REVIEW: Spider-Man: Brand New Day

By George & Josh Bate

After the gargantuan success that was Spider-Man: No Way Home, everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood web slinger swings back into theaters for a fourth Marvel Cinematic Universe movie this week. From director Destin Daniel Cretton, Spider-Man: Brand New Day indeed lives up to its title by ushering in a refreshing new era of live-action Spider-Man movies. Intimate and relatable yet somber and stylized, the new Spidey flick delivers a quintessential Spider-Man story before embracing the best and worst of Sam Raimi’s trilogy.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day takes place several years after No Way Home and follows a lonely Peter Parker (Tom Holland) navigating life without his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) after Doctor Strange’s spell in the previous made everyone forget who he is. As Peter questions whether to rekindle these cherished relationships or continue thriving as Spider-Man, he undergoes a shocking evolution of his powers that he finds difficult to control. At the same point, he is forced to confront a powerful new enemy threatening New York City.

Spider-Man: No Way Home rounded out a unique trilogy of Spidey films, which collectively served as the MCU’s origin story for the character. What Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s movies achieved in a single film, the Homecoming trilogy accomplished in three films, the most recent of which concluded with a Spider-Man more true and faithful to the comics.

After three MCU Spidey films, each epic and heartwarming in their own right, Brand New Day represents the first Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movie that truly feels unburdened by the broader, sprawling franchise it exists within. In doing so, Cretton’s film has an intimacy and emotional groundedness not found in Homecoming, Far From Home, or even No Way Home. This is not to say that Brand New Day is better than any of these previous films (we’ll get to that), but it is refreshing to see a superhero movie that, rather than go even bigger and grander in scale than its predecessor, streamlines things for a more street-level, localized story.

Cretton’s film begins in flying fashion with a first 20 or so minutes that can be described as doing for Spider-Man what the first 20 minutes of Matt Reeves’ The Batman did for Batman. That is to say that Cretton captures a more quintessential, extraordinarily comic accurate, almost cozy version of the character than any of Tom Holland’s previous outings. While it was certainly cool to see Spider-Man team up with Iron Man and trade punches with Thanos in space, there is such delight seeing the masked hero brought back down to his roots.

From its first 20 minutes and into the rest of its first act, Brand New Day continues in fine form (with the exception of an awkward and overly long scene that shoehorns in a familiar face). Surprisingly, MJ and Ned take a backseat in these early stages in favor of a narrative that focuses on a mysterious villain capable of inhabiting people’s minds. This figure is a formidable threat, one who shrouds the film in intrigue and poses a multitude of fascinating questions. Who is this figure? Why is Peter immune to their mind-hopping abilities? What is this person ultimately after? All of these questions create a mystery box of a first act that slowly unravels over the course of the film.

Matters become even more interesting when MJ and Ned are finally brought back into the story. Their re-entry correlates with a startling evolution in Peter’s powers, which raises questions of its own. How does Peter suddenly have organic webbing? Why are his eyes turning black? And why are his senses so heightened suddenly? 

As these questions linger, Brand New Day continues to impress by cleverly inverting a key aspect of a Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie (which we will not spoil here) and exploring the theme of loneliness with remarkable relatability. The Peter Parker depicted in this film is far more akin to the solemn, troubled Peter played by Andrew Garfield in No Way Home than he is the joyful, anxious teen depicted in the Homecoming trilogy. While his life as Spider-Man thrives, his life as Peter is isolating. He has lost his best friend, his girlfriend, and his aunt, not to mention every other person on the planet who once knew who he was. Cretton’s film admirably goes all in in depicting the toll such loneliness has on a young man, in doing so tapping into the kind of anguish and isolation that unfortunately troubles many young adults in real life. Brand New Day may not go quite as far as Thunderbolts* in fusing superhero spectacle with mental health commentary, but it does well to give a theme relevant far beyond movies the attention and consideration it deserves.

Cretton, meanwhile, oversees a far more visually appealing film than any MCU Spidey outing to date. The action choreography is intricate and stylized. Iconic comic covers are gloriously recreated on the big screen. New York City actually feels like New York City (for the most part) and is brought to life by some incredible production design. Brett Pawlak’s cinematography, coupled with Cretton’s more intimate directing style, gives the film texture and vibrancy, a contrast to how sterile some of the environments in the Homecoming trilogy felt. All of this makes for a film that, despite its flaws (of which there are many), excels with its technical achievements.

