Zendaya as MJ and Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in a scene from "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." (Photo by Jay Maidment, courtesy of Sony Pictures)
In “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” our friendly neighborhood webslinger is being pulled in all directions, physically and mentally. His inner struggles make for fitfully engaging superhero fare, at least until it's us who feel like we're being jerked around to and fro.
But until the fourth Marvel Cinematic Entry devoted to Tom Holland's Peter Parker and Zendaya's MJ comes apart at the seams, it promises to show us the evolution of the enduring character with the youthful appeal and an adolescence marked by formative trauma. The debilitating sting of loss has always played a key role in Spider-Man movies, and in “Brand New Day,” a more character-driven undertaking than its Holland-fronted predecessors, it takes center stage. This is a good thing, a decisive shift toward maturity.
It's invigorating that Destin Daniel Cretton, who assumes directing duties from Jon Watts, wants to go in a darker, more introspective direction. If you recall, we left our buddy Peter in a place of clarity, coupled with heartbreak, at the end of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” As “Brand New Day” begins, he's still coming to terms with the ripple effects of his selfless decision to save our universe from nefarious intruders from other universes, even though it meant that everyone in this world no longer remembers Peter Parker. Including those he holds near and dear.
Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in a scene from "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures)
The charismatic do-gooder is grappling with isolation and invisibility, even though his heroic feats gain the admiration of his fellow New Yorkers. That's a captivating hook for a Spider-Man movie keen on nudging the franchise toward the next step in its protagonist's journey. And the next step in Peter's journey can be summed up in two words: Adulting sucks.
Especially when adulting means saving the day while remaining anonymous. The mask stays on, in more ways than one, as Spidey brings in one bad guy after another, all while monitoring MJ and his bestie Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) from a distance.
The wake-up call Peter doesn't see coming arrives in the form of his body going haywire. His senses are heightened to a disruptive degree, and even though this Peter Parker was never able to shoot webs organically, they're suddenly emanating from his wrists. Wreaking havoc. He can't control any of it, but he pretends nothing is wrong. So stubborn.
In addition to Peter's current body-horror issues, a new villain enters the picture, one he's able to feel but not see. This antagonist had a fearsome ability to get inside people's minds, then jump from person to person. The parallels with movies like the '80s sci-fi flick “The Hidden,” starring Kyle MacLachlan, and the '90s supernatural crime thriller “Fallen,” starring Denzel Washington, immediately come to mind.
Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, battles The Hand in a scene from "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures)
Up until this point, “Brand New Day” appears to be barreling toward the pantheon of the better live-action Spidey films, full steam ahead. It has a committed cast, headlined by Holland in his best performance as Peter Parker. It has skillfully staged action setpieces that haven't been chopped up into incomprehensibility. It has thematic ambitions of a magnitude that leave many prior MCU movies in the dust, and for a summertime entertainment, it's bracingly smart about science and trusts viewers to keep up.
Alas, much like our hormonally unbalanced main character, there's something distressingly lopsided about this film. Working from a screenplay credited to Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, Cretton introduces way too many new characters, including the Scorpion (an astonishingly wasted Michael Mando, all dressed up with no place to go), as well as a couple of old favorites, including Frank Castle, aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), aka The Hulk. These two fare a little better, but Bernthal's gruff antihero routine feels too sitcom-adjacent for comfort.
There is also the U.S. Department of Damage Control, a government agency that Spider-Man works with in his efforts to catch this mind-hopping entity who alternately displays fascination and contempt when it comes to Peter, all while refusing to stop doing increasingly dangerous things. Peter's liaison at DODC is Bill Metzger (“Severance's'” Tramell Tillman, doing what he can in a thankless role), who clearly knows more than he lets on. Peter, meanwhile, is pursuing the meaning of a one-word clue, “V-Max,” that in “Citizen Kane” terms, is this movie's very own Rosebud.
If you're familiar with Marvel characters, it doesn't take a mind reader to know what Cretton is doing here: laying the groundwork for future MCU movies. But in trying to cover so many bases, he unsettles the balance of this material, which thrives when it focuses on Peter's inner turmoil and more often than not stumbles when it pauses to introduce new elements. It also doesn't help that the fight sequences feel so serious and grim that they make a nearly two-and-a-half-movie feel even longer.
Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/The Punisher in a scene from "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." (Photo by Jay Maidment, courtesy of Sony Pictures)
Were this a run-of-the-mill MCU entry poised to make a killing at the global box office, one would be tempted to shrug off “Brand New Day” as yet another cog in the MCU's wheel. But there is so much going for Cretton and his cast here. These are characters we're truly invested in, even for those of us who don't worship at the MCU's altar. There really was no need for this overstuffed adventure to try to be all things to all people.
To his credit, Cretton aims to expand on the bittersweet pull that turned “No Way Home” into a quantum leap for the more recent live-action movies, but he's too timid to let go of the crutches that keep holding the MCU back. (Sony Pictures Animation's sensational “Spider-Verse” movies remain the current gold standard for this tentpole.)
Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in a scene from "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." (Photo by Jay Maidment, courtesy of Sony Pictures)
Cretton needed to let go of the old and embrace the new. His empathetic sensibility was the glue that kept together his previous big-screen MCU outing, the winsome “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” But despite starting off with great promise, “Brand New Day” feels like it's arrived past its expiration date. Despite eschewing the lame juvenile humor that marred Watts' first two Spidey films, “Homecoming” and “Far from Home,” it ends up stuck in an unhappy medium.
“Brand New Day” wants to take the plunge into adulthood. Instead, it represents a step backwards, to a time when the MCU relied way too heavily on interconnectedness while sacrificing individuality. It's weighed down by too much compromise, too many boxes it feels compelled to check. What it really needed was a filmmaker with the drive to deliver a movie that lives up to the promise of its title. Cretton ultimately chooses not to rock the boat. Maybe somebody ought to do just that.
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” has swung into theaters across South Florida, including Dolby Cinema engagements at AMC Aventura, AMC Sunset Place and AMC Pembroke Lakes.
