very, very funny. A thing I like about the MCU, one thing I feel they excel at, is the humor, and this movie does that exceptionally well. All in all, this movie did a good job making you feel good, which I believe a Spider-Man movie should always carry with it. 
5. This movie, here more than anywhere else, is where I feel they captured the idea of Peter learning that with great power, comes great responsibility perfectly. Throughout the movie, Peter feels like he can do almost anything with his new powers, but he soon realizes that some things are too big to handle, even for Spider-Man. By the end, Peter learns that he should stick to what he's truly capable of doing instead of trying to be bigger than he actually is. And that is something we can all truly relate and inspire to.

DOWNS

1. The romance just didn't really go anywhere for the most part. I'm not saying it had to be a primary focus of the movie, but much like "Wonder Woman," I think it needed more time to grow. Oh well, I guess we'll see where Peter goes with Michelle...or MJ?
2. The suit doesn't really work for me. It just seems too animated and the technical stuff was too much (but I did like "Karen.") For all intents and purposes, all I'm going to say is sometimes, less is more. The suit introduced at the end looked pretty sick though. 
3. Remember how I said Tony Revolori and Marisa Tomei did fine despite problems with the way their characters were written, well that's all that could be said because Flash Thompson and Aunt May were written all wrong to me. While I understand why they portrayed them the way they did, it's just not who they are. Flash is someone Peter could never stand up to, only doing so because of the newfound confidence his powers had given him. Once that happens, the tension between the two starts to lessen as time goes on, with the two even gaining a begrudging respect for one another. Here, he's a rich jerk who wants to be better than Peter at his own game, which makes his rivalry with Peter totally different and much less interesting. In the case of Aunt May, I was already queasy about her when she was introduced in "Civil War," but just like it did with convincing me that Holland is the definitive Spider-Man, "Homecoming" unfortunately convinced me that this Aunt May just isn't going to work for me. While I'm not saying Aunt May has to be ugly or anything, it just doesn't feel right seeing her portrayed as a middle-aged diva who is hit on by pretty much every guy that's not Peter (or Ned.) She may get better with time, same for Flash, but as of right now, these two are going to have a hard time topping these two.

OVERALL
Spider-Man: Homecoming is the Spider-Man movie we needed for a long time now. I'm very happy to see that my favorite hero is now in a place where he belongs. Now of course, it's got a few flaws, and while I loved it, it can't top Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. Thankfully though, it's still amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing Spidey swinging his way back into our theater for Infinity War and beyond.

And now time to close out this blog the only way it should...