Spider-Man: Homecoming // 2017

Did you ever think you would see another Spider-Man post on this blog?
Well, if you did and even if you didn't, here's another one.
This past Sunday I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming.
I'm going to try something different with the way I present this review. I'm going to separate my thoughts into categories, and we shall see how it goes.
What's that you say? You want pictures and gifs? Don't worry, I have those too.
Let us begin.

Firstly, I must say, this is a bit of a long review, as I have lots of things to talk about. I tried to cut it down some, but it's still pretty long. So bear with me. :)
Before I actually saw this movie, I was a little worried that it wasn't going to make a lot of sense, because I got the impression after watching trailers that it went hand-in-hand with the latest Avengers movie.
That would have been very confusing, considering I have not seen ANY Avengers movie, ever. So if SH made a lot of references to past stories, where would that leave me? Thankfully, that didn't really happen. While the Avengers people DO tie into Peter's story in this movie (Iron Man and Captain America were both involved), Spider-Man: Homecoming stood 99% on it's own, apart from just a few references that I didn't really 'get'. Anyhow, I was happy to discover that a person can watch SH with or without having seen past Avengers movies.

What I Liked About Spider-Man Homecoming:
~First and foremost, I gotta say that Tom Holland did an excellent job as our friendly web-slinger. Even though I love past Spider-Men, Tom has something that they didn't: youthfulness. Sure, Tobey Maguire looked kind of young, but he didn't really look high school age to me. Same with Andrew Garfield. But Tom? Perfection. He did such a good job at being awkward, and boyish, and a geeky science nerd, and fifteen. Which is quite young to act like. But Tom did it! He brought it. Amazingly. You see, Peter Parker's character has to have the correct ratio of boyish and edgy (but not annoying) sarcasm, spider-resembling superpowers, and emotional baggage for him to be the Peter he was meant to be.

From the Amazing Spiderman... see what I mean about the sarcasm...

 He is a combination of weakness and strength, *semi-spoiler* but his strengths always come through in the end, just like they're supposed to. And they end up saving the day, which was a great part of this movie. *end of spoiler*
He is your modern and updated Spider-Man, but he's still your classic Peter. He even cried a couple of times. Yes, when you get Tom Holland as Spider-Man, you get the complete package.
Like I said, Tom did it. Jolly good show, Tom.
*hats off to tom*
 Plus can we just take a second to appreciate how low-key adorable he is....

~The overall story, I feel, was engaging and very thought out. Some of the problems I get when I try (yes, I do try) to watch other super-hero movies (HEMcaptainameicaAHEM), is that they don't have enough plot to satisfy me. Well, there's plot, I guess. But it's just a bunch of fighting plot, and not enough interesting plot. I feel like I can't even get to know the hero because everything is moving too fast and everyone is punching and shooting, but where's the emotion? Where's the personality? Where's the heartbreak? I just can't find it. But in Spider-Man: Homecoming, I found it. The excitement and violence did NOT outweigh the touching parts, and we were actually given a chance to resonate and connect with who Peter is supposed to be as a character.

-"I just want to be like you!"  -"I want you to be better."

~This movie was funny! I loved the kind of humor that Peter's friend, Ned, brought to the picture. There were some scenes that I just laughed right out loud. It was just enjoyable like that. I get a little tired of crude and rude humor in movies. But thankfully, this movie wasn't like that (for the most part). It was genuinely hilarious. It was the perfect blend of serious stuff and funny stuff, which (to me), is what a good super-hero movie should be like.

I also like how Ned knew Peter was 'The Spider-Man'. It brought a lot of humor into things, and it was kind of a refreshing change from the first Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire when literally no one knew who he was. I guess I'm glad that Peter wasn't alone in this one. Several people knew who he was, actually.

