Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo

Director: Destin Cretton

What’s Good: A humongous dose of elixir for Spider-Man addicts

What’s Bad: The epilogue comes after the very long end credits!

Loo Break: You will avoid it!

Watch or Not?: Definitely!

Language: English

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 145 Minutes

User Rating:

The world has forgotten the existence of Peter Parker (Tom Holland) after Dr. Strange cast a spell on him five years ago (in the last Spider-Man film). But as Spider-Man, he continues to defend New York against crime and criminals, even relatively petty ones.

But his superpowers are also undergoing a potentially dangerous metamorphosis. And he really cannot fully understand or comprehend what is happening. His eyes turn completely black under stress, and his senses and agility are heightened. He generates webs from his wrists instead of relying on his normal mechanical web-shooters. When his inhibitors reach the saturation point, his body heats up, and Peter gets terrible headaches and all kinds of weird experiences.

The Department of Damage Control (DODC) in New York asks for his help to investigate a powerful threat that only he can defeat, as he is immune to it. This is a force that can occupy people’s bodies and minds and control them. Among the minds this force infiltrates are that of the Empire State University professor, the emotionally reserved Dr. Banner (Mark Ruffalo), whose alter ego is The Hulk; MJ (Zendaya), Peter’s former girlfriend; and Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), who now shares an apartment with her and has devised a gadget named “Spidey Tracker” that informs him about Spider-Man’s whereabouts. For both, Peter Parker is unknown now.

Peter is helped by Black Widow (Florence Pugh), a member of the New Avengers, and detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas), along with Frank (Jon Bernthal), a vigilante who lives alone, likes his lonely existence, and now treats Peter as his kid brother. He believes in action, having experienced the loss of his family.

Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman) plays the chief of the Department of Damage Control and is the man who assigns Spider-Man to deal with the new threat, and all roads point to Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), a mutant with psionic abilities such as telekinesis, telepathy, and possession of others’ minds and bodies. But there is a darker truth beyond.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Movie Review: Script Analysis

The script can only be described as extremely well-structured: its form seemed so complex that I was compelled to revisit the film to grasp its paradoxical simplicity! Blending Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)’s conclusion with a brand new story (‘Brand New Day’?) needed immense skill, and, happily, writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers base all the spectacular goings-on with dollops of feel-good emotions on a strong core of loss and loneliness.

The sequence where MJ confesses to Peter about what she feels and thinks, and the two sisters Jean and Sara (Olivia Booth-Ford), is also loaded with feeling, and Peter’s sequences with Frank, as well as with his long-dead aunt May Parker (Marisa Tomei), are also crisp but compassionate. The sequences where Peter first sees Ned in a supermarket, the second time at his pad, and finally in the climax are examples of fine, controlled emotions. Another special highlight for me was the brief but very intense sequence between May and Jean.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Movie Review: Star Performance

Tom Holland, less than a month after his great turn in The Odyssey, goes on another odyssey as Spider-Man Peter Parker, his face registering myriad emotions with easy competence. Zendaya as MJ, too, is another actor common to The Odyssey, and she is pitch-perfect. I loved Sadie Sink as Jean, Jon Bernthal as Frank, and Jacob Batalon as Ned, the amusing on-screen scene-stealer. The smaller roles are all brilliantly done, especially by Olivia Booth-Ford as Sara, but the prize goes to Mark Ruffalo as Banner/Hulk and Florence Pugh as the Black Widow.