Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review

How do you top a Spider-Man movie where Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield share the screen? You don’t, at least not in terms of sheer size. It’s probably wise that Spider-Man: Brand New Day doesn’t try to outdo No Way Home, as a movie can’t go any bigger without collapsing under its own weight. After that act, a scaled-down Spider-Man movie isn’t unwelcome. Of course, by “scaled-down” I mean that there’s still room for the Hulk, the Punisher, several others who were mainly included for trailer fodder, and at least one surprise cameo.

Even with all of these side characters, Brand New Day manages to keep the spotlight on Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. Whoever your favorite Spider-Man actor is, none have grown up with the character like Holland has. Where the previous trilogy possessed a high school comedy vibe, Holland’s Peter isn’t a teenager anymore. He’s a man who bears the responsibility of being Spider-Man on his own. As such, he hasn’t told MJ (Zendaya) or Ned (Jacob Batalon) about the spell that erased their memories a few years ago. Although he puts up a friendly neighborhood façade as Spidey, Peter is so depressed that he lives on a diet of Little Caesars. What New Yorker orders from the worst pizza chain in the world?

Despite being called Brand New Day, the film is an exercise in going back to basics. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as we haven’t seen Holland’s Peter try to function without Stark Tech or help from the Avengers. That said, he still has a few gadgets that are basically Stark Tech, and he seeks out more than one Avenger for advice. Even so, the film does allow Holland to delve deeper into Peter’s mental health as he grapples with grief, isolation, and burnout. His internal struggles inevitably turn physical as Peter finds that he isn’t done evolving (perhaps into something monstrous).

While Brand New Day handles these themes well, it can play a little too much like past Spider-Man movies. The grounded approach to Peter was admittedly handled better in Spider-Man 2, which remains the gold standard for the web-slinger’s live-action outings. Brand New Day also toys with the idea of Peter’s dark side taking over as his powers begin to change. It’s better than how they approached it in Spider-Man 3, but I wish Brand New Day went a step further. Are we ever going to see the Alien Costume Saga done justice?

Just when Brand New Day starts to feel a little too by the numbers, Sadie Sink injects some much-needed fresh blood. Most fans surely have theories about Sink’s “secret role” in the film. While I won’t spoil her character’s identity here, I will say that Sink steals every scene she’s in. Even when she’s not onscreen, Sink’s presence looms over the film as Peter finds himself tangled in a web of mysteries. It might not be hard for the audience to connect the dots, but they’ll have fun along the way regardless. That’s largely because we’re so attached to these characters.

Between The Odyssey and this, Holland is having a year like no other actor in Hollywood. Although her role is somewhat reduced here, Zendaya gives one of her stronger performances as MJ. There’s still chemistry between her and Peter, which makes it all the more tragic that she can’t remember their love story. As he did with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Destin Daniel Cretton brings a kinetic energy to the action, but the film is shot through a murky lens. While Brand New Day takes Peter back to square one, that doesn’t mean the character regresses. Peter is figuring out who he is as he starts a new chapter in his life. Just as Homecoming was a smaller story that worked up to something grander, Brand New Day feels like a launching point for something more epic. As long as Holland is in the role, this Peter will always have my investment.