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Dipti Nair
Doha
The third reboot of Spider-Man, this time under the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is here and it's just so much fun. Spiderman is one of my favourite childhood super-heros and while I enjoyed the Tobey Maguire series, Andrew Garfield's Amazing Spider-Man wasn't up to my taste. Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Homecoming under the Marvel banner puts a whole new spin on an oft-repeated tale, and gets all the points right.
If you expect to see a nerdy Peter Parker getting bitten by a radio-active spider and gaining super-powers, you couldn't be more wrong, for this is not an origin movie. The movie begins after the events of The Avengers and the battle of New York. Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) runs a salvage company that is given the job of cleaning up the city after the alien attack. But the job is taken over by Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr) Department of Damage Control. Enraged, Toomes uses whatever alien technology they managed to salvage to create illegal weapons and in the process also turns himself into super-villain Vulture.
Eight years later, Peter Parker is recruited by Stark to fight on his side at the hangar battle in Captain America: Civil War. The fight over, Parker goes back to school, spending every minute waiting for the all-important call about another mission from the Avengers, one that never comes. He passes time helping old women with directions or apprehending thieves, who are, well, not thieves. That's when he stumbles on Toomes's black market arms operations and despite orders from mentor Tony Stark to leave it alone, butts head-first into it.
Spiderman here is just a 15-year-old boy, he may have super powers, but he is still a nerd, has a tough time asking a girl out and gets bullied by Flash (Tony Revolori - not a jock but more of a smart rival). This part feels more like a teen-movie than a super-hero one and has all the fun bits, from preparing for a quiz to dressing up for the 'homecoming' dance.
At the same time, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a complete Avenger movie, there is Iron Man of course, complete with the Avenger Tower, a few hilarious bits of Captain America in some disciplinary videos and even a mention of Thor's magical belt. But it doesn't have the heaviness of plot or action scenes that are a mark of the Avenger movies. However, what makes this one work, is its simplicity - one superhero, one villain and a straightforward plot. One of the reasons I prefer Marvel to DC movies, is because they have a sense of humour and Spider-Man: Homecoming is full of wit and one-liners. That is one of the best things about the movie, how totally hilarious it is, and credit goes entirely to the team of six writers and Director Jon Watts for putting it together so brilliantly.
But no matter how good the writing, it cannot be good without the star-cast. For that, the accolades go entirely to the casting department. Tom Holland may be 21 and British, but he fits like a glove into the role of a New York teen. He brings an innocence and sweetness to Spiderman that we have not seen before.
Spidey gets a side-kick this time, Ned (an entertaining Jacob Batalon), and his love interest is Liz (Laura Harrier). Zendaya is brilliant as a fellow student and her name initials suggest that she may have a more important role in upcoming movies. Every Spider-Man movie before has had an elderly Uncle Ben who advises about powers and responsibilities before meeting an untimely death, and an Aunt May, full of worldly wisdom. Here, there is no Uncle Ben, and Aunt May is not 80 years old but a young, attractive and cool Marisa Tomei.
In most superhero action movies, what stands out are the amazing CGI effects but in this one, what captivated me more than the action scenes were the performances, the relationships and, of course, the humour. As in all Marvel movies, stay back for the mid-credits and end-credits scenes, the latter is particularly amusing though it has no relevance to future movies.
To sum up, Spider-Man: Homecoming is light, colourful and the perfect summer movie. Watch it if you love the Avengers and even if you don't.
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10/07/2017
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