Spider-Man: Brand New Day - Review

Today’s Marvel train feels like it's speeding along bumpy train tracks with an excited tour guide who doesn’t have a microphone while they shout out sights on your left and right that you pass quicker than you can process. You squint your eyes and focus your ears to get anything out of the journey, while being bounced in the air on track to a station you’re not sure will be worth it. Most of my problems with Marvel post Endgame is their lack of focus on singular films, making every $200 million outing in the franchise seem like a teaser to a $300 million, three hour showcase of A-listers surrounded by lighting CGI. The Spider-Man films have usually been an exception to this rule, creating their own long running story that occasionally collides with the wider universe. Spider-Man: Brand New Day follows suit for me, with enough story, good performances and character development to justify its existence while feeding the fanfolks’ excitement for Avengers: Doomsday. Not to say I am above that excitement, I delight to see Dave Bautista interact with Chris Hemsworth while Paul Rudd agelessly stands in the background.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day lives up to its name by skipping a few years in Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) story, catching up with Tom Holland’s actual age. Spider-Man is dealing with his decisions in No Way Home, where he made the choice to make everyone forget who he was, losing MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) as his main sources of companionship outside of the suit. Receding into his asbestos filled attic room in New York, he throws himself into his work as Spider-Man, lowering the crime rate in the city to an all time low. When a threat emerges that feels unbeatable, Peter Parker’s powers begin to evolve beyond his norm. This antagonist comes in the form of a mind controlling invisible threat, that seems to almost possess anyone, exploiting their abilities and access. Spider-Man has to track down the source of this threat, while trying to control his new sensations, and keep the city safe.

There is quite a lot going on in this one, storylines that are started in this film, carried over from previous entries, and ones that start a longer thread, not solved within Spider-Man: Brand New Day. While they don’t all weave together seamlessly, I think they all have their merits and important character moments. The team behind this have done a good job at focusing on characters that have been established over many films and TV shows prior, and carefully progress them. They don’t do any drastic character changes that would upset the wider storyline, but enough to feel satisfying within the narrative. In these moments of character growth, the film shines the most. They develop relationships and don’t do any retcon quick solving of larger issues, which is a welcome change to other storylines in the MCU.

A lot of the nuance of the characters come from the strong performances throughout. I don’t think there is a weak link in the cast, with Tom Holland staying consistent as a really likeable and complicated Peter Parker. Zendaya does what she does and steals the scene anytime she is around. She has a cosmic ability to take some hammy dialogue and just elevate it. A major issue that I have had with a lot of big budget films (particularly Marvel films) is their lack of commitment to emotion. This for me peaked in the latest Captain America film, where a pretty important and emotional conversation happens, and right at the end, one of the characters says some quippy line that just sweeps the legs right out of the scene, completely ruining the emotional weight. There is a line in here that feels like it was supposed to be that, to add “levity”, but Zendaya’s delivery lightens the mood, while keeping the feelings in the scene alive.

Sadie Sink’s involvement in the film has been quite secretive leading up to the release of this film, so I will not talk about her character. However, I think she really shines in it, with a really great arc that she plays well. She portrays genuine emotions in her performance that sell how complicated her character is, which leads to a satisfying conclusion to her story within the film. Another surprise for me in this was Jon Bernthal as Punisher. I have previously written him off as just an excuse for Marvel to appeal to an older demographic because of his abrasive character and coarse language, how very badass of them. He is great in this film though, adding a lot of humour and heart while also acting as Spider-Man’s adversary to bicker with throughout.

The technical side of the film is also great. They experiment with some really unique camera work, especially during action scenes. They don’t stick around though, usually cutting back to something more traditional after the fun shot has played out for a couple of seconds. While I would have loved them to commit to some of the excellent shot choices in this, even their brief inclusion was welcome. This also is the darkest presentation of New York I feel like I have seen in a Spider-Man film. The city is dull and feels ominous at times, which serves in direct contrast to Holland’s brand new suit for this brand new day. The suit has a very comic book look to it that I think works really well while Peter Parker works through his issues.

The latest outing from Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is more emotional than I was expecting, while not reaching the heights of No Way Home, it justifies its existence within the story, progressing Spider-Man as a hero and Peter Parker as a man. The side characters are all relatively well written, and very well acted, providing more of a journey for its characters. While not all elements seamlessly tie together, they work on their own enough to justify their inclusion. And at the end of the day, I am but a simpleton who loves watching Spidey swing around New York and quip his way through henchmen, with a sprinkling of the sad reality of being a super hero.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in theatres now.