Spider-Man: Brand New Day

 

Score:  B

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton 

Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, et al

Running time: 145 minutes

Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the fourth movie starring Tom Holland in the lead role as well as its inclusion in the broader Marvel superhero universe, and is somewhat of a letdown from its excellent predecessors.  Certainly, there is still plenty of exciting blockbuster action, much of which is kept relatively grounded, and it's still thrilling to watch Spidey swoop through the city on his webs.  But this time, Marvel really does go too far in adding new characters to its universe, resulting in a bloated and misdirected third act, along with just less well-honed filmmaking all around.  Good entertainment, to be sure, but it doesn't meet the franchise's high standards.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is an entertaining superhero blockbuster, but it doesn't realize its potential due to being overloaded and not as tightly honed as its Marvel brethren.  The previous film, No Way Home, was also a jam-packed movie (albeit much better done) that brilliantly managed to tidy things up in a unique way by its conclusion.  Brand New Day is therefore fittingly named as it opens with Spider-Man continuing to do Spidey-like crime fighting, but alter ego Peter Parker is unknown to the world - all his previous relationships are severed.  While his old friends MJ and Ned enjoy new experiences in college, Peter keeps tabs on them from afar but goes it alone himself.  The movie effectively shares this new dynamic through a montage of mini-scenes, and the rest of the movie brims with possibility.  Certainly, there is much to enjoy.  It delivers your money's worth in visual spectacle, including several fun and exciting action/fight scenes.  Spider-Man's pursuit of a tank through NYC and a literal cage match against ninjas were highlights for me.  The movie even tries new styles of filming Spidey swinging through the city on his webs, rejuvenating the wonder of that experience.  Tom Holland is still an ideal match for Spider-Man/Peter Parker, fitting his optimistic persona like a glove.  The script doesn't do him many favors, but he is still a strong and charismatic lead.  Brand New Day does make some earnest efforts to develop Parker's character, focusing on the effects - both physical and psychological - of his isolation, which are best exemplified by the depiction of his living arrangements.  It's also an appropriate theme for modern society and young people in particular.

Brand New Day also falls short in multiple ways, particularly in comparison with the three stellar movies preceding it.  The biggest problem is its shift in focus in the final third or so toward introducing a major new character to the Marvel superhero world.  As an enormous Marvel fan, I usually have no problem with these movies having large casts and/or touching on plotlines from past/future movies.  But it doesn't fit well in this movie, and the shift is sudden, detracts from earlier themes in the movie, and just makes it too long.  In addition to the new character are Bruce Banner/the Hulk and the Punisher.  Banner makes some sense in the plot, for a cameo scene; he's also well-known to movie audiences and a welcome face.  This is the first movie appearance of the Punisher, however, so most people probably have no clue about him.  And both end up being used more than necessary, inflating the scale of the movie's action when it would have been best to keep it modest (I did very much enjoy Florence Pugh's brief, hilarious scenes).  All this too-muchness is probably the main reason, but the other problem is that the writing and supporting characters are weaker than in previous Spider-Man movies.  The writing duo is the same as the first three, but the director is new; instead of Jon Watts, it's helmed by Cretton (who made the fine but unremarkable Shang Chi).  I just feel like higher-ups insisted that this needed to be a Big Movie, emphasizing not just Marvel properties but also its massively popular Gen Z actor trio of Holland, Zendaya, and Sadie Sink.  The MJ and Ned scenes, so crucial to the series and this movie in particular, are handled clumsily and lack the genuine feeling that made them shine previously.  So, while it's an enjoyable movie, it could have been significantly better.

***

Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues this year's trend of disappointing movies among those I would have expected (at least in year's past) to be my favorites.  It's by no means a bad movie, but it does not live up to the previous Spider-Man movies and it had the potential, up to a third of the way through or so, to be much better.  I seem to be an outlier on this, however, as both critics and audiences at large seem to be loving it: a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the biggest opening weekend of all time (already over a billion dollars worldwide!).  I understand why it's a crowdpleaser, especially among the younger set who are driving movie theaters' resurgence this year.  But I'd like to call out hypocrisy among movie critics here.  They have been complaining for years now about how Marvel movies share characters and carry over plot lines between movies.  Well, Brand New Day sure as hell does that, too, and far less effectively than most Marvel movies.  Oh, well.  I think I have been disagreeing with the critics more than usual this year overall, so maybe it is just me.  Anyway, I recommend this to any superhero fan, for sure, and for anyone else, if you just want a fun, spectacle-filled time at the theater, this is a perfectly fine option.

* By source, Sony Pictures official website, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82719880