Cast: Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr, Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Zendaya, Jon Favreau
Director: Jon Watts
There are some titles that feel just apt. It is hard to find one better than Homecoming for the revamped Spider-Man. After years of being with a rival studio who did just two good movies with the web-slinger, the character is back in the Marvel home where he belongs. The prodigal son is back home. It is so easy to believe the Marvel bosses telling the writers that the name of the movie was Homecoming, the rest was up to them. A recipe for disaster, I know. Yet, wonder of wonders, that is not how it turned out.
Spider-Man (Holland) is out of the closet. At least his suit is. Iron Man (Downey Jr) saw to that. Plus, he played a big role in Civil War. He is all ready to be a part-time super hero. Unfortunately, the adult world doesn’t quite work like that. Peter Parker spends his time away from school helping old ladies cross the street and kids get their cats from trees. In fact, a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. Tony Stark delegated baby-sitting responsibilities to Happy Hogan (Favreau), who is not exactly thrilled.
Things turn interesting when Spider-Man foils a robbery by a bunch of crooks dressed up as the Avengers. Cue one-liners. Unfortunately, it is not your neighbourhood theft. The perpetrators have alien technology. Throwback to the Chitauri attack on New York. The contractor in charge of clean-up operations was Adrian Toomes (Keaton). But he is kicked off without as much as a by your leave. Contracts are not valid when aliens attack the Earth. Toomes keeps a few items to himself and becomes an underground arms-dealer, who is not called Vulture. With Stark and Hogan not available, Peter has to save New York.
The screenplay is quite zippy with one-liners that are not snarky. A kid who wants to be a kid and yet save the world is a recipe for pretentiousness. It is extremely gratifying to see that Spider-Man in the movie does not turn out like that. Tom Holland continues to be an inspired choice as he is able to appear earnest and vulnerable without anyone questioning his marbles. I am still on Team Tobey, but Holland has made the role his own.
Batman in a Spider-Man movie is the stuff geek heavens are made off. Former Batman Michael Keaton brings his effortlessness to a very well-written villain role. At least, by Marvel standards. When you root for a villain for all the right reasons, it says a lot of how the character was developed. There is a surprise twist that ranks just below the one in Iron Man 3 in terms of “What just happened” value.
Jacob Batalon steals the movie like Holland himself did in Civil War. As the nerdy friend/ sidekick/ audience surrogate, he excels. The sequence when he helps Peter go after the bad guys with the school’s computer room as Mission Control is hilarious and his comeback when caught is pure gold.
Robert Downey Jr probably made the most money per second in the history of cinema with the briefest of roles. But it did go a long way in cementing a special relationship in the MCU, one that will be touched on in future movies. There is also another cameo from an A-lister that was surprising. Jon Favreau has a little too much to do.
Zendaya is a big name among teenage girls, or so I am told by mine. She has very little to do, but that was a fabulous risk that the filmmakers took. One that will pay off in future. In a nice bit of inside humour Jennifer Connelly voices Karen, the AI inside the Spider-suit. In real life she is married to Paul Bettany who voiced Jarvis, the AI in Iron Man’s suit and later acted as Vision.
This is really the Spider-Man movie we have been waiting for since 2004’s Spider-Man 2. Considering the speed with which this project was set in motion, it is a wonder that it turned out so good. Sometimes, Hollywood does get it right.
Stan Lee cameo: A ho-hum kind of cameo that is neither funny, nor necessary. They didn’t get this right.
Post-credits scene: There are two. The first one hints at more Keaton down the lane, hopefully. The second one is a rather wicked joke at all of us who religiously wait for the end credits to finish rolling.
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