Spider-Man: Homecoming-Pure Highschool Superhero Vibes

What Spider-Man: Homecoming accomplishes, more than anything, is portraying that sense of teenage superhero escapism inherent to the character. Much of my enjoyment of the film stems from watching Peter or Ned fanboying over the heroic, extravagant things that happen to Peter. The general high-school vibes of the film add to the film's charm, from the enjoyably awkward conversations to the hilariously dry, monotone demeanor of the teachers.

Much of the conflict may seem slightly out-of-place for a Spider-man story, with Tony Stark giving Peter his suit and arsenal rather than having Peter make everything from the ground up, losing a bit of that scrappiness that makes the character so endearing. However, I find Peter's conflict of wanting to do more as a superhero simply incredibly compelling, that it still works regardless of how slightly out-of-place it feels. Plus, much of Peter's conflict aligns with Spider-Man as a character, whether having to learn responsibility or the sacrifices he must make to be a superhero. Plus, Michael Keaton as the Vulture makes for such a great villain, as he's intimidating but with grounded and relatable motives, making the story even more compelling.

As the first Spider-Man film in the MCU, the movie fills itself with references to the MCU, almost too many references, with a good portion of the dialogue from the background characters being some reference to the MCU, which could get cumbersome after a while. The story can be a bit cliche and predictable as it's easy to know where it is going after a while. However, there's so much charm to this story that despite the clichéd nature, I still find the film breezy and rewatchable.

Spider-Man Homecoming has flaws, and I understand why some may be lukewarm about Tom Holland's Spider-Man, but I, for one, can't help but love the film. I find an immense charm in the characters, and I love the down-to-earth high-school vibes of the film, which is incredibly enjoyable by itself but also captures a more grounded side of the MCU that hadn't seen much from the MCU both before and since its release. The film is a high school comedy wrapped around a Spider-Man movie, and I can't help but love that.

Now Streaming on Disney+ in the U.S