Spider-Man: Homecoming – Movie Reaction/Review

Hey everyone,

So I know this isn’t bookish, but it’s Marvel so it counts.

I just saw Spider-Man: Homecoming and oh my gosh, what a great flick. I’m seriously still on the high from seeing it, so this will really just be a reaction review. I do have a short, five-minute YouTube video that summarize my thoughts below.

YouTube video!

---

Spoiler-Free Review:

Okay, this may be the best Avengers movie we’ve gotten yet. Marvel did a great job listening to the fans about what we like and haven’t liked about past movies.

Short list of things I liked:

• One villain
• Villain has fleshed-out motivations
• Teenage Spider-Man
• We don’t have to watch Uncle Ben die
• Finally a good blend between dorky Peter Parker and snarky Spider-Man
• Cameos used well
• Living in a world with the avengers fleshed out

---

The villain in this movie was fantastic. His motivations were clear. He had some time to develop. Even his relationship with Spider-Man had time to grow and change. I honestly think this is the best Marvel villian we’ve had since Loki (he may even beat out Loki for best).

The humor of this movie was amazing. I laughed more during this movie than any other Marvel movie, including Ant-Man or Guardians. Having a teenage Peter Parker is really what made a lot of this movie work. Peter’s character is 15 and a sophomore in high (and Tom was 17 during filming!) school during the events of the movie. This is the first time we had Peter remain in high school and have the movie show how balancing being Spider-Man and a high schooler works. Tom is such a great actor and does a great job making this character leap off the page and screen.

The side characters in this movie were spectacular too! They did not take away from the main plot, but they did a great job playing their roles. Ned was such an enjoyable side character who really complemented Peter. Ned was such a realistic friend who had the best reaction to a lot of the parts of the film (I’ll go more into what I mean in the spoiler corner).

Zendaya’s character Michelle was so entertaining! She was snarky and absolutely hilarious. I don’t think this is a spoiler, but she’s actually not the love interest (which I loved). Her character doesn’t has a huge role in the film, but whenever she was on-screen it was a real treat!

The last side character I wanted to talk about what our love interest, Liz. She also didn’t have that large of a role, although she did help with Peter’s motivation. It was refreshing to see a more authentic romance form between these two characters.

---

So, Spider-Man was introduced into the MCU because of Iron Man in Civil War. Because of this, we were going to get cameos. We knew this walking in to this movie…and boy were these some good cameos. The avengers that did show up in the film were great choices.

Overall, the plot of this video was super straight forward, but so good. The majority of the plot took place after the events of Civil War and focused on Peter adjusting back to life after getting to work on a ‘real’ mission. Tony wants to keep him out of trouble and recommends that he gets comfortable being the “Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.” Peter, understandably wants more, and one night he stumbles upon a robbery that is well out of his league. Unable to get this issue on the radar of the Avengers, Peter tries to handle it himself, which gets him in a lot of trouble.

My favorite thing about this movie is the focus on the negatives of being a super hero. The movie starts with a bunch of workers cleaning up the damage from the frist Avengers movie. Honestly, has there ever been a super hero movie that has acknowledged the wreckage and damage from the super heroing (that’s a word, right?)? There’s also a theme in this movie that focus on the risks of being a hero. Peter starts to understand the facts that he is putting others at risk by being Spider-Man.

---

Spoiler Corner

You’ve been warned.

First, those Captain videos that were in Peter’s school were the most enjoyable things, oh my gosh. Like I want to go back to high school and watch one of those videos in its entirely. Honestly, I had no trouble picture Cap getting asked (and agreeing) to film them. Also, that end credit scene had me in stitches.

That twist took me by complete surprise. I think I let out an audible gasp when we found out that Vulture was Liz’s dad. I loved the fact that his family life and Liz were put in the background. It really made the reveal that much better. When looking back on the character, there were some throw away lines that hinted towards the reveal.

---

Final Thoughts

The relationship between May and Peter was so precious. If I need to pick on something it was that May was way too forgiving. There was a part where she starts to scold Peter, but it doesn’t really go anywhere and there are no negative consequences. I did like the last scene with May though. Honestly, I don’t think we’ve ever had a May that was this aware of what was going on with Peter, but it’s super interesting.

If I haven’t made it clear yet, I loved this movie. I highly highly recommend going to see this movie. I thought it was a lot of fun. Having a teenage Spider-Man was great. The first scene with learning about what Peter was doing during Civil War was a lot of fun and it was great seeing how realistic it was. In this day of social media, that entire part was amazing.

Have you seen this movie yet? What did you think? Let me know down in the comments!