The King of Queens: Regarding Spider-Man - Homecoming
I can remember how I was first introduced to most superheroes including the big ones like Superman and Batman but, for the life of me, I can't for Marvel's flagship hero, the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man; Spidey was just always THERE. The comics were commercially at their peak, outsold really only by the X-Men, and I was reading 90s storylines like Maximum Carnage and The Clone Saga while watching the animated series on Fox (with the theme by Joe Perry from Aerosmith?) and playing the video games.
The thing is, I've never really been 100% on those initial five Spider-Man movies. I enjoy the first one and Spider-Man 2 for what they are and there's even moments in Amazing Spider-Man 2 I think are pretty good but even at their best, there was just something off about the whole thing. Tobey Maguire was always such a sad sack and I could never really get behind his performance; dude's crying all the time and I get that Peter Parker is a geek but he's just soooooo timid that it gets painful.
Andrew Garfield pulls off the characterization a lot better but the material he's saddled with is just fucking terrible; Garfield's Parker learns how to be Spider-Man after skateboarding in an abandoned warehouse after getting his powers? Jaimie Foxx's Electro following the same basic character arc as Jim Carrey in Batman Forever (Even kinda dressing like him) while Pharrell constantly raps in his head? What the fuck is even going on?
So I was kind of done with cinematic Spider-Man. Washed my hands of it. This is why we can't have nice things. I definitely enjoyed Tom Holland's supporting role as the webslinger now in the MCU proper in Captain America: Civil War but another solo Spider-Man movie? With the fucking Vulture as the main villain? I'll see it...out of deep-seated misplaced sense of obligation.
Little things along the way started to win me back over. The casting of Michael Keaton fresh off the critical acclaim of Birdman and Spotlight as the primary antagonist. The trailers that made the whole thing feel more like a coming of age story than standard superhero fare. The positive early buzz. By the time I sat down in the cinema last summer, I was cautiously optimistic.
And, having had nearly a year to marinate on it and a couple repeat viewings I can pretty confidently say that Spider-Man: Homecoming is my favorite film centered on Marvel's wall-crawler. Holland's Peter Parker comes off as someone genuinely in high school and figuring it all out without being forced or grating about the whole thing. And the humor is genuinely funny; previous Spider-Man movies definitely had comedic moments but Homecoming is top to bottom a pretty humorous film keeping in line with a lot of Marvel's signature approach in comparison to DC.
I had initially been wary of Vulture being the big bad but this is a Spider-Man that's still learning the ropes so Hobgoblin or Venom would be him punching above his weight. And Keaton sells it as Adrian Toomes, yet another supervillain with a personal ax to grind against Tony Stark (yet another antagonist the industrialist has unconsciously created) who fell into the arms dealing business smuggling all sorts of super-powered leftovers from all those Avenger-centric dustups over the years.
Despite his above-board intellect, Peter Parker really is the everyman of the Marvel Universe: a blue-collar kid in suburban Queens (also, the first Spider-Man movie to feel like he's from that borough too and not just generic Manhattan) just trying to make it while doing right by his aunt and keep his social life from going to shit. So it makes sense then that Parker's villains fall into one of two camps: Either other failed science experiments (Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus) that don't follow the tried and true great power/great responsibility morals from Uncle Ben or they're working class toughs that make ends meet by turning to a life of crime.
Keaton's Toomes definitely falls into the latter camp putting in the long hours in a converted warehouse, having his goons sell weapons out of a cheap van, having a daughter in public school, listening to The Rolling Stones like any career criminal that watched a Scorsese movie. He doesn't drive the Audi that symbolizes wealth in the MCU or the black SUV that symbolizes shadowy figure/organizations; he drives a standard nondescript four-door sedan. He goes around the house wearing flannel and khakis and does the dishes for his family. Nobody sells that dichotomy better than Michael Keaton and when he does flip between generic suburban dad to sneering supervillain, we believe it.
Ultimately, Homecoming works because it remembers that Spider-Man is supposed to be FUN, not constantly wallowing. Of course Peter Parker is going to have hangups, he's a high schooler: Everyday in high school had the potential to feel like the end of the world or the greatest day of your life; everything is magnified at the extremes. And being Spider-Man, while both a gift and a curse for Parker, really is an escape; I never liked in Spider-Man 2 how much he resented it.
