Tonight's Movie: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

I began watching Marvel films on Independence Day in 2015, with CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011).

It's hard to believe, but SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017) marks my 16th Marvel review of the last two years, following reviews of 14 earlier movies and one TV series.

As much as I enjoy Marvel movies, I wasn't expecting all that much from SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, as the idea of a teenage superhero didn't interest me very much. I went to the movie on the basis of Marvel's track record and because the movie also features one of my Marvel favorites, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.).

I'm delighted to report I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Tom Holland is a sympathetic Peter Parker, juggling teen angst, schoolwork, and a crush on Liz (Laura Harrier) with the letdown he feels when it's back to reality after his role in the airport battle of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016).

Peter wants to join the Avengers in saving the world, but Tony, aka Iron Man, wants Peter to mature. Peter is monitored by Tony's righthand man, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), and despite the fact that Iron Man has to bail Peter out of a predicament, Peter disables the tracking device in his suit so he can try to fight the bad guys on his own. Probably not a good idea!

Meanwhile Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) wonders what on earth is going on with Peter's mysterious comings and goings; you'd think since he's an "intern" for Tony Stark she might get a clue, but it never seems to occur to her that her nephew is home late because he's been out saving the world! (Or at least his corner of New York.)

I love the way Marvel films tie events and themes together; worry about "collateral damage" leads to the Sokovia Accords in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, and though it's not directly addressed here, there are certainly a lot of people also affected when Spider-Man starts chasing bad guys.

In fact, I thought it was inspired that SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING starts in the aftermath of the Battle of New York. Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) has a contract to clean up the rubble, and when the government cancels his contract, the resentful Adrian makes off with a bunch of discarded alien weaponry.

Keaton is a fine villain, and while the motivations of some Marvel villains haven't always been completely clear (see: AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON), his anger makes total sense. The conflict between his villainous side and his love for his family gives the character some real depth, and his "tag" scene during the end credits is really interesting.

Speaking of tag scenes, we saw the movie with a big crowd who waited patiently through the end credits for the now-expected Marvel tag scenes...and the last one got quite a laugh!

A highlight for me was Tony's final scene, which was completely unexpected -- I'm glad I didn't read the IMDb credits before seeing the movie -- and made me quite happy.

In a bit of fun casting, Jennifer Connelly (THE ROCKETEER) provides the suit's computer voice, which Peter dubs "Karen." Connelly is the wife of Paul Bettany, who voices Tony's assistant Jarvis/Vision in the Marvel films.

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING was directed by Jon Watts and filmed by Salvatore Totino. It runs 133 minutes -- and yes, like most movies these days, maybe they could have found a few minutes to cut out for a more streamlined story.

Like last fall's DOCTOR STRANGE (2016), SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING has a good score by Michael Giacchino. You may not leave the theater humming like you do with a John Williams theme, but this pair of films has much better music than most of the Marvel movies.

Parental Advisory: SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING is rated PG-13 for "for sci-fi action violence, some language and brief suggestive comments." I'm kind of surprised it wasn't a straight PG, as it struck me as pretty mild, except for Aunt May's last (cut off!) word of the movie. (And I have to admit that was a funny moment.)

A trailer is here, and a different one is here.

Previous Marvel reviews: IRON MAN (2008), IRON MAN 2 (2010), CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011), THOR (2011), THE AVENGERS (2012), IRON MAN 3 (2013), THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013), CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014), GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014), AGENT CARTER (2015), ANT-MAN (2015), AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015), CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016), DOCTOR STRANGE (2016), and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 (2017).