Unlike before now there has been widespread discussion and criticism of facial recognition software. So to not touch the general dislike towards it and just use it like any other tool is "trying to normalise it". Also Tom Cruise using mass surveillance is way different than the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man using it. This in my opinion was a deliberate push by Disney. Why do you think they are making Spider-Man of all characters always having an AI assistant?

I guessed the Edith reply was coming. You're right on that. But it's funny to me that MCU Spidey took 8 movies to "grow" as a character and yet he repeats the exact same mistakes. It's tiring atp.

Without saying much, Palantir Parker

i watched this in a double-feature with the equilizer 3.. it also suffered a rather boring story, but it was much more cathartic. it provided a level of satisfaction the recent spidey did not. it actually provided the context of a much more identifiable good over evil..that familiarity you mentioned.

im prolly just comparison-whining apples and oranges

Idk what was so refreshing. He still has Stark tech. He's still overshadowed by other Marvel characters and storylines in his own movie. Still with a very bland basic script. Mcu hulk is still a punching bag. And now Spiderman also uses mass surveillance without a care or repercussion.

Idk what's so different honestly. The direction and colors changed but it's still very much the exact same. It's not bad, it's just average.