7/10
Very entertaining Spider-Man movie and good addition to the MCU
17 November 2017
I enjoy most of the Marvel MCU and was interested what they would do with Spider-Man after he showed up briefly in Civil War. The previous Spider-man movies were 'okay' for me (or even awful), so it could only get better!

The movie starts with showing the aftermath of the 'Battle for New York' that was the epic final of the first Avenger movie. We meet salvage worker Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) who leads a team to take apart the alien invaders machinery. After some experiments, Adrian and hit teams learns how to create powerful weapons from the alien wreckage to sell to criminals. But shortly after this discovery, his team is shutdown and the salvage is taken over by a company hired by Tony Stark. We then fast forward 8 years in time were we see the videos Peter Parker made on his trip to Berlin to help Iron Man fight off Captain America. We learn that after Berlin, Peter was allowed to keep the suit which he puts on every day after school to fight (light) crime in New York. He desperately wants to fight with the other Avengers and spams the phone of Happy (Tony Stark's assistant) everyday, but he hears nothing in response. When Peter gets in contact with criminals that bought the alien weapons from 'the Vulture' Adrian Toomes, things start to get more interesting for Peter. But will he be able to stop the Vulture without messing up his high school life to much? And is he truly ready to become part of the Avengers?

I really enjoyed this interpretation of Spider-Man, it was light with a lot of humor and good action sequences. I liked that the whole 'origin story' was skipped because we have seen that two times already, it just focuses on how Peter deals with combining high-school and his aspirations to become a super hero. In my opinion Tom Holland is a much better choice for Spider-Man then Toby McQuire or Andrew Garfield. Toby looked like a whiny little kid to me and Andrew is a way to serious actor to play in a comic-book movie. Tom fits this role as a glove, both his portrayal of Spider-Man and Peter Parker are excellent. Michael Keaton is also excellent in his role as the Vulture villain. Unlike other villains in Marvel movies, he's not pure evil for evil's sake but is just a guy that wants to make loads of money. Robert Downey Jr. is always a pleasure to see on screen and this movie is no exception.

Another good thing this movie does is how it ties in with the MCU. They did a good job in this movie by not involving the whole superhero but keeping the focus on Spider-Man. Also cool to see how high school people live in a world where the Avengers actually do exist. (the Captain America instructional videos are hilarious) There is however a little bit to much high school stuff in it for my taste. Showing Peter asking a girl out for the big dance and showing him in school doing high school things could have left out or toned down a bit. The actors playing the 'high school cast' are mediocre and do not really feel like real people to me.

But the main focus of the movie is still action oriented with amazing effects. Like all Marvel movies it gets a bit CGI heavy and Spider-Man looks a bit to much like a computer game character but overall it's very well done. The movie never bogs down and there are a few surprises to that I didn't see coming.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is another nice addition to the MCU with lots of humor and some good action scenes. It's not the greatest coming book movie but definitely worth checking out.
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