The title of Destin Daniel Cretton's Spider-Man: Brand New Day isn't lying: it's an impressive tale breathing new life into one of the MCU's best characters, paving the way for the more true-to-the-comics trilogy that the titular character clearly deserves. Altogether, it's a stunningly successful film that takes its characters in refreshing new directions.
The MCU's Spider-Man films have been a uniquely consistent shining light of quality for Marvel and Sony. While Marvel's dedicated outings for characters like Thor, Iron Man, and others have masterful entries, they also each have notable misses (Iron Man 2, Thor 2... a lot of sophomore efforts, actually).
Beyond James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and the Captain America films, perhaps only the Spider-Man entries have consistently maintained a high level of quality. Introduced in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland's Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) received his first solo-centric film in Spider-Man: Homecoming, where he thwarts alien-tech salvager Adrian Toomes/Vulture (Michael Keaton).
Spider-Man: Far From Home follows Parker, MJ (Zendaya), and Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), whose trip to Europe is interrupted by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a metaversal hero (or is he?), who reveals Spider-Man's secret identity to the world. Spider-Man: No Way Home follows the aftermath, where an anxious Spider-Man convinces Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell so everyone forgets Peter Parker is Spider-Man, a spell that (surprise!) goes awry. Brand New Day deals with the consequences.
Finally, an MCU Film That Feels Like Spider-Man
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the world has still forgotten that Spider-Man is Peter Parker. Parker spends years alone engaging in superheroics in the streets of New York, when a wave of body-hopping crimes against the Department of Damage Control turns dangerous. Parker works to uncover the mysterious, powerful figure at the heart of these crimes. Simultaneously, his emotions around losing MJ hit a boiling point, triggering a dangerous new mutation.
The first thing to note, perhaps, is that this is the first of the MCU's Spider-Man outings to feel like a Spider-Man film first and foremost. Initially seen in a Captain America film that functions like an Avengers team-up, even his subsequent solo films have always drowned somewhat in larger MCU issues like alien technology, multiversal shenanigans, or world-altering spells. Parker has never been able to be a simple, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
It takes a minute for the film to consistently find its footing. There's a mystery at the heart of the evidently body-hopping nemesis taunting Spider-Man, and it's largely engaging. A little too much consistency wears out the welcome of the plot device for a moment, but Parker's transformations keep the narrative moving swiftly as the film approaches the final 30 minutes, where everything comes into sharp focus. It also suffers a tad from feeling slightly long (undoubtedly to make many overstuffed plot points work).
Great Performances Elevate an Already Good Script
Tom Holland has nonetheless been a solid Peter Parker throughout. This is true of the film's many action set pieces as much as it is of the more complex emotional moments, like letting MJ go or the loss of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). He's still never been better than he is here, grappling with strong emotions, trying to get to the bottom of his changing state or this body-hopping mystery, or discovering how to have friends in a world where it's a vulnerability.
Zendaya has long been good as M.J., but setting the tale a few years later allows her to add new layers of intelligence and charisma. Jon Bernthal turns in an impressive, evolving portrayal of Frank Castle, who is as gruff as ever but with a visible, poorly hidden heart of gold. Sadie Sink is a strong addition as [redacted], while Florence Pugh is routinely a welcome supporting addition as Yelena, with dry wit and skill that delights.
It's worth noting that one contributing factor to these great performances is that the characters are written by writers (Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers) and a director (Cretton) who genuinely understand and appreciate them. Gone are the days when Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) is written with powers that fall far short of her comic counterpart's capabilities for a few movies, or the Russo Bros.' odd decision to nerf the Hulk because they don't know what to do with him. Spider-Man evolves in fruitful, well-scripted ways, but so do many of these characters. It's an MCU miracle.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a beautifully nostalgic tale and fresh territory for our conquering webslinger. A few characters evolve into versions that reflect their comic traits and histories, in a film that actually feels like a Spider-Man film. It paves the way for interesting storylines that (as long as the Russos don't ruin it in Avengers: Doomsday) could fuel a great new era in MCU history. It's an outing that brings out the best in its cast, seems largely like a standalone film, and hits new emotional heights. Here's to hoping there's another trilogy in the cards.
Final Rating: 8/10
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings through theaters on Friday, July 31.
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