Spider-Man: Brand New Day Is the Spider-Man Movie I’ve Been Waiting For

A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

Spider-Man is my hero.

When I was three or four years old, I used to run around the house with a clothes basket over my head telling everyone I was Spider-Man. It probably sounds ridiculous, but the lines in the basket looked like the webbing on his mask to me.

Now I own an actual Spider-Man mask. I still put it on and run around the house telling everyone I’m Spider-Man.

I’m telling you that because Spider-Man: Brand New Day hit something in me that most Spider-Man movies haven’t. I’ve loved several of them, and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 remains nearly impossible to beat, but this was the first time I truly felt like I was web-swinging alongside Spider-Man instead of sitting in a theater watching somebody else do it.

The direction is the best this character has had since Raimi.

There’s a sense of movement throughout Brand New Day that completely changes how Spider-Man feels onscreen. He swings through New York like he understands every building, alley, rooftop and fire escape. The camera moves with him instead of simply trying to keep up.

An early tank chase feels like a comic-book panel brought to life. It’s big, fast and visually inventive, but what made me love it was seeing Spider-Man out there fighting crime and protecting his neighborhood.

This is the Spider-Man I’ve always wanted to see. Not Spider-Man trying to impress an Avenger. Not Spider-Man fighting somebody else’s battle. Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man doing the job.

FOUR YEARS LATER

The movie opens with a villain montage that quickly establishes what Peter has been doing during the four years since the ending of No Way Home. It moves the story forward without forcing everyone to sit through a giant exposition dump.

Those four years matter. This isn’t the same Peter Parker we left standing alone in his apartment. He has continued fighting, continued losing pieces of himself and continued building a reputation throughout New York.

For the first time, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man truly feels like he belongs in his own movie. The larger Marvel universe is still there, but it doesn’t swallow him. He has a past with these people. They know him. More importantly, he has their respect.

AN ADULT SPIDER-MAN

This feels like the first truly adult Spider-Man movie we’ve gotten from Tom Holland.

Tom Holland is fantastic. You can feel Peter’s loneliness in nearly every part of the performance. He has the weight of the world sitting on him and nobody left to help him carry it.

He decided that the people he loved would be safer without him. Now he has to live with that decision every day.

Holland doesn’t play Peter like somebody waiting for the movie to solve his loneliness. Peter wants someone beside him, but he also believes allowing anyone to get close would be selfish. That’s Peter Parker.

The powers have never been the most important part of what makes Peter who he is. Peter keeps getting back up because somebody needs him to, even when nobody knows his name.

SPIDER-MAN AND THE PUNISHER

The relationships are what push this movie forward, and the one between Spider-Man and the Punisher is one of its strongest.

Their history feels real from the moment they’re together. They know where the other man stands, they know what they’ll never agree on and they still respect each other.

Jon Bernthal’s Punisher never feels watered down. He doesn’t need to say “fuck” every six minutes or shoot somebody in the head onscreen to prove he’s Frank Castle. Bernthal brings all of Frank’s anger, damage and baggage with him.

This is clearly the Punisher. His finger is always glued to the trigger.

They’re never going to share the same methods, but there is genuine respect between them.

THE REST OF THE WORLD

Black Widow feels like somebody who has an established past with Spider-Man. She doesn’t treat him like a kid who wandered into an Avengers meeting. She treats him like Spider-Man.

Mark Ruffalo gets plenty to do as both Bruce Banner and the Hulk.

Ruffalo also graduated from high school in Virginia Beach, so I’ve always had a little extra interest in following his career.

The interactions between Banner and Peter are some of the highlights of the movie. Holland and Ruffalo work extremely well together, and their scenes have exactly the kind of intelligence, warmth and awkward humor you’d expect.

Then Hulk gets some great smash time.

The movie never explains why Smart Hulk is no longer around, and I’m perfectly fine with that for now. I can’t wait to find out what happened.

Tramell Tillman was also one of my favorite surprises. He’s essentially playing the Damage Control version of Mr. Milchick from Severance, and I mean that as a compliment.

Michael Mando doesn’t get much more screen time as Scorpion than he had in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but he finally looks and feels like Scorpion.

Sadie Sink is excellent, and that’s about as much as I’m willing to say about her character. The mystery surrounding her absolutely works, and I’m not going to be the asshole who ruins it for anyone else.

FUNNY, EXCITING AND COMPLETELY SPIDER-MAN

The humor is pretty much spot-on throughout the movie. I laughed out loud more times than I expected, but the jokes never erase the weight Peter is carrying.

Peter’s humor feels like Peter’s humor. He jokes because that’s how Spider-Man handles fear, pressure and people trying to kill him.

I also got goosebumps several times. The final line gave me the biggest case of them, but I’m not repeating it here.

MARVEL CAUGHT LIGHTNING

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now my second-favorite live-action Spider-Man movie.

It sits behind Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, which is going to be incredibly difficult for any movie to beat—even another movie made by Raimi himself.

But Brand New Day may be the most comic-book Spider-Man movie we’ve ever gotten.

He belongs in New York. He belongs beside these other characters. Most importantly, he finally belongs at the center of his own movie.

Marvel caught lightning with this one. The direction, the action, the humor, the relationships and Holland’s performance all came together to create the Spider-Man I’ve wanted to see since I was running around with a clothes basket over my head.

Marvel needs to figure out how to trap that lightning again as soon as possible.

Just don’t overthink why it worked.