What I Didn't Like (yes, there were a few things):
~Aunt May. I did not like Aunt May. No offense to the actress who played her in the movie, but I prefer the older, friendly, understanding, granny-type Aunt May. This one was... weird. And annoying. She didn't seem like your typical 'aunt' at all. I mean, I know everything is supposed to be redone and modern and updated in this movie, but couldn't we keep the 'old Aunt May' theme? This one seemed more like Peter's older sister! Plus, to me, the two didn't have the aunt/nephew chemistry at all. Every time she tried to encourage him, or give him a hug, or just be his aunt that we've always loved, it was just... so... weird. It didn't seem right. :P

~There was one more little thing: I wish that the movie had shown more of Peter helping and saving people. There wasn't anything BIG that he was able to help with. In fact, he messed a lot of things up. It almost seemed like Spider-Man wasn't a big deal to anyone at all. Aren't superheroes supposed to be heroes to people? I do realize that the movie was portraying how young and naive and immature he's supposed to be, but I feel like they could have made him be a bigger help to random people in general.

 Ok, last of the dislikes:
~I did not like Peter's high school girlfriend/crush, Liz. Ok, I didn't hate her. I just didn't feel like she was right. Kind of like Aunt May, she didn't seem to go with Peter. She wasn't terrible, but I think they could've done much better. She was no MJ. Also, it was kind of weird that she's like, 8 years older than him (in real life, not in the movie) and I could kind of tell it. But I do like the way Peter acts around a girl he likes. It's pretty funny. XD

Violence & Other Content:
~I didn't enjoy the generous amounts of language sprinkled throughout this movie. Why are superhero movies like this? Can't they just be clean? Anyways, you have to watch out for cuss words. Because there are some, including an unfinished f-word (please, Marvel. Please), crude comments made by high schoolers (you know how they are... in the movies, anyways), rude nicknames for Peter, and your usual d-word, h-word, a-word, and more that I can't remember. It wasn't an unbearable amount of language, but I gotta say that a language filter would be nice to watch this movie with.

~As far as violence goes, it didn't seem super intense or graphic to me. I'm not used to watching Marvel movies, you understand, so I don't rightly know what kind of violence levels are in all of them. But anyways, in spite of a few small things, the hitting and punching and shooting wasn't the worst I've ever seen in a movie.
A guy gets disintegrated by some kind of matter-dissolving ray gun (that sounds pretty cheesy when I type it), Spider-Man gets beat up a couple of times, of course (he's the 'good guy', after all). People scream when there's a disaster on a ferry, a store almost gets blown up, etc. You know. The usual.

That's almost all I had to say, but here are A Few Other Things:
I liked the villain: Not too cheesy, interesting enough. I liked his bad-guy costumes, too.
I liked Michelle: She's always... just... there. With funny comments. "You guys are losers..." "I can't believe you guys are at this lame party."
I liked Tony Stark: Or as the internet calls him, 'Papa Stark'. I love his role as Peter's mentor figure, and the way he sweeps in with his fancy suit all the time.
I liked the high school setting: All the teenager vibes, backpacks and school hallways. Sticky notes, pencils, notepads, gym bleachers. You know.
I liked Peters super-cool super-suit: I do feel like the spider symbol thingy could have been more epic looking, but the rest of the suit and all it's gadgets was pretty cool. Karen was hilarious. :)

Overall:
I kind of expected to enjoy this movie because of my partiality to Spider-Man, and I did. It was put together well, the acting was splendid on everyone's part, I laughed out loud and even almost cried once. It was quite a fun time all around because I usually don't watch superhero movies at all, much less in theaters. So it was pretty great. Would I recommend this movie? Yes. Even if you're not a superhero person (and I'm still not at all...), I dare you to go see this movie and not enjoy it.

After all, this is what I said when my friend texted me and asked me how the movie was:
Me: "Well, there were a lot of funny little bits, mixed with touching bits, mixed with exciting bits, [plus Ned plus Tony plus Karen] and altogether it made a pretty enjoyable movie."
And so.
I think I've said my piece. If you've read all the way to the end, congratulate yourself.
Bye, friends!
-Amaris

But first... just look at those glasses... look at them.

 Ok. Bye.