Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review - The Best Live-Action Spidey In Decades

Can we thank Christopher Nolan for "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" turning out as good as it did? When acting in "The Odyssey," Tom Holland was stunned by Nolan's careful preparation in contrast to the Marvel Studios method of "shoot a bunch of green-screen material with an unfinished script and make it all work in post." It seems taking part in an auteur blockbuster lit raised the star's standards; speaking about the development of "Brand New Day," Holland told GQ, "I was really able to lay down the law and say, 'We are not going to come to set and figure it out... We need to know why we are making this movie beyond the fact that it's "Spider-Man 4" and they make loads of money and we're going to just have a big summer. Why are we making this movie?'"

Fun as that connection is between this summer's two biggest movies, let's be sure to save our more serious thanks to Destin Daniel Cretton, the director who was able to answer Holland's burning questions of purpose. Now that James Gunn's over running the Distinguished Competition, Cretton might be second only to Ryan Coogler as the most reliable director currently in the Marvel stable. Before its climax fell into formula, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" had some of the strongest pure action filmmaking in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while his work on the Disney+ series "Wonder Man" broke from the MCU formula entirely for a charming comedic character study.

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is Cretton's best superhero movie yet (his best movie period is still his debut "Short Term 12"). It's on par with "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" in the top tier of post-"Avengers: Endgame" Marvel movies, and it's my favorite live-action Spider-Man movie since Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 2" all the way back in 2004 (the animated "Spider-Verse" films remain unbeatable). This was not a film made just for money, but one with purpose — its biggest flaw is, if anything, it has too many different purposes fighting for attention and occasionally butting against each other.

In the four years since erasing his friends' knowledge of his existence at the end of "Spider-Man: No Way Home," Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has given up having a social life in favor of spending all his time fighting crime. He interacts with other superheroes — he and The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) have a history — but doesn't go mask-off with them like he did with the old Avengers team. His closest human relationship is with a police detective (Liza Colón-Zayas) he speaks to on the phone for work. If the "Tony Stark Jr." characterization of Peter in Jon Watts' previous trilogy was an excuse to give him extra privileges, we now see the more negative ways in which he's taken after his former mentor, spending all his time talking to an AI assistant and making ethically dubious choices (some of which he actually gets taken to task for!).

At least everyone in New York loves Spider-Man. There ain't even any more J. Jonah Jameson rants about him being a menace (my personal headcanon is that The Onion bought the MCU's Daily Bugle). Spider-Man's been capturing all the worst criminals, as shown in an opening montage filled with splash panel-worthy action tableaus, so that part of his life is going well — until it isn't anymore. I've promised not to spoil the identity of the mysterious body-hopping character primarily played by Sadie Sink, even if it's probably the worst-kept movie marketing secret since, well, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's cameos in "No Way Home." There will be a lot more to discuss once the secret's officially out, but as far as the set-up goes, she certainly knows how to cause problems for Spider-Man.

These problems inevitably send Peter on the path to reunite with his ex-girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and former best buddy Ned (Jacob Batalon). How these reunions will work out might very well be the stronger source of hype for this movie than any battles or hero-villain conflicts. The storytelling here is thoughtful in addressing the much ballyhooed "male loneliness crisis," and it excels in giving Peter and the audience the things we need even when the things we want must remain out of reach. You might tear up a little by the end.

On top of everything else happening, Peter Parker is once again mutating, with his arachnid hormones far exceeding previous normal levels. It's a fun reversal of the "Spider-Man 2" conflict (instead of losing power, he's now got too much), but this is where the movie gets a bit too busy. There are mixed messages on whether this is a result of his emotional state or if it's a natural occurrence. He spends a lot of the movie trying to develop a chip to repress his excess hormones — this is where Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) gets involved — which gets overcomplicated both narratively and thematically once you consider how this plays in with the secret character and what she represents. There are like five different metaphors here that don't fully cohere with one another and don't resolve with full satisfaction.

Switching to a more positive topic: for all the emotional darkness "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is dealing with, it never forgets that comic book movies are supposed to be fun. It's genuinely funny without feeling like it's forcing in quips when inappropriate. All the different hero team-up bits are entertaining in their own right without feeling like they're forced to build to some future movie — even the one scene that sounds like a corporate synergy mandate on paper is handled in a hilarious and surprisingly sexy way (TIL Spider-yaoi exists in MCU canon). The action scenes are a huge step up from the previous MCU Spider-Man films; when we get to Peter's second showdown against The Hand ninjas, I begrudgingly have to admit that Cretton's upcoming live-action "Naruto" movie is going to kick a ton of ass.

It makes me happy to be writing such a positive review for this film. The MCU is in a weird place right now; there are so many loose threads currently hanging (I can think of one I wish "Brand New Day" picked up on but didn't) and I remain skeptical if "Avengers: Doomsday" will tie it all together satisfyingly. But this movie still shows there's plenty of life to the franchise when it comes to street-level stories.

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" opens in theaters July 31.