To really appreciate Spider-Man: Homecoming, you have to think of this as an adventure before he really grew into his powers; unlike the other first Spider-Man movies that have come before this.
Tom Holland's Peter Parker and Spider-Man really was a kid. And that's what the first act did so well, showing us that after a big adventure like Captain America: Civil War, he had to go back to his mundane highschool life.
While the franchise's predecessor storyline, those Spider-Man origin stories showed how Peter got his powers, learned them, and immediately was proficient in using them.
This Peter, however, had to learn just what he was capable of but at the same time struggled through the steep learning curve. Coupled that with a new technology given to him by Tony Stark, that confused the poor kid even more. And as we went through the beats of this portion of the story, it got frustrating a little because I wanted to see Spider-Man save the day, not fail at his attempts and then have Iron Man come in to save his behind. I had to get past these expectations in order to enjoy the movie more.
But, having said that, all these were done in great taste by Jon Watts. In every act there was a very specific scene that showed exactly the struggle that a highschool superhero had to battle within himself. In the first act, Spider-Man struggled with using his powers to impress the girl he liked. In the second, he was looking down at his friends having fun while he had his responsibility. And in the third, he realised who he was even without his suit as he was buried by rubble.
None of the previous movies showed any of these, but then again, those were full-fledged superhero movies. This one, was a John Hughes type of superhero movie and hence, very different.
In some ways, this wasn't even a Spider-Man movie exactly - or not one that we are well-accustomed to because, for the most part as Spider-Man, this was a blinged out Spidey suit that resembled nothing like the Spider-Man that we know and love.
However, that was part of Peter's search for his identity. And it was the logical step forward for a Marvel Studios' version of a Spider-Man movie that followed right where Civil War left off. So unfortunately, that came with the above-mentioned downsides.
Two characters that I did not quite care for. One was Liz, played by Laura Harrier, the other was Aunt May, played by Marisa Tomei. Harrier lacked that onscreen sparkles that Emma Stone had in abundance. And Tomei's Aunt May just wasn't Aunt May after the two incredible incarnations that we have gotten. I understand that both were perhaps not the actors' faults, but they could not elevate what they received as characters.
Michael Keaton was great. Even though as a villain, he was more like a petty thief - again, not something that we are used to from a superhero movie; but unlike the other two ladies, Keaton made his character great and had a lot of dimensions by adding a lot of layers.
But for Donald Glover, I hope we get to see more of him in future sequels because he was almost like a cameo but there wasn't any reason for him to cameo, though his character has deep ties in the lore of the comic books.
Finally, Tom Holland as Peter Parker and Spider-Man? While Tobey Maguire was the better Peter Parker, Andrew Garfield has the better Spider-Man. Holland had a great balance for both characters, but only time will tell if he would end up being the best.
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