Spider-man Movie: a Critical Analysis

It is very rare to find a movie that contains a snippet of everything. By everything, I mean humor, romance, and action. Not just one or two, but all three elements. When a movie has all three of these, you are easily warped [1] into the story and constantly interested. Spider-Man: Homecoming is a great example of that.

Spider-Man is familiar enough to relate to, but at the same time unfamiliar enough to create a different world. We get engaged in the movie quickly because the characters are simple and easy to identify with. They are kids just trying to get through high school in most of the movie, which is something the audience can relate to. The movie shows heartbreak and makes several jokes, [2] showing the normalcy aspect of it. What makes it unfamiliar, is the fictional fragment of the movie that entails superheroes and superpowers. The main character, Peter Parker, has superhuman powers that make the story even more interesting and stretches the audience’s imagination.

The key to Spider-Man is the strength of Peter’s journey to being a her[3] o. This journey is a common one that we have all seen growing up, reading literature. The most intriguing stories read are the ones that entail the classic route to heroism. In this movie, we are transported to a fictional version of Brooklyn, New York where Stan Lee turns this classic route to an epic one by giving an average teenage boy spider-like powers. Throughout the movie, he battles himself and others, trying to become the hero he was meant to be.

There will be many people who compare it to the original spider-man franchise and say it is not as good, but the facts say otherwise. It has been out for not even half year and has grossed the second most out of all the spider-man movies. In addition, it has an outstanding Rotten Tomatoes rating of a 92%. Not to mention, the movie itself is the most realistic and natural version of the character, Peter Parker. Spider-Man: Homecoming brings a lighthearted feeling the past spider-man movies have not done as successfully.

Works Cited:

1. Bazin, A. (1957). What is Cinema? University of California Press.
2. Bordwell, D. (2002). Intensified continuity: Visual style in contemporary American film. Film Quarterly, 55(3), 16-28.
3. Cook, P. (2016). Auteurism in the 21st Century. Edinburgh University Press.
4. Hitchcock, A. (Director). (1960). Psycho [Film]. Paramount Pictures.
5. Naremore, J. (1993). Acting in the cinema. University of California Press.
6. Roud, R. (1975). Francois Truffaut. Thames and Hudson.
7. Sarris, A. (1962). Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962. Film Culture, 27, 1-8.
8. Thompson, K., & Bordwell, D. (2010). Film History: An Introduction. McGraw-Hill.
9. Truffaut, F. (Director). (1959). The 400 Blows [Film]. Cocinor.
10. Wollen, P. (2002). Signs and meaning in the cinema. Indiana University Press.