Marvel May - Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, we've discussed Marvel Cinematic Universe films from studios like Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, and of course Disney. Today, however, we're going to be discussing an MCU movie from a different studio: Sony Pictures. This is Spider-Man: Homecoming.  

          The movie opens, in a prologue set after the Battle of New York depicted in The Avengers, with Adrian Toomes, a New York City salvage worker whose contract with the city gets voided by the newly formed Department of Damage Control, a joint venture between the U.S. government and Stark Industries. Damage Control has taken over salvage operations and are requiring all New York City salvage groups to hand over any salvaged Chitauri tech. Toomes and his crew, including the likes of Herman Schultz and Phineas Mason, decide against this and instead work to create weapons from the salvaged alien technology and sell them on the black market, with Toomes having a high-velocity wing pack, and dubbing himself the Vulture. 

         Years later, after the airport battle in Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker is struggling to adjust to just being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and wants to be an Avenger like Tony Stark, who doesn't think Peter is ready yet. Peter also is in contact with Tony's friend Happy Hogan, who is in the process of moving all of the equipment from Avengers Tower to the new Avengers facility in upstate New York. 

       Peter is also struggling with balancing being Spider-Man with his life in high school, as he is doing his best to keep everything afloat, but again, he wants to be working with Tony and the Avengers. However, he does gain the attention of Liz, a girl who heads the academic decathlon team. Some time later, Peter's best friend Ned learns that Peter is Spider-Man, and the two set out to test the new gear in his suit. 

         Spider-Man, despite warnings from Tony not to worry about the black market weapons, learns that these weapons are being sold by the Vulture and his crew, and one of the crew, Jackson Brice aka the Shocker, uses a pair of gloves that produce concussive shockwave blasts. Peter tries to stop them from destroying a ferry, but is unable to do so, and the ferry is saved by Iron Man. Tony, clearly disappointed in Peter, takes the suit back, and drives him back home to his Aunt May. Peter, no longer going around as Spider-Man, does his best to regain control of his school life and his social life, even to asking to take Liz to the homecoming dance. 

       Meanwhile, a furious Toomes kills Brice and hands over the mantle of the Shocker to Schultz. On the night of homecoming, Peter goes to meet Liz, and we get a twist: Toomes is Liz's father. Yep, that's right. The girl that Peter is taking to homecoming is the daughter of his archenemy: the Vulture. After a grim warning from Toomes, Peter enjoys some of homecoming with Liz, but gets Ned to create a distraction so that Peter can suit up in his old Spider-Man suit, which was a pair of sweats, and he goes to stop Toomes from getting to the last bit of tech being moved from Avengers Tower. A grueling battle ensues, with both Schultz and Toomes being defeated and going to prison. Liz and her mother move to Oregon, and her empty slot is filled by another student: Michelle Jones, or MJ for short. Tony formally invites Peter to be an Avenger with a new suit: the Iron Spider suit. Peter, however, declines the offer, choosing to be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. After he leaves, Pepper Potts is annoyed at Tony and Happy, as the press were all looking forward to meeting Spider-Man, but Tony finds a different way to give the press something to write about: propose to Pepper with an engagement ring that Happy had been holding onto for a while. Returning home, Peter sees a bag left for him with the suit that Tony took from him earlier. Peter suits back up in the suit, and shocks Aunt May when she sees him in it. 

             Okay, so before I get into my thoughts, I have to answer the question of just how this movie came to pass. So, back in the 90's Marvel Comics had sold off film rights to their characters, with several studios getting the rights to Spider-Man before the rights finally settled at Sony Pictures, who produced five Spider-Man films: a trilogy of films starring Tobey Maguire and directed by Sam Raimi, and two films under the title of The Amazing Spider-Man starring Andrew Garfield and directed by Marc Webb. While I definitely enjoy all of these Spider-Man films, I have to admit that the films that both series of films ended on could have been a lot better. So, Sony Pictures sat down with Disney and Marvel Studios to co-produce a new wave of Spider-Man films, with Disney/Marvel Studios being allowed to feature Spider-Man in Marvel films like Captain America: Civil War and so forth, and Sony could feature previously established MCU characters in Spider-Man films that exist in the MCU. So, here we are. Did it work? 

        Surprisingly, I think it did work. Tom Holland is terrific as Peter Parker, and his scenes with Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark and Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan were all terrific. Marisa Tomei gives honestly one of my favorite takes on Aunt May I've seen in film, and Jacob Batalon is terrific as Peter's best friend Ned. Both Laura Harrier and Zendaya are terrific as Liz and MJ, respectively, and I gotta give a quick shout-out to Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson. This kid took the character of Flash from the comics, and totally does something different than we've seen from previous Flash Thompson actors like Joe Manganiello and Chris Zylka. Joe and Chris were the typical jock bullies as Flash, but Tony is all mouth. He's just a little smartass, and he's funny as hell. I really liked the choice of villains, with both Logan Marshall Green and Bokeem Woodbine as two different versions of the Shocker, and Michael Keaton as the Vulture. As soon as I heard this casting news, my jaw dropped. This was the guy who years ago was Batman, and now he's the main villain in a Spider-Man movie, and it's just awesome. 

         The writing for this movie by screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein definitely has a lot of Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller vibes, and director Jon Watts definitely plays into that. In fact, I think that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige had even said that this movie was meant to have a feeling of a John Hughes film, and I definitely see that on display with this movie. I'm giving Spider-Man: Homecoming a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off, and I'll be back later on today with my review of Thor: Ragnarok as Marvel May continues.