Welcome to our weekly series "Cry of the Week," in which we highlight whatever moment made us ugly cry on our couches the most in the past seven days.
If you're of a certain age in this time period, you've lived through three Spider-Men. You've been to midnight releases with Tobey Maguire, cautiously fallen in love with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, and by the time some rando named Tom Holland rolled around, you were tired.
Luckily for us, at the end of that tumultuous decade and a half came Spider-Man: Homecoming, an almost stupidly enjoyable movie that gives us a bit of everything: Action, adventure, drama, romance -- and yes, tears.
After the events of Captain America: Civil War, young Peter Parker is on top of the world. He's loving his big secret, the "Stark internship," and keeping his afternoons free from the moment school ends in case he has to avenge or anything.
But we learn early on that Peter isn't doing much avenging, or much of anything beyond some friendly neighborhood crime-fighting. He calls Happy Hogan every evening with a report -- a voicemail left unanswered along with a painfully long string of texts.
Your heart goes out to Peter from those early scenes (you know, the ones during which you wrestled with your dueling instincts to date or adopt Tom Holland), with immense credit to Holland's performance; superpowers or not, he's just a kid, and silence from the adults who should be guiding him is isolating him more than ever.
After a disastrous (and also epic) battle aboard the Staten Island Ferry, Peter -- who disabled his "training wheels protocol" -- has to turn in his special Stark Spidey suit and go back to life as a regular kid. He's crushed, and while it's nice to see him live a normal life with school and friends, he and we know that this kid could save the world.
At the film's climax -- after Peter shockingly learns the Vulture's identity and decides to skip homecoming to finish this thing -- Vulture traps Peter in an abandoned warehouse (classic), buried beneath a pile of rubble. Without his swaggy suit, Peter realizes he might not get out of this alive. His eyes fill with tears as he calls out for help and tries to lift the massive weight trapping him.
And then he catches a glimpse of his original Spider-Man mask in the debris.
"Come on, Spider-Man," he whispers to himself, trying once again to lift the mound of concrete compressing him. "Come on."
Not only is it magical and motivational, it's also a nod to an original comic -- an extra emotional punch for hardcore fans that's no less impactful to newbies.
Spoiler alert: Peter gets out and plays the hero, and you'll wipe your eyes before the next scene. Just don't expect them to stay dry for long.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is now available for digital download.
Topics Marvel
