‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Movie Review (2017): One for the Little Guys
Spider-Man: Homecoming is my favourite Marvel movie yet.
I told my dad this the minute I got home for the theatre, and he said, “really? Even more than the Cap movies?” I said yes easily without a single doubt, because it’s true. Here’s why.
I haven’t met a movie or TV show in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that I didn’t like. But in general, the Universe operates on a more-than-human level. And don’t get me wrong — I love that. I love big, otherworldly action movies. I love watching the Avengers take down the Chitauri, Thor and Loki fighting each other, and Scarlet Witch shoving Vision miles down through the Earth.
But Peter Parker is different. He doesn’t operate on international, galaxy-wide levels. He’s a just a fifteen-year-old kid from Brooklyn, and because of that, the movie is decidedly, wonderfully mortal. Peter himself may be genetically enhanced, but everything else is very, very mundane. Venom is just a father with a pair of alien metal wings trying to provide for his family. Iron Man is just a guy trying to help a kid not make the mistakes he did, while simultaneously making a lot of the same mistakes his father did. Peter is a nerd with a nerdy best friend who’s just trying to fit in.
It’s still a superhero movie, but at its core, it’s also a coming-of-age film about a teenager trying to find his place in the world. And that’s what makes it work.
Spider-Man is my favourite superhero because he’s always been the most real and the most human to me. One of the first superhero films I ever watched and liked was the original (rebooted) Spider-Man series with Tobey Maguire, but even then, there was something missing for me. I wasn’t a huge fan of MJ, or Osborne, either, but I liked Peter, despite Maguire’s questionable crying abilities — and the idea of super-humans intrigued me.
Then, in 2012, The Amazing Spider-Man came out, and I fell in love with Peter Parker for real. Sure, superheroes always seemed cool, but my knowledge of them before that mostly centered around Superman and Batman. Neither of them were bad characters, but they seemed too big, too all-encompassing, and I couldn’t relate to them one bit.
Spider-Man was a completely different story. He was nerdy and he didn’t try to hide it. He didn’t fit in in high school, and he wasn’t cool. His origin story, which to me is one of the most crucial parts of a superhero, was not based in selflessness: Peter starts his vigilante career to get vengeance for his uncle’s death. He doesn’t want to be a superhero; he’s angry. Eventually, he does don the suit to help others, but in the beginning, his only goal is to find his uncle’s killer. His alter-ego was born out of bad circumstances, and yet he chose to rise above it and accept the mantle, to accept the responsibility that came with his powers.
As a shy, awkward, and nerdy kid who never liked high school and (at that time especially) carried around a lot of anger, I understood Peter Parker. When Uncle Ben died, I almost cried. At the end of the second Amazing Spider-Man movie, when Gwen died too, I actually did.
Spider-Man: Homecoming works because it takes all the nerdy-ness from the previous films and amplifies it. By making Peter even younger — fifteen — and casting actors that actually looked like they could be in high school, Marvel was able to create something incredibly special. Without the usual super-human trappings characteristic of the MCU, Peter is even more human than before. He’s a genetically enhanced superhero, but more importantly, he’s a fifteen-year-old boy trying to navigate high school, a crush on the most popular girl in school, and a secret alter-ego. Aunt May mistakes Peter’s weird habits for puberty; his Homecoming date’s father turns out to be his mortal enemy.
Peter Parker is so well-loved because he retains that childish enthusiasm of a teenager trying to prove themselves — only instead of trying to prove to his parents that he’s an adult, he’s trying to prove to Tony Stark that he’s ready for the big leagues. He has that drive, that thirst, to be better — to do better — and to try and show everyone who’s ever doubted him (especially Tony) that he’s capable of holding his own. All the while, he’s trying to figure out how to do that. How to balance being fifteen and being a superhero.
I loved Spider-Man: Homecoming. I loved it from the opening scene, when Peter excitedly videos his time in Germany with awe-struck glee, to the very ending. I loved Michelle (a.k.a. MJ), and Ned. I loved that they took the time to make the villain human, too, and I loved Donald Glover’s cameo. I loved that they played the original Spider-Man theme song in the opening credits and in the major fight scene.
I really, really loved Spider-Man: Homecoming, and I hope you did, too.
If you want to hear more of my thoughts, visit my blog, Nerdy & Wordy, here or follow me on Twitter (@alexisabooknerd).
(Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Spider-Man or Marvel and the MCU, as much as I wish otherwise. The image used in this post does not belong to me.)