Things take a turn for the worse, however, as it becomes clear that the film has borrowed both positive and negative qualities from Raimi’s films. The latter comes in the form of an overstuffed story featuring far too many moving parts. Much like how Spider-Man 3 juggled a number of elements and villains, often putting an entire storyline on pause so that it could temporarily pivot to another storyline before coming back to the initial one, Brand New Day frustratingly stops and starts with its narrative. Just when momentum is gained with the story surrounding reuniting with MJ and Ned, for instance, the movie joltingly shifts to the mysterious antagonist and leaves the prior storyline behind for an extended period of time.

Brand New Day’s narrative juggling makes the film feel exceedingly long, far longer than many other MCU outings. It says something when Christopher Nolan’s nearly three hour take on The Odyssey moves at a decidedly brisker and smoother pace than a blockbuster Spider-Man movie. 

Similarly misguided is the relegation of Ned to the periphery of the story. Jacob Batalon provides incredible comedic relief and tons of heart in the previous Spider-Man movies, but here is woefully underused by a story far more interested in exploring Peter’s longing for MJ than it is his desire to reconnect with Ned. 

In restricting the CEO’s role, Brand New Day loses a critical element that made the last three Spider-Man movies so funny and heartwarming. At the core of those movies, especially Far From Home and No Way Home, was a trio of misfits, who unreservedly cared for and loved one another. No Way Home’s ending inevitably meant that the trio’s emotional bonds would be shattered, but one can’t help but notice how much joy this decision deprives the film of.

Cretton’s film goes for jokes throughout, although they rarely land. The buddy movie banter between Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle and Holland’s Spider-Man is devoid of wit, despite Bernthal and Holland committing to the mediocre material they’re tasked with delivering. The humor surrounding the aforementioned cameo falls flat on its face. And the relatively few scenes that are punctuated by attempts at eliciting jokes seldom hit their mark.

To make matters worse, the film loses all sense of focus in a third act hijacked by Sadie Sink’s character. Sink is phenomenal in the role that she occupies in the story and makes the visceral audience feel the psychological pain her character endures. And yet her role in the third act proves so sizable that it begins to feel more like Sink’s movie than it does Holland’s. 

The emotional anchor of the climax, which involves Sink’s character more than it does Peter, falls flat, largely due to stilted dialogue and failure to earn the resolution the film ultimately culminates in. As a result and with the exception of a touching final note, the film concludes a far cry short of its strong start. That includes a post-credits scene, which, while intriguing, ultimately underwhelms.

VERDICT: 6.5/10

Spider-Man: Brand New Day brings the friendly neighborhood web-slinger back to the big screen for a more intimate, somber outing that captures both the very best and very worst of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies. Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s film kicks off in resounding fashion, with an opening 20 minutes that do for Spider-Man what the opening 20 minutes of Matt Reeves’ The Batman did for Batman. The quintessential, cozy, and more comic accurate take on Spidey makes Brand New Day indeed feel like a brand new day for the franchise, and the creative team should be commended for resisting the temptation to go even more gargantuan and multiversal with their follow-up to No Way Home. Intricate action choreography, beautiful production design, and textured cinematography give the film a vibrancy and authenticity not found in the previous MCU Spider-Man movies, while the story’s exploration of loneliness makes for stirring, relevant viewing as the heavy theme is handled with the consideration and delicacy it deserves, largely due to an emotive and impassioned turn from Tom Holland.

Things take a turn for the worse, however, as Brand New Day moves from creatively inverting a key element from one of Raimi’s films to replicating the overstuffed, jumbled nature of Spider-Man 3’s narrative. This lack of focus fosters stop-and-start pacing, making the film feel far longer than it really is and halting entire storylines just to pivot to other storylines before returning back to the original storyline. The humor is similarly misguided as the banther between Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle and Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is devoid of wit and Jacob Batalon’s scene-stealing Ned Leeds is relegated to the periphery of the story. A third act hijacked by Sadie Sink’s mysterious character derails the film entirely and culminates in a painfully flat attempt at an emotional climax.

Despite concluding on a touching final note, the film concludes in far worse fashion than it began, punctuated by a thoroughly underwhelming post-credits scene. Brand New Day may indeed be a brand new day for Spider-Man, but this does not necessarily mean it’s a better day. While the Homecoming trilogy was met with criticism for not always feeling like quintessential Spider-Man, the latest film couples a more faithful, grounded portrayal of the web-slinger with an overstuffed plot and far too many disparate elements.