So a friend of mine, Chase, and I went to watch a movie that I had bought tickets for (online). Exiting the theater after the movie, I felt a sense of nostalgia and felt once again like a kid growing up loving superheroes. I guess I can say the same for him cause he seemed to also enjoy it.

One of the most known quotes nowadays is “With great power, comes great responsibility”. In the case of MARVEL Studios however, it’s “With great heroes, comes great awesome movies”. That is what I can certainly say for the newest addition of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). And in 2017, one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes made its way again into the movies.

“MARVEL’s Spider-Man: Homecoming” was a blast. From start to finish, it entices your senses with their action, humor, animation and drama.  But overall, it is a great coming-of-age story that shows the difficulty of what some teenagers experience during their teenage years.

Set 2 months after the events of  “MARVEL’s Captain America: Civil War”, it simply tells the story of Peter Parker who balances his teenage high school life and his duties as Spider-Man as well as trying to impress Tony Stark/Iron Man by proving himself to him that he has got what it takes to become a full time Avenger. On the way though is an unexpected villain, Adrian Toomes a.k.a. The Vulture, who steals alien technology to sell in the black market donning a flight pack that resembles a vulture’s wings.

I have never been so excited (being a Spider-Man fan myself) of seeing the web-slinger finally becoming part of the MCU as I have dreamed of it happening. In the comics, Peter was a 15 year old teenager, although his past portrayals in the films say otherwise. Tobey Maguire played in 3 movies and Andrew Garfield in the past 2 movies. Although they gave their own spectacular performances, they just didn’t look the part. Then Civil War came along and introduced us to Tom Holland and, by joy, he looked exactly perfect for the role. He really looked the teenage Parker I hoped to see. And just like his predecessor (Andrew), he has a gymnastic background making him much better and suited for the role. But what wowed me was his performance as the web head. He himself stated that he took inspiration from previous Spider-Man actors Tobey and Andrew, but also hoped to deliver something “new and exciting” with his take on the character,[2] the first to focus on Parker as “dealing with everyday problems that a 15-year-old deals with as well as trying to save the city”.[3]

Spider-Man’s very first appearance in the comics Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)

Let’s proceed next to one of the most important things in a Spider-Man film: the costume. The very first rendition of the suit is what many of us remember to this day: the red and blue skinny spandex suit with web designs and a spider logo on the front and back. Now what most fans would remember about this suit is that the character himself sewn it. We never saw that during Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, and we see Webb’s version go thru the process of making his first suit but never his second. Sadly, this is one of the things that isn’t depicted in the new Spider-Man film. Instead, Stark makes him the iconic suit and although it nearly had the design of the classics version with the moving lenses, this isn’t a suit created by its wearer. This is one of the things that disappointed me as this was one of the things that made Parker Spidey.

(On the left) Spider-Man’s suit and web-shooters created by Tony Stark, (On the right) Spider-Man’s very first homemade suit and web-shooters.

The idea was that they would show how Peter, being a teenager, had to make do with what money he had just to make his suit. The result of it though is not that heroic as it just looks like clothes he brought from the thrift store. I appreciate the idea that MARVEL decided to show that he was just a teenager with limited money, but I had hoped that he would’ve at least bought some lycra fabric and sew it himself like he originally would. But in all honesty, I loved it and thought it works. But what amazed me the most were the web-shooters and the formula he made for his webbing. His homemade web-shooters certainly do look homemade and from scraps. The webbing however was his own creation as he is shown how he makes it secretly in school. It’s quite amazing that now we see how intelligent Peter can get. Even Stark said it himself: “You know what I think is really cool is this webbing. Tensile strength is off the charts”.

Although Stark appears on the film, he’s only in there for at least only 30 minutes or so. This is what made it a completely Spider-Man film rather than an Avengers recruitment film. But for me, it was only two characters that made the movie: the highlight hero and the highlight villain. And if Spider-Man wasn’t enough to entice the film, wait til you finally see the villain: Vulture.

The Vulture
Adrian Toomes (played by Michael Keaton) about to wear the Vulture flight pack.

Adrian Toomes a.k.a. The Vulture was portrayed by actor Michael Keaton, widely known for his portrayal of Batman in Tim Burton’s 1989 film and its 1992 sequel. And I was just wowed. No word describes it but just simply “wow”. If you think him as Batman was good, him as Vulture was off the charts.

Jon Watts, the director of the movie, says that he “wanted him to be a ‘regular guy’, closer to John C. Reilly’s Nova Corpsman Rhomann Dey from Guardians of the Galaxy than other MCU villains like Thanos and Ultron, to go with Spider-Man as a “regular kid who becomes a superhero”. This could be seen in the film. He was no more than a regular guy. But the way he was portrayed made him one of the most lovable “regular bad guys” I have ever seen in media. And what’s more amazing his his flight pack.

(Left) Adrian Toomes/Vulture from Amazing Spider-Man Annual vol. 1, 1 (October, 1964 Marvel Comics). Art by Steve Ditko. (Right Top) Vulture in the Spider-Man animated series. (Right Middle) Vulture in Spider-Man Unlimited. (Right Bottom) Vulture in The Spectacular Spider-Man.

Originally, his suit looked just like feather spandex as at the time, they were trying to make the villains look like what their counterparts should be. In this case, an actual vulture (minus the color). But all this changed with the Homecoming movie. You can tell that this made a great starting villain for Spider-Man for his first ever MCU film. What was once a ridiculous looking character in both series and comics, now is revamped as one of the most beautifully designed villains I have ever seen since Loki (and you have to admit, who doesn’t love Loki?). Although it was made from scraps, its final shape took form of that of actual vulture wings with rotors. And it’s just like the Falcon’s specially designed wing pack but with more angst.

Shocker was a minor villain here in the film, but he was just so bad that I decided not to put him in this blog. Just… trust me on that. Seriously.

Peter Parker and Tony Stark share a mentor/apprentice, father/son-like moment together. (From Captain America: Civil War)
Stark scolding Peter like a disappointed father. (From Spider-Man: Homecoming)
A proud Stark and Peter in the new Avengers Headquarters. (From Spider-Man: Homecoming)

And finally comes in the part of the film: the relationship between Peter and Stark. Co-writer Jonathan Goldstein compared Stark to “Ethan Hawke’s father character in Boyhood.” Watts noted that after Stark’s actions in Civil War, introducing Parker to life as an Avenger, there are “a lot of repercussions to that. Is it a first step towards Tony as some sort of mentor figure? Is he comfortable with that?”[4]

I believe that these scenes with Stark and Peter together were heart-warming. From their first moment together in Civil War all the way to Stark officially making Peter a full time Avenger (which he declines in the end). I can feel and see that Peter finds a father figure in Stark since the passing of his father and uncle, while Stark not only sees Peter as an apprentice but a son who he can be proud of. These two have grown into each other since the events of Civil War that now it’s hard not to see them together share a moment.

So what’s my overall score of the film? I give it a 8.5/10 overall score. The movie was awesome for me topping Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man and so far this is the BEST Spider-Man movie I have seen to date. Who knows what’s in store for him in Avengers: Infinity War but I am sure to say that having the web-slinger finally inducted into the MCU is a big step towards the final climactic battle against the mad titan.

 

 

Author:  Takeru
Source: https://foodtaku10.wordpress.com