“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is the newest installment of the Tom Holland Spider-Man franchise, kicking off a new trilogy for his portrayal of the character. Jon Watts directed the first three, and now at the helm is Destin Daniel Cretton, director of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (2021).
“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which released almost 5 years ago, was a huge cultural event. It brought back a lot of stars from previous Spider-Man franchises, including Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, who each played the titular hero. “Brand New Day” focuses on the aftermath of that movie, where Peter Parker is completely alone after casting a spell that everyone forgets who he is, including his girlfriend (MJ/Zendaya) and best friend (Ned/Jacob Batalon).
Tom Holland really shines here as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and his performance might solidify him as the best representation of the character. The hero is going through a lot and is suffering through depression watching all of his friends and young adulthood/college life pass by as he’s only focused on his superhero life.
Throughout the movie, Parker tries to learn how to strive for human connection, as he realizes he can’t do all of this alone. However, he struggles to start all over with the people he’s been close to for four years. Now four years pass by at the beginning of this movie without them knowing him and you feel his pain.
Zendaya and Jacob Batalon return to portray MJ and Ned, maintaining their place in the story — especially MJ, who has a few very emotional scenes with Peter.
There are also a lot of recurring MCU characters in here, like Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, who is first shown as a college professor and then later transforms into the Hulk again. There’s Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, who is arguably the MVP of the movie along with Tom Holland. Their banter and chemistry are the comedic gold of the movie.
Of course, coming from Daredevil and his own show, Bernthal is a lot more light-hearted and quippy in this film, but it works.
However, this review can’t go on without mentioning Sadie Sink, who plays a secret character that gets revealed in the film. Her role plays a very pivotal part of the movie and sets up the future for the MCU.
Sink is much more prominent in the second half of the film, and even takes some of the shine away from Holland at some points. Sink’s emotional arc and especially her acting are very strong, especially coming off of “Stranger Things.” It seems inevitable that she’ll do great in the next few movies she does for the MCU.
This movie’s visuals are a lot more stylish than Jon Watts’s previous Spider-Man trilogy. It takes a lot of shots inspired by Raimi’s trilogy and even the comics. A lot of people are comparing this movie to “The Batman” (2022) and “Superman” (2025) with how it feels more like a comic-accurate representation of the characters.
The film also contains several random music needledrops of songs by artists such as Bad Bunny, Steve Lacy, Tame Impala, and Chaka Khan throughout. I thought the idea of showcasing modern music in a Spider-Man movie was really cool.
My only criticisms are that it has way too much going on, especially in its second half, where it does start to become a little overwhelming at times. Multiple characters from previous MCU projects appear, with so much setup for later MCU projects that it does start to feel a bit overcrowded.
Also, a part of me thinks this movie should’ve been a later installment in the series. This way, the fourth Holland movie could have focused on Peter Parker in college fighting street-level villains like Scorpion and balancing new friends, while still missing his loved ones, like Ned and MJ. In many ways, while the Sadie Sink storyline works well, it could’ve been set up for another MCU project.
Overall, “Brand New Day” is a feel-good, fun movie that also has a good message on top of it of not being alone all the time and striving to be better. Is it the best Spider-Man movie? Probably not, but it’s certainly another very good installment into the franchise.
