Spider-Man: No Way Home was the ultimate Spider-Man movie. It had three Spider-Men, five villains, and offered up a Multiverse of possibilities. The question is, what do you do for an encore? I guess it’s admirable that Brand New Day doesn’t try to top the previous film. When it is content on delivering a (relatively) low-stakes Spider-Man adventure, it shines. It’s only when the picture starts bending over backwards to set up the next big Marvel tentpole that it loses its luster.
Granted, this is a Marvel-wide problem. Most of these things suffer from a Ponzi Scheme style of storytelling. “If you like what you’re seeing, just wait till the NEXT movie!” This continuous plate-spinning of ongoing narratives often shortchanges the story at hand. Brand New Day is no exception.
Web-slinging crime fighter Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is busy keeping his nose to the grindstone. While battling baddies in New York City, he encounters his friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), who both have forgotten he even existed. As Spider-Man wrestles with the temptation of reintroducing himself into their lives, he must also contend with a body-hopping villain threatening the city. There’s also the pesky matter of his spider DNA trying to take over his body. What’s a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to do?
The first two-thirds of Brand New Day offer fans a fun and exciting time. Holland once again essays the role of Spider-Man with heart and warmth, and the enormous goodwill he’s generated over the years helps the film over some of its bumpy moments late in the game. If anything, Brand New Day is the realization of what producer Kevin Feige was aiming for back when Iron Man was released in 2008; a cinematic comic book. If you’re making a Spider-Man movie and Spider-Man needs to ask a scientist a question, why get a random actor from Central Casting when you can have Dr. Bruce Banner, AKA: The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)? If a shady government agency needs a security detail, why give them a bunch of interchangeable guys in SWAT team uniforms when they can bring in The Hand?
So, in that respect, the film is a crackling good time. Director Destin Daniel Cretton nails every Spidey aspect of the movie (even if he cribs a bit from the Sam Raimi classics). It’s when the script reveals a character (whom I won’t spoil) from a different franchise as the Big Bad that the feeling of cinematic hopscotch begins to set in. It’s especially disappointing considering Spider-Man has the best rogues’ gallery in the Marvel universe. (The fact that many of them show up early on in a brief montage only compounds that fact.) Why bring in someone from an adjacent franchise unless you’re using them as a springboard to launch another MCU installment?
Other than that, this is still a strong, funny and robust Spidey adventure. In some ways it feels like a soft reboot, and if you go in with that mindset you may enjoy it more. Brand New Day remains a good time, even if nothing about it feels exactly “Brand New”.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Scorecard:
Spider-Man: No Way Home: ****
Avengers: Age of Ultron: ****
The Incredible Hulk: ****
Iron Man: ****
Thor: Ragnarok: ****
Avengers: Endgame: ****
Ant-Man and the Wasp: ****
Spider-Man: Homecoming: ****
Iron Man 3: ****
Captain America: Civil War: *** ½
Spider-Man: Brand New Day: *** ½
Ant-Man: *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy: *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: *** ½
Avengers: Infinity War: *** ½
Werewolf by Night: *** ½
Black Panther: *** ½
The Avengers: ***
Captain America: The First Avenger: ***
Captain America: The Winter Soldier: ***
Deadpool and Wolverine: ***
Fantastic Four: First Steps: ***
Thor: Love and Thunder: ***
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: ***
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: ***
Captain Marvel: ***
Spider-Man: Far from Home: ***
Thor: ***
The Marvels: ***
Captain America: Brave New World: ***
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: ***
Thor: The Dark World: ***
Iron Man 2: ***
Thunderbolts*: ** ½
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: ** ½
Doctor Strange: ** ½
Black Widow: ** ½
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: **
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: **
Eternals: * ½
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