Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings back to the roots of the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man audiences know and love, delivering one of Marvel’s best films since Avengers: Endgame.
Brand New Day marks Tom Holland’s fourth Spider-Man outing, and is the first film in a new MCU trilogy. There’s always a lot of talk of ‘superhero fatigue ’in the landscape of modern cinema, and I feel like there are two superheroes that are immune. The DC universe has Batman, and Marvel now has Spider-Man. I think what sets these superheroes apart is their more grounded connection to their worlds – something Brand New Day takes full advantage of.
Following the events of No Way Home, Brand New Day follows Peter Parker (Tom Holland) a few years after the memory-wipe spell that forced the world to forget about Peter Parker. He has continued to fight super-powered villains in the streets of New York, and has matured into his role as Spider-Man, but ultimately still finds himself alone. Whilst struggling to get his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) out of his thoughts, Peter has to adapt to newfound uncontrollable powers that threaten his ability to stay grounded and human. Meanwhile, a new psychic villain enters the fray (Sadie Sink), swearing vengeance on the US Department of Damage Control’s leader, William Metzger (Trammell Tillman). To save New York and himself, Peter teams up with Frank Castle, AKA The Punisher (John Bernthal), attempting to find growth and acceptance in this Brand New Day.
The film takes a more localised, friendly-neighbourhood context, focusing almost purely on Spider-Man himself. The film tackles a very meaty story that flails slightly but has a sharper focus than any of the previous Tom Holland Spider-films, which had to tackle wider MCU events. This film feels very inspired by the Sam Raimi trilogy – a lot of people’s (definitely mine) favourite Spider-Man film adaptation, due to its focus on Peter Parker struggling to balance his personal life with the invasive and brutal job as a superhero. Brand New Day also felt heavily inspired by the Insomniac Spider-Man video games, in both plot, action and cinematography.
Right off the bat, this film looks excellent. Unfortunately, I now go into superhero films with very low expectations for a strong visual experience. Brand New Day exceeded my expectations, however – New York is so well realised in rich colours and vibrant, busy scenes. The camera work is exciting and clear, with lots of shots emphasising Peter’s eyes when swinging or fighting, adding a personal and visceral feel. The environments and choreography felt very tangible – there is noticeably less CGI in terms of fights and Spider-Man himself. When the credits rolled, I was not surprised to see that it was a Destin Daniel Cretton-directed film, who also directed the martial arts fight-fest, Shang-Chi. Brand New Day gets the same excellently choreographed and exciting action treatment, taking things up a notch with a large variety of villains that put Spider-Man to the test. A colour-accurate and cinema-focused display will really enhance this film’s visuals upon digital and physical release – hit up your local Richer Sounds to see new RGB displays and projectors in the flesh!
Speaking of villains, the film’s central villain is very interesting, as it is both a success and a detriment to the film. I won’t spoil the reveal of the villain, as it is excellently developed throughout the film, but the challenges they create for Peter and Spider-Man are unique and tie well into the plot. The film builds up the villain well before their reveal, including a particularly emotionally brutal moment that had my heart break for Peter all over again. However, I felt some of the sinister aura was lost post-reveal, and the film spends a touch too much time on the villain’s backstory.
In fact, I found the film to be too long in general – I was glad to see the film excel in a sprawling story, but the third act felt slightly drawn out and a bit of a slog to reach the finish line. On the subject of complaints, I did find some dialogue to creep into ‘MCU-cringe ’from time to time, mostly in instances where characters would do too much telling instead of showing. This was minor in comparison to most newer MCU titles, however, so I was overall pretty satisfied.
Whilst this villain had a few missed moments, the Punisher’s inclusion in this film was top notch, and my favourite aspect hands down. I was very hesitant about his inclusion when announced – Frank Castle is a very grounded, gritty and often miserable character that I thought might have too much dissonance compared to Holland’s optimistic and jovial Spider-Man. However, these differences were to the film’s benefit, as the two develop an unlikely friendship, and use their differing approaches to justice as excellent plot material. Holland and Bernthal also have excellent comedic chemistry – I could have done with a whole film’s worth of them bickering.
I also enjoyed the film’s commitment to the consequences of the memory-wipe spell from No Way Home. The film doesn’t attempt to make a remedy to Peter’s loneliness easy – in fact, it stews in this challenge. Tom Holland does a fantastic job navigating these moments as Peter, and overall offers his best performance as Peter Parker so far.
Overall, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is an excellent way to kick off a new Tom Holland trilogy. The film is very much a return to form for the character, and manages to balance an ambitious plot with friendly-neighbourhood stakes. When I left the cinema, I was more wowed by the film’s masterful action, but it was the emotional through-line that has webbed its way into my brain. I could quite happily regard this as the best made MCU film since Endgame – even if you’re sick of superhero shlock, this is definitely not one to miss.
Author: Elliot, Holborn Store
