The reviews for Spider-Man (yes, there is a dash) are surprisingly mixed and both sides are rather extreme with their likes or dislikes. I only decided to watch it today since I still have 5 movie tickets which are expiring in November and I think I would be running out of movies.
I am actually at the camp that finds Spider-Man enjoyable. Marvel takes the correct direction not to reboot the plot about how Peter Parker gets his superpowers but to continue where Civil War ends. The plot is rather weak and forced since Peter is now "bored" with this daily life and is looking forward to the next big Avengers' thingy. While it is quite realistic as these superheroes also have normal boring life when they are not fighting super villains, it is not that appealing as a movie. The plot is also realistic in depicting that even superheroes have learning curves too. Spidey is all to eager to fling into action and still inexperienced to think of the possible collateral damages of his actions.
Vulture is a good super villain here. His motivation is rather low-key i.e. selling weapons illegally to support his family and we get to take a break from the heavier world destroying motivation of that sort. This motivation matches up nicely with Spidey who is still learning to be a superhero.
The action scenes are rather underwhelming too. There is not enough web-shooting, web-slinging, or physical fights. It is mostly CGI and CGI. That makes the only Spider-Man thing left is his personality: he talks non-stop. OMG yes a part of me find it very irritating but that is really his personality in the comics. Poor Tom Holland whom people may find very childish and irritating although he actually plays Peter Parker's personality damn well. I am not surprised that people dub him the best Spider-Man so far as his portrayal is the closest to the comic book.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is also missing the usual Marvel's comedic effects as well as the touching emotional moments. Iron Man is like-able here and he delivers some of the best lines ("If you are nothing without the suit then you should not have it"; "I want you to be better (than Iron Man)") despite his short screen time. The pep-talk and the part where Peter realises that he (almost) screwed up could have been better to ramp up the emotional parts.
Now that I have watched this, it is not surprising why reviews are so polarised. A part of me thinks it sucks as a superhero movie in which I am expecting action movie spectacles. Another part of me thinks that there has never been a superhero movie from this angle yet: the boring daily civilian lives. I guess Marvel is angling this movie to establish Spider-Man's position in the Avengers and the bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe, rather than to create a Spider-Man-centric universe. I am not gonna say this is movie good or bad, but I will just say that it is enjoyable enough.
And gosh.. the dash is irritating! Why can't it be just Spiderman instead of Spider-Man?
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