You’d have to reach back into Marvel’s movie history to find a film quite as delightfully spry as Spider-Man: Homecoming—all the way back, in fact, to 2008’s Iron Man. That heartfelt romp not only fully rehabbed Robert Downey Jr.’s career, it also drafted a workable blueprint for the modern superhero flick, one that few entries have managed to follow. Nowadays, of course, Tony Stark is caught up in the globe-hopping skirmishes of the Avengers' saga, but in that first installment, he was just a semi-relatable, power-burdened weirdo trying to win over a girl and put away the bad guy; he came, he saw, he quipped fast. Later Marvel movies may have been weightier, but Iron Man’s light touch made it one of the best comic-book adaptations of its era.
Homecoming—which stars The Impossible’s Tom Holland as Peter Parker-slash-you-know-who, and was directed by Cop Car’s Jon Watts—maintains Iron Man’s breezy vibe by keeping the stakes (relatively) low, and by leaving out the cosmic McGuffins that have locked the Marvel movie universe in a state of constant convolution. Instead, it focuses largely on Parker’s attempt to adjust to his newfound powers while also wooing a classmate (Laura Harrier) and fending off an airborne villain named the Vulture (Michael Keaton). The world is still in danger in Homecoming, of course, but it’s hard to get too consumed about all that when you still don’t have a date for the homecoming dance.
Watts and his five(!) co-writers establish the movie’s free-swinging vibe early on, as 15-year-old Parker enthusiastically keeps the peace in his native Queens, where he recovers stolen bicycles and helps his neighbors, while also trying to convince Stark that he’s Avengers material. Holland is swell here—not quite as emo as Tobey Maguire, nor as smart-alecky as Andrew Garfield. That’s not a knock on either, but Holland’s smart-kid goofiness makes him the most realistically awkward Peter Parker by far.
We’ve seen Spidey’s origin story twice now in the movies, and Homecoming wisely skips it, as well as the ponderous “With great power…” speechifying that’s so embedded in the hero’s DNA. Instead, Peter and his buddy Ned (Jacob Batalan) start out having a blast with his new powers: At one point, Ned begs to be “the guy in the chair,” the computer-jockeying assistant every superhero needs. In these early moments, Homecoming feels less like a costumed-crusader tale than an ‘80s high-school comedy, the kind of movie where a character intones, “This is going to change our lives”—but instead of talking about some powerful new gadget, he’s just trying to get himself psyched for a party at the cool kid’s house.
That easygoing feeling changes, though, when Keaton shows up. His Vulture character starts out as Adrian Toomes, a working-class industrial cleaner-upper who’s tasked with picking up after the Avengers’ mess, and steals some high-tech weaponry along the way. He then turns plunderer-profiteer, dressing up in a cool, Condorman-indebted flying-bird outfit in order to steal more toys and build his empire. As fun as his Vulture get-up is—and as dazzling it is to watch him tangle with Spider-Man mid-air—Keaton’s best moments come when he’s unmasked. Now in his mid-60s, Keaton has the same middle-aged irritability of his old Batman foe Jack Nicholson, and his creased face and bomber-jacket attire give him a look of dad-gone-bad coolness. He’s one of the more memorable summer-movie villains in recent years, and proof that with great glower, comes great possibilities.
Like pretty much every other Marvel movie in recent years, Homecoming culminates with a clankering, overly noisy third-act showdown that overstays its welcome. But by then, we’ve also witnessed a sleek rescue operation at the Washington Monument; a series of wonderfully withering putdowns courtesy of classmate Michelle (a spot-on sardonic Zendaya) and a third-act reveal that’s so deftly delivered, you barely have time to gasp. In fact, there are pleasant surprises scattered throughout; if you want in on the fun, you may want to stay off the film’s IMDb page. As Hollywood doubles down on the reboot biz, Homecoming is proof that even a story that’s been told countless times before can be spun into something at once intimate and universal. For two hours, you’ll have a great time being the gal (or the guy) in the chair.
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