A Web Swing and a Hit in Spectacular ‘Spider-Man’ | Review
The biggest domestic opening of all time is a genuine thrill ride.
Nice to see you again, reader. As promised, I am back to regale you with my opinions on Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the thirty-eighth cinematic endeavor from Marvel Studios, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings, Wonder Man). No major spoilers in case you’re one of the five people on the planet who haven’t had a chance to watch Brand New Day yet, so let’s swing into action.
Four years after the events of 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, , Peter Parker (Tom Holland) lives a lonesome existence as Spider-Man, fighting crime and coping with losing his best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), and his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), who do not remember him. While trying to find a way to enter their lives again and start anew, Peter must investigate both a new telepathic enemy with the help of a government agency director (Trammell Tillman) and an evolution in his powers as a result of mutating arachnid DNA.
That all may sound like a heavy load of story arcs to carry, but Cretton manages to make it all fit together brilliantly. There is a confidence and purpose-driven flow to this movie that we don’t often see in the MCU, but when we do, it leads to a stand-out film every time, and I’d like to veer off briefly to discuss that.
Thirty-eight films that compose one story is a massive, unprecedented endeavor that deserves to be commended to an extent, but as many fans and detractors alike will tell you, the quality well has been running dry for a few years now. The MCU has seen its share of duds (Black Widow and Captain America: Brave New World come to mind) and a few truly abysmal entries (Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, Thor: Love & Thunder, Secret Invasion), but if you look at the projects that have been the most well-received by critics and fans, it is always the ones that are director-forward. Kevin Feige and company are not always comfortable handing full control to the directors they employ. Producers lead by committee most of the time. But look at what we’ve seen when the stars have aligned. Allowing the directors and writers to make the film they envision after being approached is what has made the MCU the behemoth it is today, for better or worse.
Controversy and deserved comeuppance aside, Joss Whedon’s creative vision for 2012’s Avengers is a huge part of what makes that movie spectacle done right. Ryan Coogler’s 2018 mega-hit, Black Panther, wears his personal signature boldly, and was a global phenomenon at release, not only elevating the genre, but being a revelatory cultural moment for its depiction of African nations and the same can be said for 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in its gorgeously realized Talokan civilization, which is directly influenced by Indigenous Central American history. 2021’s WandaVision, is undeniably important to not only the character of Wanda Maximoff, but its exploration of grief and trauma. It explores these themes without being preachy, and Jac Schaeffer and Matt Shakman masterfully execute this over nine episodes, which is why Shakman also hit a creative home run with last year’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps and how it depicted an unconventional family dynamic. Another example is Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, a film I personally despise, but a film that is unapologetically Waititi’s signature goofball comedy style, was a massive box office success.
Perhaps the best example of this is James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which I’d argue is still one of the absolute best MCU projects. Gunn’s formula and style may feel tired today, but back in 2014, we had never seen such a well-executed blend of irreverence and heart, and Guardians was a tremendously entertaining film to behold because it was James Gunn’s work from start to end and not a shallow box office baiter sullied by the meddling of greedy, uneducated studio execs.
In that same vein, Brand New Day feels like Destin Daniel Cretton’s movie, arguably even more than Shang-Chi did, I’d say, and while I wouldn’t dare minimize the resonance that film had with Asian audiences, and its utterly fantastic antagonist(Tony Leung), I think Cretton’s comfort as a filmmaker is more evident in BND, and I think his visual signature, time management, and ability to draw a great performance from his actors(see Tony Leung in Shang-Chi and Tom Holland here) work wonders for a Spider-Man movie, especially one that is telling a smaller-scale story. There is much more room for good character work and Spider-spectacle to coexist here, and I think the director is to thank for that.
There are a few nitpicks and a couple of big questions that never get answered. For instance, Brand New Day does not specify what exactly Ned and MJ are doing for work, nor does it ever disclose how Peter pays rent or affords anything, as his full-time job is being Spidey. Perhaps I’m nitpicking, but this is my only major issue with the movie, and unless I missed something, there is simply no explanation for this. Sam Rami’s Spider Man trilogy makes the every-man quality of the hero so realistic with his depiction of Peter doing his best to just keep his crappy apartment. I would have appreciated a lot more of that in the film to ground it more.
Ultimately, BND is full of action and humor, is visually distinct from the previous three Spidey films, and features what I think is Tom Holland’s best performance yet, all while incorporating characters from the larger universe that make things feel like a Marvel comic book come to life. The Spider-Man story told here is wonderful and hits all the right notes when it comes to what you want to see Spidey do. I felt like this was the first time the connective tissue was substantial and not relegated to phoned-in cameos and references, and none of it detracts from the main event. The stakes here are high, but contained enough to make the battles and destruction feel impactful, there is meaningful progression for Holland’s character, and to top it all off, there is a delightful and for me, surreal reveal that heralds the coming of exciting new chapters in this cinematic universe after next year’s colossal Avengers: Secret Wars.
Thank you for reading, true believer. Damon Smallwood will return in Avengers: Doomsday.
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is now playing nationwide. Rated PG-13 for sequences of action/violence and some language.
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