The best Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2

Rating: 8/10 (13 July 2017)

Not the best Spider-Man movie but still a very good effort nonetheless. It feels very fresh and unique when compared with other MCU movies and even previous Spider-Man incarnations in that it feels like a high school movie first and a Spider-Man movie second. This movie really nails the 'day in the life of' Peter Parker type of feel that it needed to in order to take the character back to his roots which is clearly what they tried to accomplish and did accomplish for me.
Tom Holland is the ideal Peter Parker and Spider-Man in that he is shy, nerdy and charismatic all at the same time. I don't care much for the Stark tech version of the Spider-Man suit, however, and really feel that they made a mistake by taking the iconic Spidey-Sense away.
Michael Keaton is menacing and as realistic as MCU villains have come so far. He steals every scene he is in and is a great addition to the movie. It is clear with this movie that Marvel responded to the complaints about their weak villains by fleshing the Vulture out a lot more than most other MCU villains and even starting the movie out by focusing on him.
Although Tony Stark is not in the movie as much as the trailers would have you believe he is still in it a little too much for my liking. It really did feel like 'Spider-Man featuring Tony Stark' at times whereas I think more of a cameo with just two or three scenes would have worked better by further sharpening the focus on Peter Parker. This is not to say Tony isn't used well, however, as he basically fulfills the Uncle Ben role in this movie and it does work rather well. The supporting cast is fine and does feature a lot characters you will recognize if you are a fan of the Spider-Man comics.
All in all, the movie is a little uneven in that the first half is okay but the second half really does step up its game and ends on a strong note.