SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is one of the funniest Spider-Man movies in the series where the character of Peter Parker (Tome Holland) is just the right kind of awkward and he is coming into his own as Spider-Man with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in the mentor role.  The movie starts off during and then after the events of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR.   Peter is learning how to fight crime when he stumbles upon the alien technology stealing gang of Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) who are selling the left behind alien tech from the conflict the Avengers fought in the first AVENGERS movie.  Tony tries to persuade him off of fighting the bad guys and be a neighborhood friendly Spider-Man, but Peter must investigate because he wants to prove to Tony that he is worthy of being a hero that could join the Avengers.

 

Meanwhile, Peter deals with teenager life at the Midtown School of Science and Technology.  He has a crush on Liz (a senior while Peter is still two to three grades under her) and he has a best friend (Ned) who accidentally discovers Peter is Spider-Man.  Flash Thompson nicknames Peter as Penis Parker while Peter shies away from all academic activities outside of class to be Spider-Man. He must learn to balance a regular life with a superhero life, but the movie shows the problems that lies in Peter trying to do that (as he hides the truth from his friend and Aunt May what he is actually doing after school in place of the Stark internship cover story).

 

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is one of my favorite Spider-Man movies since the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and better than the Sam Raimi ones.  Michael Keaton’s vulture is one of the best written Marvel villains as you understand why he turned to a life of crime (Tony Stark and the government screwed Toomes out of a salvage cleanup job after the first AVENGERS movie.   You even get to see some fun Easter Eggs (discover how MJ fits into the movie) and other Spider-Man rogues (Shocker, Prowler).   The Captain America videos are fun to watch while the Spider-Man humor is dead on for the character.  It is great to see other IRON MAN characters like Pepper Potts and Happy make an appearance too.   I do hope they deal with little romance in Peter Parker’s life along with him working for the Daily Planet somehow in this environment where newspapers are struggling to stay open in big cities.  I also wonder what Spider-man villains will appear next, but we will have to wait for those answers after Spider-Man first makes his appearance in the next two AVENGERS movies.

 

This review is ©7-10-2017 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com