Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-man is probably the only comic book that has never quite managed to target the right kind of audience and choose an adequate image. The first attempt was the most mature, and things went downhill from there. At the moment, after a short break, the protagonist has changed and from a fresh adult who can hardly buy alcohol in a shop we have a superhero who has a hot ID. Whether this teen move is good or bad is hard to say, but there is no significant move forward, it just came from somewhere else, and the result is average again. There are highlights, of course. The boat scene (already in the trailer) is impressive and everything about Keaton as the main villain is a treat (the conversation in the car is incredibly tense), but the action, in general, is not so good and there isn’t much of it. And the schoolyard banter and the artificially grafted femme fatale who makes it difficult for the spider-man to make a decision about (not) saving the world is there just to give the story a dramatic arc and the main character a life dilemma. (09/28/2017)

This is the third reboot, so I wasn't that curious, I prefer newer characters, but still I wasn't bored and a few things surprised me, so I have no problem with a better rating. Tom Holland sat well with me in the end despite my prejudices, Laura Harrier is incredibly cute, Michael Keaton is a decent bad guy after a long time, and Robert Downey Jr. steals every scene for himself. As for the action, there is not that much and it's rather mediocre, which is one of the bigger criticisms, otherwise the humour was pretty good, the school setting was fine (I still expected more though), and there was one interesting unexpected twist which may well have decided the final rating. I liked it more than Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy, I would put Spidey in the category of slightly above average Marvel movies. 7/10. (07/05/2017)

Marvel is going a little differently again. Spider-Man draws heavily on teen and high school comedies from the 1980s, and it's in the moments when the lovable Tom Holland tackles the problems of an ordinary teenager that the film is most entertaining. Spider-Man lags a bit in the action, which is unfortunately especially evident in the finale, but it's still a solid above average film. Plus, it can lean on the excellent Michael Keaton, whose villain is more interesting than he first appears. The two actors' scenes together are the strongest moments of the entire film. It's all the more disappointing that Jon Watts overstays his welcome unnecessarily and that he's a little short on the visual effects scenes. Still, it's a very fine Marvel film that tries to embrace the comic book genre a little differently than the previous ones. And I kind of like it that way. (08/16/2017)

Homecoming is a movie version of Iron Man's remote-controlled suit (which also shows up here). On the outside, it works flawlessly and gives you everything that you expect from it (even though it is mostly just a goof; the film goes by rather quickly), but on the inside it is empty and lacks distinctiveness. Except for the scenes with Michael Keaton, whose cartoonish Walter White entertained me far more than Spider-Man’s dilemma of how to ensure world peace while hooking up with a sexy schoolmate. Vulture deserves a solo turn in which his skilfully constructed story will not be hindered by the (mandatory) references to 1980s pop culture or a teenager struggling with his hormones. I was surprised by how conservative the film seems despite its targeting of younger viewers (roughly the same age as the YouTubers whom Peter’s opening video diary addresses) who might have a rebellious streak in them. Homecoming is a veritable anti-Deadpool. The characterisation of Aunt May begins and ends with the acronym “MILF” and the other more prominent female character is here only so that Spider-Man has someone to save. Of the two people’s heroes, only the actions of the one who acts with the blessing of a huge corporation (and with the help of its super-modern drone-like technologies) are correct, though he strenuously tries to convince himself and those around him that he doesn’t need Stark to have his back, which is underscored by two impassioned scenes of last-minute epiphanies. The only touch of anarchy, which the film unfortunately does not take into account at all, is Spider-Man's reckless destruction of other people’s property (and the likely killing of dozens of civilians in the climax), which repeatedly results from his efforts to do heroic deeds. It is also for this reason that the pathos-free civilian level works much better, the dialogue scenes reminding us that Peter is, at heart, just an ordinary kid off the street who knows where to get the best sandwiches in Queens, but he cannot help you resolve serious moral dilemmas. If the filmmakers had not forced him to be responsible and had not attempted to make his action fit within the template of superhero epics, the new Spider-Man could have been much more compelling. Pro tip: take a sheet of paper containing the names of your favourite characters from the series to the cinema and mark down every time Atlanta’s Earnest Marks, Broad City’s Lincoln Rice, Silicon Valley’s Bertram Gilfoyle or Better Call Saul’s Nacho Varga pops up on the screen. 70% (07/03/2017)

It took fifteen years and required six attempts, but in the end they managed to turn Spider-Man into a successful movie. It's not Spider-man. It´s more like Iron Man Junior, but even this is enough. Sometimes Parker's high school fateful melodramatic adventures were more successful, other times Spidey's acrobatic moments. However, Waits manages both approaches by acting as two communicating vessels, which goes hand in hand with the fact that, for the first time ever, the Parker / Spidey duality does not act as two unrelated characters, but only as a Parker teenager without / with a ski hood over a face that he has much greater ambitions and ideals than he currently has the skills to do. Yet Spidey's best incarnation is still that by the Insomniacs. The only drawback is, sadly, the lengthy confusing final night action with zero room for Aunt May, the ignored spider's sense and the need to adjust it to "Avengers MCU". It's way too much highlighted and it's not needed (however Captain America's educational videos are worth some patience). Otherwise, Waits plays with the topic, it´s packed with imaginative details (à la difficulties outside the urban area), sidekick is not annoying, humor works, the villain does the job, his motivation is clear, Padawan (not) origin is well conceived and a there´s a nice relaxed approach like "we don't save the world and skyscrapers do not fall, but we can create a tense atmosphere of Mann's scope even from a meeting with a father before the prom". (07/07/2017)