Spider-Man: Brand New Day

5 outta 5

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the 4^th Spider-Man film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is probably more of a character drama than previous MCU Spider-Man movies. Considering that Homecoming is a high school coming-of-age comedy, Far From Home is a full-on sitcom road trip movie and No Way Home is a Spider-Verse crossover epic it is good to see they’re keeping things different. This one delves deeper into Peter Parker’s psyche as he is isolated from his friends after his decision in the last film. There’s also the lonely antagonist psychic who is lashing out and causing chaos and the lonely psycho vigilante, both of whom are what an isolated Spider-Man could turn into. But even with all of that, this is still a great Spider-Man film with lots of action, laughs and Spider-Man web-slinging.

Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is Spider-Man, but with some magic help he made the world forget about Peter Parker, including his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and his buddy Ned (Jacob Batalon). After four years of Peter being Spider-Man full time, Ned and MJ return to New York and back into Peter’s life. He has been very devoted to being Spider-Man, helping out police Chief Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas) and butting heads with the killer crime fighter, Frank Castle aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal). Peter’s Spider-powers start to go haywire, with his senses amped up as he’s shooting organic webs from his wrists. Peter asks for help with regulating his powers from Professor Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) who has a habit of turning into the Hulk. There is an out of control psychic girl (Sadie Sink) who is tearing up the military unit Department of Damage Control. As the psychic keeps jumping into people’s heads, she sets her sights on MJ, which makes Peter confront his decision to erase their memory all those years ago.

The superhero characters show who Spider-Man could turn into if he keeps going it alone. The isolated, revenge obsessed telepath and her powers are increasing exponentially and causing chaos, which mirrors what is happening with Spidey’s amped powers. Frank Castle is what happens if Spider-Man stops having friends or a life outside of his crime fighting, at one point Frank telling Peter, “Kid, this is a sentence,” and not something that Spider-Man should aspire to. Peter is asking Bruce about ways to increase and take away powers with an inhibitor device and Banner says no one should decide who and who can’t have power. Ruffalo is always great as Bruce Banner and the Hulk, and he gets to be mean when the psychic takes over. When he is going to turn into savage Hulk, Ruffalo shows how terrified Banner is at that happening. There’s a great action scene where Punisher takes on the Hulk with Spider-Man trying to save Frank as he’s out of his weight class. 

Sink’s psychic antagonist is a unique take on an iconic Marvel character. It is so different it strains who the character is, but they have done violent things before, and this version is isolated and angry at the Department of Damage Control for taking something very special from her. Sink conveys the psychic’s increasing powers and can look very intimidating for a small girl which is appropriate for this character. As the killer crime fighter, Bernthal continues to play Frank excellently, as he has for years. The recurring argument between Spider-Man and Punisher about who saved who is hilarious, and one of the movie’s funniest shots is just a silent security camera image of Frank yelling at Spidey. Another fantastic bit is when the psychic zips into Frank’s head and says, “Wow, this guy has issues.”

The heart of the movie, as it has been the entire MCU Spider-Man series, is Peter’s relationship with his friends, Ned and MJ. The decision to wipe their memory at the end of No Way Home was tragic and while Peter has been watching them from afar on social media posts, they come crashing back into his life. The first time MJ sees Peter without his mask, it seems like she remembers Peter but the psychic is actually tormenting him as Zendaya gets to act very twisted. When MJ finally sees Peter she is just blank because she doesn’t know him. Peter reconnecting with Ned as a friend is very heartwarming and they share the movie’s powerful final scene. Holland is a great Peter Parker and Spider-Man, having fun reactions to his new powers taking over and showing that Peter is willing to sacrifice himself for others.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a great entry in already great series of Spider-Man movies. There is a lot of cool action scenes, like when Spidey has to chase after the psychic jumping across people over the city, and there’s an awesome montage with images cribbed from the comic covers of Spider-Man taking on multiple villains. There’s even a return of Michael Mando, now as the Scorpion, who gets to swing his mech tail and he is eventually possessed by the psychic to make things more miserable for Spidey. Spider-Man is still the web-slinging superhero who is perpetually put upon but still able to overcome and be the best.