Spider-Man: Homecoming Movie Review

Reviewed by Lynn Barker on Jul 07, 2017

Rating:

Kidzworld saw Spider-Man: Homecoming. Will you really relate to this new teen Spidey? Are the stunts, battles and high school humor entertaining? Check our movie review.

By: Lynn Barker

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, teen Peter Parker (Tom Holland) who was able to swing into the Avengers’ battle amongst themselves and impressed enough to make the superheroes wonder “Who is that masked kid?”, is feeling held back. Tony Stark/Ironman (Robert Downey Jr.) has taken Peter under his wing to slowly develop his crime fighter skills. Hey, too slowly for Peter who is anxious to prove himself. When ex-salvage expert Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) starts stealing and selling alien tech left over from the Avengers battle with Loki, Peter decides that busting Toomes aka “The Vulture” is his ticket to full Avenger status.

Spider-Man unmaskedCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Salvaging New York

We’re shown that right after the New York battle between Avengers and Loki and his army, Tony Stark and the federal government created the U.S. Department of Damage Control (D.O.D.C.). Enraged over being driven out of business by this new department, former salvage company owner Adrian Toomes decides he and his team will keep the alien Chitauri technology they already scavenged, develop it and sell it in a new criminal agenda.

Peter wonders if he'll ever join the AvengersCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Back to School for Peter

In the present day, after making his debut in the Avengers’ internal dispute, Peter Parker goes back to school while stopping petty crime in his neighborhood as Spider-Man. Under Tony Stark’s guidance and baby-sat by Avenger cohort Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), Peter impatiently awaits that “Avengers assemble” call. With his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) objecting, Peter quits his high school science and tech decathlon team so he can spend more time on his “Stark Internship”, a cover for his Spidey antics.

Happy, Stark and Peter at Stark H.Q.Courtesy of Sony Pictures

Spidey Revealed and Rescued

After preventing Toomes' associates from robbing an ATM using an alien weapon, Peter returns to his Queens apartment only for his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) to see him as Spider-Man. Ned, who longs to support his hero by being “the guy in the chair” using computer tech to aid him, swears he won’t tell. At school, Peter likes Liz (Laura Harrier) but every time he gets close, Spider-Man duties intervene. Wondering about the alien “gun”, Peter later finds Toomes' thugs selling Chitauri weaponry to local gangster Aaron Davis and tries to stop them, nearly getting killed. He’s rescued by Iron Man who tells him he’s not ready to be an Avenger.

Peter and Ned work on alien weaponCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Alien Weapon and Super Suit

Retrieving a Chitauri weapon left behind by the thugs, Peter and Ned remove the power core and place a tracking device on one of the thug’s cars to track him to the “evil lair” of his boss Toomes. Learning it leads to Maryland, Peter rejoins the academic decathlon team because they are going to a championship match in nearby Washington, D.C. He and Ned disable a tracker in his Spider-Man suit and then unlock all kinds of special features. Cool! Spider-Man sneaks aboard a D.O.D.C. truck Toomes, as Vulture, is stealing weapons from but is trapped and misses his tournament.

Spider-Man inside the weapons-filled truckCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Big Boom at the Monument

When Peter discovers that the Chitauri power core Ned is now carrying is unstable, he tracks Ned to the Washington Monument, where Ned, Liz and others are trapped in the elevator. As Spider-Man, Peter is able to save his friends, including acerbic but cool Michelle (Zendaya), before the elevator falls. Back in New York Peter tracks Toomes and gang to the Staten Island Ferry where the criminal is about to make a new alien arms deal. When a malfunctioning weapon tears the ferry in two, Spider-Man tries desperately to save it but Iron Man has to help. Afterwards, as a lesson,Stark takes the suit away.

Zendaya as MichelleCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Homecoming

Taking Liz as his date for the big homecoming dance, Peter learns a secret and Toomes figures out that Peter is Spider-Man. He threatens him to back off but Peter has learned that Toomes plans to hijack a plane full of sophisticated Avengers weaponry enroute from Avengers Tower to their new H.Q. He leaves Liz at the dance, dons his own home-made Spidey suit and tries to stop the heist. Will he succeed? Will he get his good Spider-Man suit back? Will Stark and the Avengers let him join sooner…or later?

Liz (Laura Harrier) talks with PeterCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Wrapping Up

Spider-Man: Homecoming is just fun! The film has great humor and charm and we get to see Robert Downey Jr. as Stark actually be caring and dad-like. The movie is a great re-launch for the beloved superhero character with Tom Holland being very convincing as a high school teen, with all the drama, humor and angst that involves, way more than Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield were. Hey, he’s smart, sweet and you’d date him!

Tom Holland with Director Jon Watts and crew on setCourtesy of Sony Pictures

I love Jacob Batalon as sidekick Ned. I cracked up at his questions once he learns Peter is Spidey; “Do you lay eggs?” I also appreciate Michael Keaton’s bad guy Toomes. You “get” his “everything for family” motivation and even after his crime spree is checked, he’s developed a respect for Spider-Man that makes his character far more dimensional that all the Marvel baddies since Alfred Molina’s “Doc Ock”.

Toomes (Michael Keaton) in his evil lairCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Battle and stunt action is cool although one battle between Spidey and Vulture is so dark I could barely tell what was happening. It’s refreshing that, for once, although he pulls off some great web-slinging, you don’t see Spidey swinging through the NYC skyscrapers. I like his new Ironman-like suit computer pal Karen who adds some great humor including personal dating advice. Funny.

Spidey with his school backpackCourtesy of Sony Pictures

The story surprises work and the basic premise of a salvage man turned villain when robbed of his alien trash treasure after the war between Avengers and Loki’s Chitauri army in The Avengers movie, flows nicely and fits well into the Avengers film universe.

The evil VultureCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Despite a few small flaws, Spider-Man: Homecoming has something for everyone. You can relate, your parents can remember and little kids will just love the action. We can go five stars!

Stay around for a mid-credits scene in which thug Gargan asks jailed Toomes if he knows Spider-Man’s identity and a post credits scene presents Captain America in a public service clip. Cute.