When Tom Holland first swung into action as Spider-Man in 2016 there was an irresistible lightness to the character. His Peter Parker had this infectious enthusiasm, a much needed tonic in the increasingly angst-ridden, comic book-inspired adventures.
Holland’s first solo feature Spider-Man: Homecoming was a raucous romp that returned the wall-crawler to his neighbourhood roots in a John Hughes-ian high school setting. The character had truly come home.
WATCH | Brand New Day trailer:
But that, dear reader, was nearly a decade ago. Since then Holland, Spider-Man and Marvel Studios at large have been through the wringer.
Set after the magic mind wipe that caused his loved ones to forget his secret identity (from 2021’s No Way Home), Brand New Day finds Peter caught in a web, trapped between the kind of grounded stories that set Spider-Man apart and a studio planting seeds for future franchises.
Spider-Man is unquestionably still a top-tier hero. But Marvel’s days as a must-see moviemaker are fading faster than the Invisible Woman. As the studio gears up for December’s Avengers: Doomsday, one has to wonder if Holland’s Spidey spandex is beginning to chafe.
The director that lured Holland back
One of the reasons that compelled Holland to suit up again, is director Destin Daniel Cretton. In 2013 he burst onto the scene with Short Term 12, a loose and lively film starring future Captain Marvel Brie Larson as a foster home supervisor with a horrible work life balance.
Brand New Day finds Cretton and co-writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers mining a similar vein. With his Aunt May dead (Marisa Tomei, killed in heart-wrenching fashion in No Way Home), and his belle MJ (Zendaya) and BFF Ned (Jacob Batalon) off living their best lives, Peter throws himself into his work.
This is Spider-Man in Batman mode: hunting criminals, monitoring the police scanner and even checking in with his own Commissioner Jim Gordon, The Bear’s Liza Colon-Zayas as Det. Jean DeWolff.
But Spider-Man being who he is, the results are more Buster Keaton than Batman, especially as the arachnoid part of the hero’s DNA begin acting up, causing Peter to careen off Manhattan’s concrete canyons like a latex superball.
A Spider-Man for the fans
To prepare for the film, Holland has spoken about deep dives on Reddit, plunging down Spider-Man threads looking for what super fans wanted from the movies.
The result? Incredibly dynamic scenes of swinging, almost flying through the city, with the occasional POV shot inserted for extra adrenaline. Plus, as an occasional cosplayer, I must say his new suit, with its vibrant red and blues and thick eye lens, a-la the classic art by Steve Ditko, looks fantastic.
Cretton even manages to insert a number of classic Spider-Man comic book covers, occasionally freezing the action to pay homage to everything from Canadian artist Todd McFarlane’s distinctive legs-akimbo pose to Spidey’s first appearance from 1962.
But under the sun-kissed swing scenes, is Spider-Man really Spider-Man without the quips? Sure, Parker still has jokes. But still traumatized from the events of No Way Home, his heart isn’t in it. He’s moping over MJ, feeling the grind of the constant crimefighting and heavily in his feels.
This is a Spider-Man film too morose, too mopey to even imagine a lighthearted moment like “Do a flip!” Is that a failure of the script, or a sign of Holland’s Parker trying to grow up? This is the classic comic book quandry: we adore our characters for their classic qualities, but threaten to leave them trapped in amber, never allowing them to evolve.
Fortunately it’s not Peter and his Scooby gang who provide the comic relief this time. As Spider-Man chases after the thuggish Scorpion, he crosses paths with Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, a shoot-first, ask questions never vigilante.
While the comic book version of Castle is one of Marvel’s most lethal characters, Bernthal plays more of a cantankerous foil for Holland to play off. His gruff and ready-to-maim mindset contrasts Spidey’s Mr. Rogers values nicely.
Easter eggs and grinding gears
But there’s not much time to flesh out this bizarre buddy comedy as Brand New Day labours to present the new baddie at the centre played by Sadie Sink (best known as Max from Stranger Things).
Without spoiling the identity of Sink’s character, which has been shrouded by sternly-lettered embargoes for weeks, Brand New Day devotes a surprising amount of screen time diving into the character’s backstory.
Here is where the focus of Brand New Day gets blurred.
Is this an attempt at recalibrating Spider-Man? Giving Holland a chance to show us a more mature side, a hero struggling with his responsibilities? Or is this fan service for future films? Another shiny Easter egg to dazzle the devoted? The answer is yes.
Holland himself manages to rescue Spider-Man from the meta movie studio shenanigans. It’s fitting that one of Marvel’s most moral characters is being played by an actor who is, from all appearances, a nice guy.
Is this Spider-Man the funniest? No, but it’s aiming for something richer (particularly in the emotional beats between him and his now-wife Zendaya).
WATCH | Spider-Man and the Punisher try to stop a tank:
Oh, you want action? In between the vertigo-inducing web-swinging scenes, there’s some great set pieces including the tank chase with the Punisher and the return of Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner a.k.a. The Hulk.
Oh and there are ninjas. They’re fine.
The power of punctuation
Back in 1962 when Stan Lee first dreamed up the wall-crawling hero, part of what set him apart was the name.
Not Spiderman. Not Spider Man. Spider-Man.
He said he put that hyphen there to separate his hero from Superman.
Interesting, because Spider-Man shares quite a few things with Superman. Both characters have always been defined by their duality. In his fourth solo outing, Peter Parker is more of a man than ever, while battling the spider inside.
In the end, Brand New Day isn’t so much about making a choice as it is finding a balance. While the corporate-mandated character crossover knocks our hero off-track, it’s a welcome return thanks to a determined director and actor who embraces what made Spider-Man spectacular in the first place.
