Spider-Man: Homecoming

Civil War introduced us to this Spider-Man. Homecoming is the one that made me actually love the kid.

Tom's version of Spidey just works. He feels like a high schooler who happens to have powers, not a superhero pretending to be in high school. That's the whole trick, and he nails it. Watching this in the theater absolutely made it better, and having the kids with me pushed it up another notch.

He feels like a high schooler who happens to have powers, not a superhero pretending to be in high school.

The Vulture was the surprise. I did not expect to walk out thinking about the villain, but here we are. Keaton played him like a guy with actual reasons, family reasons, stuff that made sense even when he was doing bad things. That's the kind of bad guy who sticks with you after the credits roll. Way too many comic book villains are just noise. This one wasn't.

Zendaya as MJ? Yes. Bring more of that. And Jacob as Ned is doing exactly what the movie needs him to do, the best friend energy is landing.

The whole thing punched way above where I thought it would. I came in expecting a decent MCU plug-and-play entry and got something that actually made me care about Peter Parker as a character, not just as a suit swinging between buildings.

Would I watch it again? Already planning on it. Would I recommend it? To everyone. Homecoming earned its spot.