Spider-Man Homecoming (DVD) : Review

Film

Peter Parker (Tom Holland – The Lost City of Z, Captain America: Civil War) is balancing two lives, one as Spider-Man, the other as an ordinary high school student in New York. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, he finds himself on the trail of a new enemy, Adrian Toomes / Vulture (Michael Keaton – American Assassin, The Founder). Peter gets some guidance, in the form of mentor Tony Stark / Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr. – Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man 3), as post the events of Captain America: Civil War, while he is not yet officially an Avenger, Spider-Man is seen as an important asset to the team.

Rewatch value on Spider-Man: Homecoming is rather high, firstly as the film forms part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but also for the fact that there are just so many references to the other films, and many of these fly by so fast, that one is bound to miss them on initial viewings.

The film is still fun on subsequent viewings, and can be enjoyed as part of the greater MCU, or on its own, appealing to a wide audience.

Read the full SAMDB review of Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Read an interview with Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland.

Disc

Overall, the disc is of a decent technical quality, with an enjoyable main feature. The special features are rather short, and out of the four, two are merely trailers.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.

Video

Video is encoded at a high average bitrate. There are no visible artefacts on screen, nor colour bleed. Colours are vibrant in the appropriate scenes, and detail in the several darker scenes is decent, as is detail in the many faster paced scenes.

Viewers with the relevant hardware or software can scale up to a larger or higher resolution screen, should they wish.

Audio

Audio for the main feature is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Dialogue is clear via the centre channel, with ample use made of the surround channels to expand the on-screen action, and further draw the viewer into the story.

The bonus features have only a stereo 2.0 soundtrack.

Navigation

Navigation is simple, and easy to use, with large, labelled buttons on the main menu. The menu has a motion background, with a few clips from the main feature, however these are spoiler free. The menu has buttons to play the movie, languages, scene selections, and special features.

The languages sub-menus have text lists to choose the desired audio language, and subtitle options.

The scene selection sub-menus have four large, colour, still thumbnails per sub-menu, for a total of 16 chapters. While each thumbnail is numbered, they are not labelled, meaning that some guesswork would be needed in order to navigate to a specific place in the main feature.

The special features sub-menu has a text list of the four bonus features.

Bonus Features

Searching For Spider-Man – The journey of finding the right personality, talent, and skills, to take on the character of Spider-Man. Footage of Tom Holland’s initial auditions and screen tests are included in the featurette, meaning this should appeal to viewers and filmmakers alike.

Jon Watts: Head of the Class – A short featurette on director Jon Watts, and what he brings to the movie, including his vision. An interesting, if short, feature, but one that should be of interest to viewers and filmmakers alike.

Spider-Man: Homecoming VR Trailers – A plain 2D view, of the trailer for the VR Spider-Man game, for the PS4.

An Inside Look at Marvel’s Spider-Man | PS4 – A look at the PlayStation 4 Spider-Man game, including in-game footage, and behind the scenes with Tom Holland and his motion capture performance.

 

By Andrew Germishuys

Founder of SAMDB | Actor | Armourer | Tech Enthusiast With over two decades in the film industry, I'm a seasoned actor and skilled armourer. I hold numerous certifications in acting and filmmaking, complemented by degrees and diplomas in IT and technology, giving me a unique blend of creative and technical expertise. When I'm not on set or in the workshop, you'll find me immersed in the world of gaming and VR, fuelling my passion for cutting-edge technology. Connect with me: X / Twitter Facebook Instagram Mastodon Threads Explore my work on SAMDB IMDb