I... um... did not like it. I kind of went in with no expectations and was ready for it to tell me its own story.
What I feared came to pass, with a lot of the "loving homages" to Spider-Man history being essentially glorified Easter eggs. The villains the film was seemingly built around are just sort of side quests, and it just feels like a massive ad for the MCU version of the X-Men, presumably coming after Doomsday/Secret Wars.
I know this is unlikely to ever happen again now that Spider-Man is fully integrated into the MCU, but I do miss Spider-Man movies that were just Spider-Man movies. NWH was kind of the nice exception, as a big celebration of Spider-Man's movie history, but even that leaned heavily on Doctor Strange.
Again, I get it... this is an interconnected film universe and they need this to set up other stuff down the line... but man... this had the potential to be the most classically Spider-Man movie in the MCU and it kinda dances in that space, but not really.
The thing I liked most is that the spell that wiped Peter from Ned and MJ's memories wasn't just undone. Still... eh. I was left underwhelmed.
Maybe the MCU just isn't for me anymore? That's ok too.
I know! I was certain he was going to be either Jackel or Curt Connors, given the broader trajectory of the MCU at this point.
What even is the trajectory of the MCU at this point? I'm hearing that Secret Wars will be anything from a total reboot and fresh slate to only a partial reboot to fully bring the X-Men in and put a bow on the Fox crew (which I thought D&W did nicely).
And I mean... Tom Holland did say he didn't want to play Spider-Man into his 30s so... I donno.