Well, it’s been almost five years since we last saw Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man command the screen, so alas, with a new installment comes a brand new day indeed. Crud, was supposed to state the whole “with great power….,” ah, shucks, we’ve done it before in abundance.
The fourth installment with the MCU’s Spidey (take that, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield; sorry!) picks up several years after the events of No Way Home, where the entire world has forgotten who Peter Parker is. No further attachments to the Avengers. No direct family involved. Indeed, he’s quite the arcane being outside of his beloved outfit, keeping his details and identity to himself while trudging along with his web-slinger role in the New York atmosphere, doing what he can: protecting the city and inspiring hope, and making acquaintances with the Department of Damage Control. However, that comes at the cost of isolation, as he lacks key relationships in his life: best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), who no longer have any recollection of him since the spell crafted years prior. While stumbling back across them after they finished graduating from MIT, Parker starts to notice aberrations with his powers, à la heightened abilities and aggression, while also being able to shoot organic webs without his renowned web shooters.
And thus, Parker comes across an unknown being eventually identified as Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), who has an uncanny ability to telepathically “hop” from one human consciousness to the next and force them to do her dirty work. With assistance from the vigilante The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), Parker has to probe to find out her true ambitions while also protecting the ones he loves.
Without diving any further into spoilers (because the marketing team did hide much about Ms. Sink’s portrayal in this setpiece), this is definitely a more grounded Spider-Man film after an aggressive stance with the multiverse in No Way Home. Destin Daniel Cretton takes the director’s seat this time with a strong sense of how to handle the web-slinger as he evolves in both age and abilities, and strikes a great balance between exhilaration and tenderness, with interspersed beats that echo our protagonists’ unrest amid the numerous battles. Much like he nailed in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Cretton knows how to let the story develop with nuance and substance before jumping back full throttle into the great action and visual splendor. Where he excels this time is not letting some preposterous CGI dragon run rampant for our heroes to contend with, but instead focusing on grief and vulnerability in the last act.
And this is where folks like Holland have learned to excel, as he matures with the understanding of the world and the consequences around him. Much like his character has evolved since his teenage days, since being introduced in Captain America: Civil War, so have his expressions and awareness. It’s refreshing to see a gloomier Spider-Man this time around, after his cheeky, baby-faced ways in his first few outings, even if there’s still a twinkle for social embarrassment and a youngster finding his way.
Not to be outdone, the remainder of the cast also does great. Bernthal’s begrudging partnership with Holland was a welcoming surprise (oh, what did happen in Staten Island indeed?), and Zendaya and Batalon still have great chemistry and flavor to add once put onscreen with Holland. Some nice cameos/extended involvements also do their parts well to keep the story humming along. The action retains its volume and goes further, making it the most vertiginous Spidey film thus far, thanks to Cretton’s eye for action and VFX/special effects team superb usage of tools.
Its web strengths also don’t come without some weaknesses, as some moments do move along at a sluggish pace in the 145-minute runtime and we’re in that big bad mix of how to band everyone across the frustratingly growing Marvel Cinematic Universe. The cohesion falters at times because we’re now bringing in a mutant, Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Bernthal’s character from Netflix, a cameo from The New Avengers, and a post-credits scene (just one this time around) to set up, checks notes, Avengers: Doomsday (or Secret Wars). Fortunately, some of those characters come with more ebb and flow in comparison to other tie-ins, but it’s still ridiculous to pay dividends for the future on the webslinger’s series (again) instead of letting him be a “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.” One other little gripe is the film is devoid of any surprises or imagination, which Jon Watts had in his arsenal to spruce up the trilogy.
In any case, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a solid Spider-Man outing thanks to the emotional charge and workings of its cast, while bringing in a potent array of great action and spectacle. The MCU has received a shot of adrenaline in the arm, as they’re learning (once again) that quality always trumps quantity. Maybe a brand new day has dawned amongst them as well.
