Even superheroes need the occasional blast of self-esteem. Taking down criminals and saving the city only means so much without anyone with whom to share it. In the aftermath of a spell cast by Doctor Strange that made everyone forget who he was, Peter Parker is going it alone in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. As each new film promises, things won’t stay calm for long, and this latest installment explores what it means to have a hero who can’t ever be himself with anyone and how necessary that human connection really is.
Peter (Tom Holland) is flying high as Spider-Man, taking down enemies with relative ease and earning acclaim throughout New York City for his acts of heroism and his impressive reduction in crime. While he’s tinkering with the latest enhancements to his suit, he longingly watches social media videos of Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ (Zendaya) living it up at college, on a journey he was supposed to be on with them. His only real contact is with a friendly detective (Liza Colón-Zayas) who doesn’t even know his name, and the emergence of a massive threat forces him to swing into action and realize that he’s up against something much bigger than ever before.
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to top the excitement of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the previous film in this series, especially with its very Spider-Man-centric storyline. This film does bring in a few reinforcements from the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Jon Bernthal offering constant entertainment as Frank Castle, Mark Ruffalo toning it down as a professorial Bruce Banner, and Florence Pugh infusing incredible personality into every line delivery as Yelena Belova. None get top billing since this is, above all, a story of how solitary Peter is since he can’t be anyone but Spider-Man even with those three fellow heroes.
This film feels the weight and significance of no one knowing who he is, with Peter going to great lengths to protect his identity by refusing to take his mask off even to drink coffee or wade into the water in a bathhouse. He understands just how much danger he can put those he cares about in by having anyone know his true identity, and that makes, in part, for a more serious film punctuated by scenes of introspective drama with more than a few humorous moments sprinkled throughout from beginning to end. Spider-Man is hardly the most hardened, stoic character in this expansive comic book universe, but he’s undeniably going through a real rough patch that he’s simply trying to mask by keeping himself busy and showing off in the process.
Brand New Day actually pairs well with another Pugh feature, Thunderbolts*, in its exploration of the loneliness of saving the world without ever being able to celebrate it with anyone else and the importance of mental health. Additionally, both projects feature a mysterious villain who appears to be terrifyingly all-powerful, capable of extraordinary and inexplicable things that require a great understanding of what motivates them for any chance at resolution. It’s certainly not as fun as the multiversal reunion of No Way Home, but it’s a solid premise that should keep audiences engaged for the majority of its 145-minute runtime.
Holland remains an endearing and only slightly goofy lead, and he shows signs of growing up in this installment, even if he’s still not as hardened or mature as some of the MCU’s grumpiest heroes. It’s fun to watch him and Bernthal banter, with the latter cementing himself as a very solid action-comedy number two who knows just what the job is after a similar part in The Accountant 2. Though the nature of her role has been kept severely (and perhaps unnecessarily) under wraps, Sadie Sink gives this performance her all, and she’s a terrific fit for it. It’s good to see Batalon and Zendaya too, who help to give this film its signature Spider-Man feel. This may not be the best or most memorable of the recent Spider-Man movies, but it works well enough and, despite a handful of familiar MCU faces, stands sufficiently on its own.
Movie Rating: 7/10
