Read our full Spider-Man: Homecoming review to find out why it's pretty much the peak of Marvel's movie output right now.
Critics have finally got to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming and pretty much everyone loves it. There's praise for the cast, Tom Holland, Michael Keaton and Zendaya, in particular. It also seems like it's a really fun film with comparisons to John Hughes' high school movies, and Back to the Future.
Check out what people are saying about what looks like it might be the best MCU movie in a while.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is joyous fun - Collider
"The best word to describe Spider-Man: Homecoming is 'fun.' It’s a joyous, effervescent picture that may not have the thematic heft of darker pictures like Logan and The Dark Knight, but nevertheless forges its own identity within the confines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a hefty helping of the MCU’s primary virtue: humour. It’s a movie that will have you laughing throughout even though it’s not technically a comedy. Other Marvel films are busy spinning epic yarns, but Homecoming is very comfortable keeping its hero close to the ground."
Tom Holland is "fantastic" - Slashfilm
"Tom Holland is fantastic in his turn as this new Spider-Man. We only got a taste of his acting chops in Captain America: Civil War, but in Homecoming, we see the full range of his abilities. Not only does he do a great job of giving us a Peter Parker who isn’t too far removed from Marty McFly in Back to the Future, but he’s an outstanding, wise-cracking Spider-Man as well. Holland masterfully gives off the vibe of a guy who has confidence when he puts on the Spider-Man suit, but still isn’t too sure of himself when confronting the criminals he has to deal with."
Spider-Man: Homecoming's villain is "compelling and interesting" - Screenrant
"On the villain side of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes/Vulture is definitely one of the better and fully-developed antagonists featured in a MCU movie to date. Adrian is very much a “bad guy,” but Keaton makes him all the more compelling and interesting a baddie to watch through his performance. Moreover, Adrian has enough in common with Peter (in terms of their backgrounds and frustrations with the more privileged Stark) to make him a worthwhile foil to the web-slinger in Homecoming."
How it fits into the MCU - Comingsoon
"I love also how Homecoming fits squarely into the MCU. It gives us a little more meat on the world we’ve seen so far, including the day-to-day existence of these people living among these crazy happenings. We get a lot of Easter Eggs and cameos, but they don’t distract from the story, but add essential character and verisimilitude to the film."
Spider-Man Homecoming's sources and references - Total Film
"Taking its cue from the first dozen or so Amazing Spider-Man comics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in the early ‘60s, the Ultimate Spider-Man arc of the noughties and John Hughes’ ‘80s teen movies, this is a contained, emotionally centred tale about finding yourself."
On Peter Parker not quite being the hero yet - Collider
"Other Spider-Man movies are about the angst of being Peter Parker, but Homecoming is about the desire to grow-up and be a part of something bigger. Civil War gave Peter a taste of something greater than himself, and now he desperately wants to stay at that level even though he’s not ready for it. You also kind of feel for the kid because he could desperately use a mentor, and Tony Stark is rarely around."
There's not as much Iron Man as the trailers made out... - Screenrant
"This is also a good place to mention that Iron Man – fortunately – only really makes a glorified cameo appearance in Homecoming, despite what the marketing for the movie would have everyone believe."
...and Tony Stark isn't a good role model - Collider
"As a side note, Tony has always been one of the more nefarious personalities of the MCU, but Homecoming really piles it on. The movie notes that he basically gave a teenager a super-powered suit, no guidance, and barely any supervision. When Peter repeatedly tries to tell Happy and Tony that there’s a guy dealing superpowered weapons, Tony’s response is that Toomes is too small-time for The Avengers but too big for Spidey. Later, when Tony gets frustrated with Peter, he says he wishes Peter could have been better than him, but never does anything to make that happen. In a weird way, Tony is the epitome of what Peter should never be—great power with no responsibility."
But Spider-Man: Homecoming maybe tries to do too much - Screencrush
"If Spider-Man: Homecoming commits one major sin it’s overcrowding: I spent two long paragraphs describing the plot and didn’t even mention Peter’s Aunt May or his school bully Flash Thompson or his quirky decathlon coach or Michelle, a particularly droll and disinterested member of the school’s decathlon team played with dry wit and impressive comic timing by Zendaya.
The problem isn’t that any of these characters are bad; the problem is most of them are terrific and Homecoming, which runs a brisk 133 minutes, doesn’t have enough room for all of them."
