Spider-Man: Brand New Day review: A refreshingly intimate web-slinging success for Marvel
Out favourite cinematic arachnid is back.
Sony
- Jeremy Aspinall
★★★★☆
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is cinemas now. Add it to your watchlist
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At the heart-breaking end of 2021's No Way Home, Tom Holland's arachnid superhero is forced to let sorcerer Dr Strange head off multiversal catastrophe by making the world forget his not-so-secret identity as Peter Parker, even though the spell would include his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best bud Ned (Jacob Batalon).
Years have now passed, leaving Peter as a lonely neighbourhood Spider-Man who has nevertheless hurled himself into crime-busting by helping New York's police and federal agency Damage Control put bad guys behind bars like the ninja nasties of The Hand and the Scorpion (Michael Mando, returning from 2017's Homecoming, only this time sporting a deadly state-of-the art exo-skeleton with a sting in the tail).
Beloved by New Yorkers and the authorities, Spidey has even been teaming up with the Punisher (Jon Bernthal, making his belated big-screen debut as the fearsome vigilante). Their chemistry and pithy patter are bonuses in an exhilarating action-packed adventure that's as much a coming-of-age tale for Holland as it is the popular Marvel character.
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Anguish and loneliness are Peter's bedfellows, a situation only exacerbated when MJ and Ned return to the Big Apple after finishing college. Crashing their flat-warming party doesn't help and could even be a traumatising catalyst for Peter's powers to mutate — self-generated webs, sensory overload — which threaten to make him more spider than man and prompts a visit for sage advice from former Avenger Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo, making a welcome return).
And, of course, there's a new villain on the block. A cloaked figure who's able to instantly possess anybody at lightning speed — a spectacular body-hopping trait reminiscent of eerie 1998 supernatural thriller Fallen — soon has our distracted hero and the amnesiac object of his unrequited love in their sights.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) picks up the gauntlet from Jon Watts for the fourth in the hugely lucrative franchise, delivering plenty of nifty web-spinning and dizzying set-pieces, not least when Spidey and the Punisher are drawn into a devastating battle with a rampaging Hulk who just wants to smash. The gloriously redemptive martial arts dust-up between a bloodied Holland and sword-wielding adversaries is also not to be sniffed at.
There's also a sense that this is a New York movie with the city that never sleeps a distinctive character and backdrop to all the superheroic shenanigans, much like the recent Daredevil TV shows on Disney+.
However, there are intimate moments, too, where Holland demonstrates his evolution from happy-go-lucky teenager to a melancholy adult struggling to process the loss of his nearest and dearest. It's not just this year's The Odyssey where the 30-year-old has been able to show some serious acting chops. Indeed, one scene with Zendaya, minus any accompanying music, is one of the most agonising and authentic in any Marvel movie. Kudos to regular scriptwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers here.
As with any film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are Easter eggs, unexpected guest stars, potential throughlines to upcoming adventures (all-star Avengers: Doomsday is out in December) and an intriguing post-credit sequence.
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However, what's notable about the MCU Spiderverse is its emotional heart where the depth of its characters plays as much a part in the narrative as the usual pyrotechnics and punch-ups. It also leaves you wanting to know what will happen to them next.
Authors
Jeremy Aspinall
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