The Tom Holland-era of Spider-Man is now four solo movies strong with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, another fine outing for the almighty web-shooter.
In terms of pure entertainment, it’s not quite on the level of the fantastic previous chapter, No Way Home (2021). Instead, Brand New Day goes in a nice new stylistic direction that feels more like a grounded, early Rocky film than a superhero movie.
For sure, the film offers up plenty of whiz-bang for your dollar, but it also dares to be earthy, and feels like a true New York City movie rather than using the city as another comic book trope. Peter Parker is even a Mets fan, with some prominently placed Mike Piazza memorabilia on his wall. (Yes, as a long-suffering Mets fan, I noticed.)
It’s four years after the events of No Way Home, when Peter Parker had Doctor Strange create a spell that made the whole world, including best friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), forget who he was. He’s been going at life by himself, in a lonely New York City apartment, making gadgets, fighting crime and resisting the impulse to get his friends to know him again.
Early on, we see Spider-Man fighting a montage of legendary comic characters, including the Scorpion, but a new villain comes into play who stumps Spidey. This one has the ability to pass from one body into another, making capture a very difficult goal. Along with that, something’s going on with the arachnid DNA in his bloodstream, causing him to become more spider than human. He doesn’t need the artificial web shooters anymore, because the stuff is shooting out of his wrists. Gross.
Jon Watts, who directed the first three chapters admirably, opted out of this chapter. He’s replaced by Destin Daniel Cretton, who’s no stranger to superhero films, having directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and some episodes of the just-cancelled Wonder Man.
Cretton makes some interesting choices. The look of the film and the stellar editing of the action scenes give the movie more of a complex graphic-novel feel. At the end of No Way Home, the Spidey universe was reset, and it’s fitting that Brand New Day has a new vision, giving the performers a chance to go deeper into their characters.
That troupe now includes Jon Bernthal, kicking ass and getting laughs as Frank Castle/The Punisher, reprising the role from his TV efforts. Mark Ruffalo shows up as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, so this film has a helping of old-school Avengers. There’s also Sadie Sink in a role I won’t give away here—but I will say it gives the franchise a solid new level.
There are some heavy dramatic moments, especially for Zendaya and Holland, who handle them with depth well beyond your average Marvel or DC offering.
Look, at the present time, nothing in the Spidey franchise beats the thrill of the three Spider-Men (Holland, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire) fighting crime together in No Way Home. That was as magical as any movie can get. But this chapter does offer, as its title implies, a new beginning—and it’s proof that Holland is as strong as ever as the character. There will be more actors who play Spider-Man. Time will tell if Holland remains in the role for years to come, but he did once say he’d play the role until he can’t walk, so there’s a pretty good chance we’ll see him in the suit again.
On a final note: I’m happy to report that shitty Sting song “Brand New Day” doesn’t make it onto the soundtrack. I thought for sure that was going to happen. Crisis averted.
