Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ review

Peter Parker is back at Marvel and better than ever in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'

Spider-Man finally joins Marvel’s cinematic universe in this long-awaited big screen adventure. Follow below for our Spider-Man: Homecoming review.

Fans of the Spider-Man movie franchise are no stranger to reboots, having watched the character get reset twice in the last 15 years, and now a third time in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming. The character’s latest reboot is the most ambitious yet, though, as it’s a return to his roots not just in front of the screen, but also behind it; after years abroad, the franchise has finally returned to Marvel’s loving arms. That means there’s a lot riding on young star Tom Holland’s shoulders, but Holland and company swing through with flying colors.

The product of a blockbuster 2015 agreement between Spider-Man movie rights-holder Sony Pictures and Disney-owned Marvel Studios, Homecoming brings the character into the same big-screen universe as Iron Man and The Avengers. It’s the sort of gamble most studios won’t make with their tentpole properties, but it’s a bet that seems likely to pay off in a big way for Sony and everyone else involved, because make no mistake, this is the best Spider-Man movie so far.

It’s the best Spider-Man movie so far.

Directed by Jon Watts (Cop Car) and featuring Holland (The Impossible) as the new face of Spider-Man’s teenage alter ego, Peter Parker, Spider-Man: Homecoming is set in the aftermath of last year’s Captain America: Civil War. While Civil War introduced Spidey into the MCU in style, Homecoming explores what happens when Peter Parker is dropped back into his normal life as a high-schooler in Queens, NY, after tangling with some of Earth’s mightiest heroes during Civil War.

As Peter struggles to find his place in the world of superheroes and villains, balancing his costumed life with his high-school routine, he also tangles with the owner of a salvage company making weapons out of recovered alien debris, Adrian Toomes (played by Oscar-nominated Birdman actor Michael Keaton). His encounters with Toomes make him a target for the villain and his gang, and he soon finds himself facing terrifying threats to everything — and everyone — he holds dear.

In one of many smart decisions made by the film’s creative teamHomecoming dispenses with the typical retelling of Spider-Man’s origin story and jumps right into the action, wisely assuming some audience familiarity with one of the world’s most popular superheroes and the subject of more makeovers than a red carpet gala. The key points in Spider-Man’s transition from average teenager to super-powered crime-fighter are referenced without dwelling on them, leaving the bulk of the film’s 133-minutes to focus on telling a new story.

And tell a new story it certainly does — with ample help from its talented cast, some impressively crisp action sequences, and a script that highlights Spidey’s best attributes in ways that few of the prior Spider-Man films managed to do.

Whereas previous franchise stars Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield each pulled the character of Peter Parker in some interesting (and occasionally controversial) directions, Holland makes a strong case for himself as the most authentic version of Spider-Man yet.

The actor’s background in gymnastics and dance (the latter of which had him play the title role in Billy Elliot the Musical in London’s West End) translates well to the character’s movement. His mix of acting chops and athletic abilities create a new baseline for practical action in the film, bringing genuine physicality to every flip, twist, and high-flying maneuver in the adventure’s frequent action sequences.

There’s not a weak link to be found in the rest of the film’s cast.

Holland isn’t the only one who pushes the Spider-Man franchise to new heights, though.

With all respect to the franchise’s most memorable villain actors in films past — chief among them Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn in Spider-Man and Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius in Spider-Man 2 — Keaton’s performance raises his winged antagonist to a higher level than prior Spider-villains. The former Batman and Beetlejuice actor takes a character that could easily slip into traditional bad-guy tropes and gives him a level of depth and emotional resonance that few villains (even in Marvel’s blockbuster cinematic universe) offer in modern superhero movies.

Much like Tom Hiddleston’s trickster god Loki from Thor and The Avengers, Keaton’s villain — informally labeled “The Vulture” — is one you can’t help wanting to see again in future installments, almost as much as the film’s hero himself.

There’s not a weak link to be found in the rest of the film’s cast, either.

spider man homecoming review vfx
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Actor Jacob Batalon plays the perfect complement to Holland as Peter Parker’s best friend, Ned Leeds. Batalon brilliantly walks the line between serving as an audience surrogate — asking the questions we’d all ask a teenager who can climb walls with his bare hands, for instance — and acting as a grounding factor when Peter’s superhero ambitions test the limits of believability both in the movie’s fictional world and our own.

