One of the Best Spidey Movies Yet!
Summary
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the most mature movie in the series yet as Tom Holland’s previous entries felt aimed at a younger audience. This explores themes of grief, loneliness, anxiety and more; it still has plenty of funny moments, but not at the expense of drama or action. We get some great set-pieces courtesy of Jackie Chan’s Stunt Team with real explosions and an awesome finale with The Hand. The movie is at its best when Frank Castle is doing his thing, but this is still hugely entertaining and one of the few recent superhero movies I would watch more than once.
Plot: Peter Parker devotes his life to protecting New York City as a full-time Spider-Man. But as the demands on him intensify, the pressure sparks a surprising physical evolution that threatens his existence, even as a strange new pattern of crimes gives rise to one of the most powerful threats he’s ever faced.
Review: I’m a little late to the party with Brand New Day, but there were literally no showings available in my area until earlier today (Sunday morning). It’s just opened to $928 million worldwide which explains why there were so few showtimes.
I’ve enjoyed, but never quite loved the Tom Holland Spider-Man pictures mostly because I feel they are aimed at a younger audience. I was looking forward to this entry however, due to the addition of Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) and the fact that some of the move was filmed in my hometown of Glasgow.
I’m pleased to say this one of the best Spider-Man movies to date as it feels more mature as Peter Parker (Tom Holland) deals with the fallout of making MJ and the world forget about his true identity. He is very much alone in the world and he doesn’t even have his Aunt May anymore.
I really enjoyed the story for Brand New Day as it focuses on Peter’s grief for his lost loves and essentially suffering from anxiety and stress. I I found this was something we can all relate to and it ended up being surprisingly emotional.
This is more about Peter’s emotional journey, so some may miss the lack of a major villain but we still get plenty of set-pieces including a few showdowns with Scorpion and the scenes featuring The Hand are awesome. I believe some of the action was handled by Jackie Chan’s stunt team which explains why it was so slick. There are real explosions and of course Frank Castle steals every scene; I was worried he would feel neutered and he does a little, but it still felt like the Castle we know and I didn’t mind seeing a more human side to him. I also liked seeing Savage Hulk as I despised Professor Hulk in Endgame; this was the best we’ve seen him for a long time.
Michael Giacchino provides the music score which brings back the themes of the previous Tom Holland movies and works fine even if it isn’t anything remarkable.
Brand New Day definitely goes on a little too long and I did notice it at a few points where they maybe could have trimmed the runtime, but it was certainly never dull.
Overall, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is one of the best Spidey movies to date (at least to me) as I liked the more mature themes and somber tone. It still has humour but not in that annoying MCU way where anytime something dramatic happens there’s a stupid quip to ruin it. This has plenty of dramatic and emotional moments to go along with the action and there are enough explosions, fights and set-pieces to fill the rather long runtime.