acid reflects

Puberty challenge
Review by Vives Anunciacion

Spider Man: Homecoming
Directed by Jon Watts
Based on the Marvel Comics character by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Rated PG
Published 7.6.2017 Inquirer Libre, PH

Spider Man: Homecoming trailer

A total of six writers spun the narrative of this nth edition of Peter Parker’s puberty challenge. The resulting almost-comedy may be entertaining enough, but it is also borderline messy.

Columbia Pictures’s prized Marvel property gets a millennial update that’s strong on comedy and personality but weak on weaving a cohesive web of a story. It seems comedy is Marvel’s priority at the moment.

Weeks after stealing Captain America’s shield in Captain America: Civil War (2016) Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is finding it increasingly difficult to stay in his New York high school’s decathlete quiz team while keeping the Queens neighborhood safe. His “Tony Stark internship” keeps him busy from attending school, which is also why he can’t get classmate Liz (Laura Harrier) to notice him.

Meanwhile, former salvage company owner Toomes (Michael Keaton) is using alien technology derived from the wreck of the first Avengers movie to sell high tech weapons in the blackmarket. Spider Man variably manages to foil Toomes’ henchmen, until Toomes /The Vulture’s bigger plans are revealed.

Homecoming isn’t exactly an origin movie – but in this Marvel Cinematic Universe edition, Peter does admit in one scene that he got his powers from a radioactive spider.

There’s no big plot to save the world. Neither is there an overall theme like teenage angst (explored in the 2012-2014 Marc Webb duology starring Andrew Garfield) or great responsibility (captured as a quotable in the Sam Raimi trilogy starring Tobey Maguire.) No dramatic arch against bullying either – a longtime ingredient in the Peter Parker narrative.

Instead, Tom Holland’s Peter is convincingly immaturely insecure. Pimples would have made this version perfect. While the film celebrates diversity and nerdism (for once not oppressing characters for being smart) it also basks in casual lightness – a YOLO-ist, can’t-bother-to-be-adult attitude that only gets emphasized each time Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) appears to Peter to deliver a mentor mantra with sass, while Aunt May’s (Marisa Tomei) scenes feel like they were afterthoughts.

I liked that Homecoming explored Spider Man’s weaknesses as a young superhero. That without trees to swing from, he’ll just have to walk across the golf course to get to his destination; that without Iron Man spitting guru wisdom, Peter’s a lost boy. Holland captures this fine. I also liked Keaton as always (who was Batman in a previous life, as well as a Birdman in another) but his Toomes – despite six writers and the two-hour run time – is under-written as a villain. Maybe there’l be more to him in the sequel, as shown in the mid-credits scene.

It’s the constant comedy that puts me off (which may or may not include Peter’s school sidekick Ned, played by Fil_am Jacob Batalon. Sometimes Batalon is funny, sometimes he looks unsure of the punchline.) For the most part it serves a purpose, I guess. It is when the punchlines are not connecting (and there are several dead moments) when it seems that “funny” was the production’s priority.