5 out of 5

Directed by: Jon Watts

Hilarious.  After a notoriously mixed-up conclusion to Raimi’s trilogy, and a good-start but not-good-followup with the Amazing Spider-Man reboot, and then forever hemming and hawing about Sony / Marvel character rights, how would the MCU “own” one of its universe’s biggest heroes?  Tom Holland’s appearance in Civil War was strange – appearing the in-universe character there – but gave a pretty good indication: they’d go full goofball.  And they committed.  Jon Watts’ and Holland’s vision of the bug is a tentpole flick without usual tentpole hallmarks: there is no world-ending event; the villain is rather human, with relatively “humble” badguy aspirations; there’s no giant origin story – one of the smartest moves the film makes – and Peter Parker is, perfectly, a dork.  No, not a “cool” dork who combs his hair and makes out with the hot girl in the final scene; he’s just a dude who geeks out over Lego, knows his science, and has appropriately 15-year-old enthusiasm.  Homecoming doesn’t bother with “justifying” this dorkiness either, but just as with the flick’s inherent quirk, it simply allows it to exist.  Peter does what he does, has nerdy friends that do the same, and also happens to have mutant bug powers.

…Which Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., as always) is doing his best to help Parker aim toward super hero maturity, which also ends up being a master stroke for the flick, as this is truly the first Marvel film to feel like it takes place in a world where all of these massive gods and villains and alien attacks co-exist.  This not only ties into the motivation for the movie’s featured adversary, Michael Keaton’s The Vulture – a blue collar worker out of the job thanks to the work being usurped by Stark funded companies – but it’s also key to Holland’s character’s evolution, looking up at Avengers tower and wishing he could be a more active part of the team.  Just as in the comics, he’s our perfect proxy: looking up at these larger-than-life figures.

Meanwhile, Watts (and a handful of screenwriters) find time to include the other important Parker elements of balancing school and social life with “work,” giving us a small gaggle of buddies for Pete to ping off of who, enlightened by Pete’s general good will and zest, also end up being a joy to be around.  Holland imbues the role with gloriously awkward body language, which transforms into bouncy agility when he’s zipping around in his hero suit, non-stop quipping as per S-Man’s m.o.  Another first: we buy him equally as the kid and the hero.

While there’s admittedly some overlooked elements of responsibility – it could be reasoned that a lot of the destruction in the movie occurs only because Peter got involved – there’s equally a good-willed attempt to roundabout address that as part of Peter’s maturation over the course of the film.  The general positive spirit, and humor – further informed by the bright color palette, and the surprisingly sprightly score from Michael Giacchino – play an massive role in smoothing over this slight bump, but of course, a generally intelligent, and respectful of its audience, script, and a series of perfectly-cast performances go a long way as well.

I love that this turned out the way it did.  I love that they – the mighty Marvel powers – trusted in their character’s roots and just let his nerdiness hang out, giving us exactly the kind of street-level, cheer-worthy hero Spider-Man should be.