Spider-Man Homecoming

How many Spider-Man reboots do we really need? I’m serious about this, since everyone is asking this. Sam Machkovech stated in his review, “The comic series often hinges on "boy-becomes-man" plot devices, so you don't want someone portraying Peter Parker who reaches 90210 levels of aging out. But the Menudo method of revolving-door casting can get exhausting with feature-length films.”

In order to not look completely like a reboot, “Spider-Man Homecoming,” which came out tonight, had so much expectations leading up to the release. Machkovech stated, “Thankfully, its every element, including one of the best "teen" actor ensembles I've ever seen, spins enough taut, sky-high webbing to leap it handily.”

We got our first look at Tom Holland playing Spider-Man in last year’s “Captain America: Civil War,” and “Spider-Man Homecoming” starts exactly where that left off. Peter is ready to join the Avengers team, but Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) doesn’t have the time to mentor Parker because Stark is off handling other business (the Sokovia Accord, a displeased Steve Rogers (Chris Evans in cameo appearances), a destroyed Avengers headquarters, etc.). Parker gets Stark’s word that he will be in touch when he needs Parker. At first, he’s excited and can hardly wait. This kid is so euphoric about being on the Avengers, he excitedly asks, “I can keep the suit!?”

However, this annoying enthusiasm (which is seen in the hilarious-but-aggravating “I record myself doing everything” beginning) quickly diminishes. We skip two months after what occurred in “Captain America: Civil War,” where Parker continuously texts Happy Hogan, reprised by Jon Favreau, asking when is the next mission, but doesn’t get a call back. Instead, Parker has been sneaking out after school and doing some minimal superhero tasks. It doesn’t take long for Spider-Man’s presence to get boring, with missing classes, infuriating friends (Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Isabella Amara, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, J.J. Totah, Abraham Attach, Tiffany Espensen, Angourie Rice, Michael Barbieri and Ethan Dizon), and worrying Aunt May, reprised by Marisa Tomei.

In other areas of New York, Adrian Toomes, played by Michael Keaton, sees his construction team deteriorating, somewhat due to Stark Enterprises. Toomes’ final assignment involves some Ultron-like weapons, which he decides to keep and use wrongly. This starts his black-market weapons practice and constant run-ins and fights with Parker.

Machkovech mentioned, “The first thing that stood out for me is how Spider-Man and Toomes (who flies around as the villain Vulture) get tangled up in a slow-burning, didn't-see-that-coming sequence of events.” “Spider-Man Homecoming” strays away from the usual, clichéd action-film archetypes when it needs to, and Parker’s youth and inexperience gradually differentiates the plot points. Holland kills it and showing just how cocky he is at being a superhero. Spider-Man’s learning process and improvements never completely turns into “I’m the best ever!” remarks. Even in the film’s final action sequence, he succeeds in heart and effort, not just a spur-of-the-moment mastery. Even more, he’s succeeded with more than one serious trait on his superhero career path. Parker’s work has paid off.

Holland succeeds with every weight of vulnerable-but-excited look. Machkovech admitted, “Bashful stuttering here, laugh-out-loud comedic timing there: I was watching the next coming of Michael J. Fox.” He definitely wins from the film’s huge cast. Machkovech credited, “Scene-stealing teen sidekick Jacob Batalon nails every hilarious line he's given, and his comedic blunders move the plot along without feeling like obnoxious, Hobbit-caliber mess-ups.” The rest of the student cast thankfully has a script that avoids so many things, one of them is making damsel in distresses in their female teen actresses (Laura Harrier, Zendaya).

The adults casted in the film (Tomei, Martin Starr, Hannibal Buress, Donald Glover and Jennifer Connelly as the voice of the A.I. in Spider-Man’s suit) have so much laughs with their less-is-more scripts, as well. (Particularly, Buress has a lot of fun in doing some hilarious “public service announcement” videos.) Machkovech admitted, “I found myself laughing pretty much the entire film through, and I'm curious how much of the hilarity can be blamed on script co-writer John Francis Daley, whom you may know as the youngest of the breakout Freaks & Geeks cast. That may also be why SMH has such a jones for geekdom, with a major plot point revolving around a national Academic Decathlon competition (and one funny hack sequence relying on a TI-86 graphing calculator).”

Spider-Man has got to be the most “Marvel” franchise that the comics business has done, when it comes to impatient, original attitude along with pretentious action scenes, and “Spider-Man Homecoming” really hits a homerun. Humor rightly finds its way in just about all the action scenes, whether it’s because of the spoken jokes or fascinating humor. Machkovech credited, “The biggest surprise in terms of this reboot's humorous action comes from the Tony Stark-ening of Parker's suit, which he and his sidekick eventually hack into to unlock new, confusing powers. Kind of like the time Bart Simpson drove a car over a North Pole elf, only multiplied by a thousand.”

“Spider-Man Homecoming” could have taken off 5 to 10 minutes without anyone looking away, but overall, the two-hour length didn’t feel long, boring or tedious. Machkovech admitted, “It has been a while since I've seen a comic book film declare that its hero "will return" and internally squee in response.” “Spider-Man Homecoming” is both faithful and innovative, hilarious and focused. Machkovech ended his review by stating, “With this film, Marvel Studios was able to shift its action-movie gears to make its first true "teen comedy" film, shamelessly lifting from the best of the John Hughes era, and the filmmakers here pull it off to nifty effect. The result is the first action film in years that I would recommend everyone I know go see.”

Spoiler alert: in the mid-credits scene, Toomes meets with Gargan, played by Michael Mando, in prison about joining a team that wants to defeat Spider-Man, but Toomes is not interested and doesn't reveal Spider-Man's identity. In the post-credits scene, Captain America appears to do a PSA, which is actually pretty funny.

In the end, I can’t recall the last time I saw a comic book movie on opening day. It must have been a while, I can tell you that. However, this movie has got to be the best “Spider-Man” movie I have seen since the second one directed by Sam Raimi. "Spider-Man Homecoming" becomes the best “Spider-Man” movie ever. This is another one of my favorite comic book movies. This was action-packed, hilarious, humanizing and had some really good legitimate drama. I liked how they showed how a kid becoming a superhero can make them feel cocky and want to rush into doing everything quick, which is correctly portrayed here. Tom Holland succeeded in this role, and I’m looking forward to seeing him in future Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Also, if Michael Keaton could pull off playing a superhero twice, you know he can play a super villain, and he plays it perfectly. If you want to see this movie in theaters, I can assure you that you will thoroughly enjoy this and will definitely get your money’s worth out of the ticket. Don’t worry, you can go to the theaters and you won’t feel like you have been ripped-off.

Thank you for joining in on my review of “Spider-Man Homecoming,” Stay tuned next week for the continuation of “Despicable Me Month.”