Marisa Tomei, who generated some buzz when she was cast as the youngest version of Peter’s doting Aunt May so far, makes the role her own to such a degree that this younger, hipper Aunt May feels just as natural to Peter’s story as the prior geriatric iterations.

Reprising his role as playboy engineer and armored superhero Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. also manages to mine some previously unexplored depths of this well-tread character by taking on a mentor role to Parker. Downey’s performance retains all of the snarky confidence that has become his character’s trademark while also adding some nuance to the role. The performance gives even more definition to the part Tony plays in shaping this new world of superheroes, aliens, and extra-dimensional elements. It can’t be easy to bring something new to a character he’s played in three solo films and at least four other movies, but Downey does exactly that with his Homecoming performance.

Fortunately, despite its length, Spider-Man: Homecoming never feels like a movie that drags on past the witching hour.

Watts shows a deft hand at managing the pace of the film, pushing the story along from start to finish with a sharp, playful tone that keeps the stakes high without letting it feel too grim. Peter Parker’s life is a constant tug-of-war between the demands of what he wants as a teenager and what he wants to be as a superhero, and Watts does a fine job propelling the narrative forward, even as it jogs to one side or the other with Peter’s constantly fluctuating attention span.

It does a disservice to Spider-Man: Homecoming to describe it as the “youngest-skewing” movie in Marvel’s cinematic universe so far, as it’s not a movie made for children, but it is the movie in the MCU that’s most likely to resonate with a younger audience — along with being the most bloodless of the Marvel movies so far, Homecoming willingly embraces the perspective of its teenage protagonist.

Like its titular hero, Spider-Man: Homecoming inhabits that middle ground between childhood and adulthood where an innocent sense of wonder still exists alongside the impending awareness of responsibility and mortality. It’s a realm few superhero movies have extensively mined up to this point, including the prior Spider-Man films, which felt as if they were in a hurry to bring Peter to adulthood. The result is a fresh take, fleshing out yet another corner of Marvel’s cinematic universe that seems ripe with storytelling potential.

Not only is Spider-Man: Homecoming the best movie in the character’s big-screen history so far, it makes a strong case for consideration as one of the most entertaining and satisfying superhero movies in recent years. For Spider-Man and his fans, the return of everyone’s favorite web-slinger to the Marvel universe is a homecoming to be proud of.

Editors' Recommendations

Rick Marshall
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
5 awesome moments in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Miguel holds Miles down in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is blowing away audiences worldwide with its many dimension-hopping, joke-slinging, and heart-filled moments. It's no surprise that this movie has already broken multiple box office records, and it's safe to say that this sequel has surpassed its predecessor in every conceivable way.

Just about every scene in this film is incredible, but atop this mountain of animated gold, these five moments shine the brightest. Note: the following article contains major spoilers from the movie.
The opening fight scene

Read more
Which Marvel villains should be in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 4?
Tom Holland as Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The MCU has plenty of upcoming projects that fans are excited about, but a potential fourth entry in Tom Holland's Spider-Man series is near the list's top. 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home ended with Holland's Peter entering a new phase in his life. Forgotten by the world and with no one left by his side, Peter is now closer to the perpetually down-on-his-luck version from the comics that fans have come to know and love. The ending is the perfect setup for a new Spidey adventure, with Spider-Man acting as the street-level hero he was always supposed to be. But who should he fight in his new adventure, especially now that he has no Avengers or Avengers-adjacent allies by his side?

Well, the possibilities are limitless. After all, Spider-Man has some of the best and most iconic villains in Marvel comics, and while many have already appeared in the Web Slinger's numerous live-action projects, some remain untouched by the film industry. From fearsome crime bosses to chameleonic supervillains, these infamous foes would make worthy enemies for Holland's Spider-Man.
Chameleon

Read more
7 bizarre facts about Spider-Man you should know
spiderman no way home sony first 10 minutes spider man opening

As one of the most popular and longest-running superheroes in history, Spider-Man has had many weird and wild stories in the Marvel Universe. Since the character has been making comics for over sixty years now, the writers were bound to come up with some bizarre ideas for the web-slinger's adventures.

Even for a person who dresses like a spider and swings across New York fighting all sorts of wacky supervillains, these seven facts about Spider-Man are strange, even for him.
Spider-Man once killed Mary Jane!

Read more