SPIDER-MAN™: BRAND NEW DAY | Review
Opening weekend it made over $900 million worldwide. Is it really that good?
NO SPOILERS:
Here is the official Sony plot for the fourth installment of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man:
It’s a BRAND NEW DAY for Peter Parker. Fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man in a world that doesn’t remember him, and the pressure of seeing his old friends move on without him, sparks a change in Peter he may not have the power to control. But that transformation might also be the only thing that can stop a shocking new threat to the city and those he loves: a powerful villain no one can even see. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker, but he hasn’t forgotten them.
I don't want to spoil a single thing, so I took that synopsis directly from Sony’s website.
I saw this movie a few days ago. I’m already thinking about seeing it again.
The biggest story surrounding it right now is the box office, but honestly, I was not surprised by those numbers at all. I think the bigger story should be the film’s emotional depth and heart.
Here is why the box office did not surprise me: I bought my ticket months ago, as soon as Thursday-night screenings became available. Fans of these movies had been waiting for years. We were ready, and the box office reflects exactly how much excitement audiences had been waiting to unleash.
What did surprise me was how good and genuinely touching it was.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day stayed with me, which is always a very good sign. Sometimes superhero movies can dissipate quickly. You enjoy them while you are sitting in the theater, but a few days later, I barely remember them. This movie was different. It was touching, exciting, visually beautiful, and it felt like a genuine milestone in the Spider-Man story.
This is a “life on life’s terms” kind of movie. It explores what happens as we grow up, change, love people, lose people, and continue living after the ground has shifted beneath our feet. But to be clear, there are still fights, flying, and genuinely funny scenes that keep the movie from feeling like a complete bummer.
This Spider-Man is a little blue, and the sadness surrounding the characters feels relatable. Peter seems to be carrying the full weight of everything that has happened to him over the previous three movies.
We begin with a Peter Parker and Spider-Man who is no longer surrounded by the people he loves. MJ, played by Zendaya, and his best friend Ned, played by Jacob Batalon, are still living under the effects of Doctor Strange’s spell. They no longer remember that Peter Parker was ever part of their lives.
Peter feels completely alone. Aunt May is gone, and his friends and girlfriend have become ghosts in his life. Who has not had an old relationship or friendship haunt them?
What happens next, how he copes, and who he meets is something that I won’t spoil.
Another aspect of the movie that I loved is that Peter and all the people around him no longer feel like high school kids. I was excited to see what they were going to be doing now. They are young adults navigating life. YA Peter Parker/Spider-Man was the version of the character I loved reading as a kid, so seeing Tom Holland finally enter this stage of Peter’s life felt super fun to me…and long overdue.
Tom Holland has grown into the role, and this movie feels like the beginning of a completely different chapter for him. He is simply magnetic. This is his fourth solo Spider-Man movie, something neither of the previous live-action Spider-Man actors got to play, and there is something meaningful about that. He is no longer simply the young kid who entered the Marvel universe surrounded by older, more established superheroes. He owns the role now, and he carries this movie beautifully.
Zendaya’s scenes as MJ pull at your heart because we remember the history between them, even when she does not. For me, this is also a story about the power of intimacy. What we long for is their former closeness and the safety Peter once had in being completely known by another person. That safety is gone, and it hurts.
What makes Zendaya’s work as MJ even more impressive. She is having an extraordinary run, from Rue in Euphoria to Athena in The Odyssey, and earlier this year in The Drama, and with Dune: Part Three still ahead. Yet MJ feels completely separate from every one of those women. She has her own intelligence, awkward humor, strength, and emotional rhythm. Even the fact that Tom Holland and she are married, while it enhances it, never blurs the line between the actors and the characters. The connection we feel belongs to Peter and MJ, and to their history across these films.
All the characters and performances are fantastic. Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Peter’s former best friend and the “guy in the chair,” is touching. He perfectly balances wonder and playfulness. Jon Bernthal is hard and soft, funny and furious, and amazing as the Punisher. Saying anything more would risk giving away part of the story, so I am going to stop there. Let’s just say that everyone feels as though they belong in this world, even as the movie brings together characters from very different corners of the comic-book universe.
Visually, I loved it. The imagery is beautiful, the special effects are incredible, and the movie manages to feel like both a comic book and an action film. When the Spidey comic-book panels were brought to life, I actually heard applause… well bc I was applauding. The flying and fighting scenes were thrilling.
I also loved not knowing what was going to happen. I had heard pieces of the story, but I did not know where it was going. That uncertainty made several moments genuinely tense and tear-inducing.
From the first moment it started through the post-credits scene, I loved this movie.
Audiences around the world felt the same. Spider-Man: Brand New Day opened with an astounding $360 million domestically and $932 million worldwide. It delivered the biggest domestic opening in box-office history, passing Avengers: Endgame, and the second-biggest worldwide debut ever, behind only Endgame. Those numbers are extraordinary, and I am sure it will not stop there.
A good superhero movie does not have to be any more complicated than this… mix together touching, suspenseful, and visually beautiful, and it will be incredibly entertaining.
You know what? I influenced myself. I just grabbed two tickets for this weekend!