And, of course, the great thing about Spider-Man now firmly in the MCU back where he belongs is the opportunity to get great character moments and plot threads like Parker taking on Tony Stark as a surrogate father. Everything Parker does for the bulk of the film is to make Stark proud and convince him he's worthy enough to become a full time Avenger. But any fledgling hero is going to go through growing pains and that's going to lead to some tough love moments. And Peter Parker is going to need them to figure out who he truly is. Welcome back, Spider-Man.
The thing is, I've never really been 100% on those initial five Spider-Man movies. I enjoy the first one and Spider-Man 2 for what they are and there's even moments in Amazing Spider-Man 2 I think are pretty good but even at their best, there was just something off about the whole thing. Tobey Maguire was always such a sad sack and I could never really get behind his performance; dude's crying all the time and I get that Peter Parker is a geek but he's just soooooo timid that it gets painful.
Andrew Garfield pulls off the characterization a lot better but the material he's saddled with is just fucking terrible; Garfield's Parker learns how to be Spider-Man after skateboarding in an abandoned warehouse after getting his powers? Jaimie Foxx's Electro following the same basic character arc as Jim Carrey in Batman Forever (Even kinda dressing like him) while Pharrell constantly raps in his head? What the fuck is even going on?
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| Just another typical day on the Mall. |
Little things along the way started to win me back over. The casting of Michael Keaton fresh off the critical acclaim of Birdman and Spotlight as the primary antagonist. The trailers that made the whole thing feel more like a coming of age story than standard superhero fare. The positive early buzz. By the time I sat down in the cinema last summer, I was cautiously optimistic.
And, having had nearly a year to marinate on it and a couple repeat viewings I can pretty confidently say that Spider-Man: Homecoming is my favorite film centered on Marvel's wall-crawler. Holland's Peter Parker comes off as someone genuinely in high school and figuring it all out without being forced or grating about the whole thing. And the humor is genuinely funny; previous Spider-Man movies definitely had comedic moments but Homecoming is top to bottom a pretty humorous film keeping in line with a lot of Marvel's signature approach in comparison to DC.
I had initially been wary of Vulture being the big bad but this is a Spider-Man that's still learning the ropes so Hobgoblin or Venom would be him punching above his weight. And Keaton sells it as Adrian Toomes, yet another supervillain with a personal ax to grind against Tony Stark (yet another antagonist the industrialist has unconsciously created) who fell into the arms dealing business smuggling all sorts of super-powered leftovers from all those Avenger-centric dustups over the years.
Despite his above-board intellect, Peter Parker really is the everyman of the Marvel Universe: a blue-collar kid in suburban Queens (also, the first Spider-Man movie to feel like he's from that borough too and not just generic Manhattan) just trying to make it while doing right by his aunt and keep his social life from going to shit. So it makes sense then that Parker's villains fall into one of two camps: Either other failed science experiments (Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus) that don't follow the tried and true great power/great responsibility morals from Uncle Ben or they're working class toughs that make ends meet by turning to a life of crime.
 |
| "This is not what it looks like." |
Ultimately, Homecoming works because it remembers that Spider-Man is supposed to be FUN, not constantly wallowing. Of course Peter Parker is going to have hangups, he's a high schooler: Everyday in high school had the potential to feel like the end of the world or the greatest day of your life; everything is magnified at the extremes. And being Spider-Man, while both a gift and a curse for Parker, really is an escape; I never liked in Spider-Man 2 how much he resented it.
And, of course, the great thing about Spider-Man now firmly in the MCU back where he belongs is the opportunity to get great character moments and plot threads like Parker taking on Tony Stark as a surrogate father. Everything Parker does for the bulk of the film is to make Stark proud and convince him he's worthy enough to become a full time Avenger. But any fledgling hero is going to go through growing pains and that's going to lead to some tough love moments. And Peter Parker is going to need them to figure out who he truly is. Welcome back, Spider-Man.
