It was a fast-paced, funny film, but it had a lot of heart. Honestly, this is the first time I've ever truly felt that this was a "real" teenage Spider-Man. As in he actually acts like most would expect a teenager to act. He's got his heart in the right place, but boy does he have a lot to learn. It isn't perfect, but I'll take it over the BLEH Raimi films anyday. The focus on high school life so many were dreading actually fits with the story they were telling and doesn't come across as forced. Neither does the multi-ethnic angle. Its New York, guys. Deal with it.
Holland and Keaton are both phenomenal, and you really get to feel for both of them. Keaton's character is similar to Zemo's in that he actually has very personal reasons for doing everything he does. He gets a lot more development than most Marvel villains, but they still don't let him take over the film. This is still SPider-man's film. It doesn't retread what the previous 5 films have done, thankfully, and it doesn't beat you over the head with Uncle Ben's famous phrase. It delivers the message by simply showing us Peter having to choose between what he'd LIKE to do and what he knows he SHOULD do.
This is not Ironman 4, featuring Spider-Man. Tony's barely in the film. 10 minutes, tops. Yeah, I was surprised, too. The trailers made it look like he'd be the costar, but he's in Homecoming only slightly more than Nick Fury was in Ironman 2. The only action sequence he takes part in is the one shown in the trailers: keeping the two halves of the ferry from falling over. That's it. Spidey fights all his own battles.
The Homecoming dance is only in the film for two minutes and barely mentioned throughout. Its a thing in the film for about a whole ten minutes before the dance, itself, too.
No, the film isn't overcrowded. Keaton is THE villain. The others are just his gang.
The basic plot of the film actually touches on a subject only Agents of SHIELD, the Netflix shows, and the Shorts have done so far: it's basically showing us the street-level reactions to the various battles and incidents involving superheroes. Oh, and boy, does it EVER do it infinitely better than Man of Steel or BvS could ever hope to achieve. While those films attempt to wax philosophical, this film simply shows us how the people live in a world where the god of thunder can duke it out with evil robots, and we're given a pretty close view of the damage control that goes into rebuilding after the fight is over.
