It’s a shame that Spider-Man: Homecoming’s critical success has been eclipsed by our antipathy towards reboots. Not that I don’t get it, but I feel like the wrong lesson is being gleaned from its box office victory. It seems as though whenever it comes up, anecdotally or in print, there’s always this air of cynicism. “Third Spider-Man reboot in a decade, these fanboys will consume whatever that comes their way, maaaaaan.”
Believe me, you will not find a man more filled with contempt for the modern movie-making process, its audiences and all the propaganda in between, than me. Licensed properties simply don’t carry the weight that they used to. Just think about this year alone: Baywatch, King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, Ghost In The Shell, Smurfs: The Lost Village, fucking CHiPS. All these movies have three things in common – they're all based on well-established properties, they all under-performed at the box office, and they all suck major turd.
In all fairness, none of these franchises are quite as ubiquitous as Spider-Man , but even still, one simply cannot chalk up all or even most of Homecoming’s success to moviegoers that shout, “I recognize that thing!”
Spider-man Homecoming did well because it's a damn good superhero movie. In fact, I’d go so far as to declare its success a direct response to the oversaturation of franchise drivel. It feels refreshingly quaint and it has a plot I can casually describe.
In contrast, try answering what’s Batman V. Superman about. “Yeah, so Superman gets framed for shooting some guys over in the Middle East, and Batman..well, remember in Man Of Steel. .when uhm, yeah then there’s this jar of piss and, Martha and...then Max Landis makes a troll monster with Zod’s spunk...then…”
Anyway, Spider-man Homecoming is fucking Superbad with spandex, and it’s great. The score is phenomenal, the acting is top notch, and funny-Michael Keaton is in it. Spider-man: Homecoming is officially the highest grossing superhero film of 2017 and it earned every cent of its $823 million.
DONE
