This is how I always travel, slightly less messing around than using the tube….

In many ways, this film really is a true homecoming. The most notable of all is that Marvel finally get their hands (albeit in a shared way) back on the webbed wall crawler we all love and waited to see with the Avengers but didn’t think it would ever possible due to the film rights staying with Sony.

But after the commercial and critical failure of the Amazing SpiderMan 2 some would say, a deal was indeed reached between Sony and Marvel Studios and since Captain America: Civil War, we have had the chance to see what Marvel Studios can do fully with Spiderman when it has the chance to give Peter Parker something meaty to chew on with others.

Of course, this will all be subject to how long Sony will want to play nicely with their Marvel buddies, given their other recent film efforts have not been profitable or indeed well received. So this really had to deliver on so many levels in order to try and keep the web slinger as a fixture in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And you know what….Spoiler alert, they finally did it after all this time! Sony have finally worked to bring Spiderman back to the world with a vengeance and it’s shocking how well this turned out. It’s fantastic and for more reasons than you might think.

If you don’t want to see any more gushing, then you may want to look away as I’m not going to be able to hold much of it back. We have an excellent Peter Parker in Tom Holland who really does shine as the loser genius who leads the double life as the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman.

He’s geeky, actually looks the age of Peter Parker for once, stumbles over the ladies and is somewhat left to his own devices by Tony Stark (played by a just as good as ever Robert Downey Jr.) after the battle of Berlin we witnessed in Captain America: Civil War and brilliantly recreated in a video blog Peter does at the beginning of the film.

Peter ends up having to speak with Happy (Returning Jon Favreau who is just as good too with his paranoia!) most of the time, but when he ends up uncovering a trade of alien weapons dealing, he decides he can’t leave it alone, despite being told to.

You see the main villains of Spiderman: Homecoming aren’t as grand or over-the-top as we’ve seen before as it goes. Michael Keaton is on top form as the gaffer of a scrapping company who was charged with cleaning up some of New York, after the events of the first Avengers film, where various alien tech was lying around.

When that’s taken away by the government and given to Stark Industries to handle, it looks like they’re all going to be out of a job. But they had some alien tech already salvaged….. so why not make some money adapting those for weapons on the black market? This leads Keaton to become the “Vulture” as he has a jet pack with wings and gadgets which help him steal more tech to sell.

In essence, it’s a far more simple plot and you understand why they do it. Hell Keaton is a bad guy you like. Even when he does something accidentally and just makes a joke about it instead of being shocked as what his chracter would have been up to that point.

Christ, the budget cuts to the Avengers have really taken their toll. Damned economy!

As well as some excellent “training” videos with Captain America (again reprised by Chris Evens to wonderful comedic effect) and fitting in with the Marvel Universe so far, this actually does standalone very well. In fact, Tony Stark and Happy don’t out stay any welcome and Tom Holland does take center stage.

What’s more is that actually, Peter Parker doesn’t relieve his whole backstory with Uncle Ben again, which is novel these days given how many times we’ve seen that (Take a damn hint Batman!) and he does actually grow up during the film too. There’s also a moment when he’s crying and vulnerable and honestly, that’s incredible to see in a comic book film. He’s a hero but he’s also flawed and we see that time and time again here.

Just some excellent acting by practically everyone actually to keep things going. The special effects and comedy are top notch with a very special mention that has to go to Peter’s best friend, played by Jed Batalon. His timing and silly questions are just fantastic. He evens gets in on the act later, and helps Peter save the day somewhat. The action scenes are great, with a wonderfully epic save at the Washington Monument.

Oh and the sexy Aunt May who we got introduced to, played by Marisa Tomei? Yep, she’s here but well grounded and actually doesn’t overshadow anything. Granted, Tony Stark has to make a comment about her at some point, but then it’s left alone and we carry on.

There were a few decent surprises along the way, and some appearances I didn’t expect at all towards the end. The end credits of course contain a few scenes, the last of which is perfection and plays fantastically on what we’ve come to expect. Well done Marvel and Sony, well done.

So it may not shock you to see that I fully recommend you seeing Spiderman: Homecoming. They got Spidey right, and the world he now lives in, without taking it away from him by bringing in Stark too much. It was played very well and there are far too many good things to mention, so I will leave it there and let you see for yourself.

Oh….. I do want to say…. “Training Wheels Protocol”. You’ll see what I mean….