Movie Review: Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the 38th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is a spectacular movie and one of the best post-Avengers: Endgame MCU movies. It perfectly balances spectacle and character, resulting in a film that is exciting and emotional. It is the best Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movie, and the best live-action Spider-Man movie since the Sam Raimi films of the 2000s.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day picks up after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) cast a spell on everyone so they would forget Peter Parker (Tom Holland) ever existed after his identity was revealed. Everyone who Peter loved, most notably MJ (Zendaya) and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), doesn’t know he exists, but Peter hasn’t lost his love for them, which is crushing him, and has made him a loner in New York.
Peter has taken up being Spider-Man full-time, and the film opens with a fun montage spanning four years that shows Spider-Man taking down a slew of villains, including Scorpion, Ramrod, and Tombstone, as Peter watches MJ and Ned on social media as they start and finish their time at MIT. In the present, Peter is fighting three battles: one against a villain who can jump into any random person and control their mind, causing chaos across New York. Another battle against his body, as his arachnid hormones start to overtake his human hormones, causing unexpected and unpredictable changes in his body’s functionality, including shooting natural webbing from his wrists. And the third battle with his heart, as he tries to muster the courage to rekindle his love for MJ and friendship with Ned, but knowing how complicated the whole situation is.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the first MCU Spider-Man movie not directed by Jon Watts. Brand New Day is directed by Dustin Daniel Cretton, who already made his mark in the MCU with 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Cretton breathes new life into this Spider-Man series and the MCU. His direction is that of a director who knows not just MCU Spider-Man movies, but also the films Sam Raimi and Marc Webb made before the MCU. Cretton takes some of the best aspects from Raimi’s, Webb’s, and Watts’ films and mixes them in with his own visual flair and emotional touch.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the most New York Spider-Man movie of the Holland series. Cretton uses a lot of location shooting in New York City and excellent cinematography from Brett Pawlak (Cretton’s long-time cinematographer) to give the film an authentic look and feel that actually looks more like Raimi’s films and not like a bunch of actors acting against a green screen, an issue that has plagued the MCU for a few years now, especially in films like No Way Home. They also capture Spider-Man’s web-slinging as well as any other Spider-Man movie, using Spider-Man POV shots like Webb used in his Amazing Spider-Man films, and iconic shots and poses from Spider-Man comics to show him move through New York with style.
The best aspect of Watts’ first three films has been the relationship between Peter and MJ. Its growth throughout the films has made them worth watching even when the action and plot weren’t. Cretton knew this and made this the focal point of Brand New Day. Now, instead of watching Peter and MJ’s relationship grow, we are watching a young man yearn for what he cannot have. Holland is a good Spider-Man, but I have always thought his performance as Peter has been truly excellent, and his performance in Brand New Day is his best yet. You feel Peter’s longing for MJ and understand his internal conflict of wanting to reconnect with her and be friends with Ned again. These two people are his soulmates, and he would rather walk the Earth alone than not have them in his life. Zendaya and Batalon are superb as MJ and Ned, and I may have spoken too early in my Odyssey review when I said that role was Holland’s best performance. He is excellent in Brand New Day, bringing the Spider-Man physicality and charm while adding new emotional depth and maturity to Peter. This performance solidifies Holland as the best cinematic Peter Parker.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day boasts exciting action, a layered story about loneliness, sacrifice, and revenge, and deep emotion. The villain’s story is a bit undercooked, but the character development and set pieces make up for it. It isn’t a bunch of CGI goop and green screen laziness, and it isn’t a bunch of fan-service nonsense. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a great Spider-Man movie and one of the best post-Endgame MCU movies.
TL;DR Review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day
- One of the best MCU movies post-Avengers: Endgame.
- Filled with exciting action and deep emotion.
- Tom Holland’s best performance to date. Solidifies himself as the best Peter Parker.
- Excellent cinematography, thrilling action, and full of heart and great character depth.
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