Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Love, death, sacrifice, regret, community: these cornerstone elements of drama can feel tacked-on to a superhero movie whose principal pursuit is blowing stuff up. But the current Spider-Man franchise has always cared as much about its protagonist when he’s dealing with human-sized issues as Peter Parker (played by Tom Holland) as when he’s zipping his way across the New York City skyline. In the sterling tradition of its predecessors, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is never afraid to pursue emotion, even as it skillfully crafts breathtaking action sequences.

Stepping in for director Jon Watts, series newcomer Destin Daniel Cretton brings both indie cred (Short Term 12) and superhero chops (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) to the assignment, but once again, it’s Holland who makes this iteration of Peter Parker/Spider-Man so achingly vulnerable and balletically agile.

Viewers will recall that Spider-Man: No Way Home ended with Spider-Man saving the day by having sorcerer Dr. Strange cast a spell that would make everyone forget Peter Parker, leaving our protagonist deprived of the two key relationships in his life: best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and soulmate MJ (Zendaya). As Brand New Day opens, we see that Peter has devoted himself to being Spider-Man full-time, pouring himself into work (and bringing down the Big Apple’s crime rate) while wistfully keeping track of Ned and MJ’s adventures at MIT via Instagram.

As Peter’s arachnid DNA starts making unpredictable changes in his body, he must face a challenging new foe (Sadie Sink), one who can telepathically “hop” from one consciousness to another and force them to do her bidding. Add the return of MJ and Ned to New York, not to mention Spider-Man’s contentious friendship with vigilante The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and the mysterious goings-on at superhero regulatory agency Damage Control, and our friendly neighborhood wall-crawler’s cup runneth over.

Returning screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers once again skillfully balance the joy and the angst that make up Peter Parker while also juggling the intersecting — now often exhausting — demands of the MCU; some familiar faces return to swap banter, and at least one character reveal will delight fans of the comics’ ever-expanding screen iteration. From Spider-Man’s work-wife relationship with NYPD Detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas, The Bear) to Peter’s haunted longing for MJ, the love of his life who can no longer remember him, the personal stakes carry real weight here, demonstrating that the writers, like their director, are quite accomplished at injecting indie-sized characters into giant-scaled adventure.

And what adventure: Thanks to cinematographer Brett Pawlak (Wonder Man) and an accomplished effects team, Brand New Day might be the most vertiginous live-action Spider-Man movie to date. The character doesn’t fly, of course — his mode of transport more closely resembles plummeting and catching himself, and the plummeting achieves new levels of breathlessness. And whether it’s a tank barreling through the streets of Manhattan or our hero facing off against a crack team of ninjas, composer Michael Giacchino and a trio of editors pump up the adrenaline whenever necessary.

The all-consuming superhero trend has waned for now, its constant, ever-expanding demands on audience loyalty having pushed the genre to its limits. The fatigue was real, and the films sometimes half-baked and irrelevant. But the Marvel Cinematic Universe still has Spider-Man when it needs a shot in the arm. These films never forget the head and the heart, and Brand New Day presents the strongest case of any of the post–Avengers: Endgame movies for franchise continuation.

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Screenwriter: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers, based on the comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, Mark Ruffalo
Executive producers: Louis D’Esposito, David Cain
Producers: Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Avi Arad, Rachel O’Connor
Director of photography: Brett Pawlak
Production design: Charles Wood
Editing: Nat Sanders, Gina Sansom, Harry Yoon
Music: Michael Giacchino
Sound design: Jack Whittaker, Katy Woods, supervising sound editors
Production companies: Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios
In English
145 minutes