Love it or hate it, the MCU isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Me, being a big time hero geek, I’m quite happy about it. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the 38th movie in the ongoing juggernaut, and puts Spider-Man in rare company. Only Thor has had four movies (I don’t really count the fourth Captain America movie since they changed the main character).
The movie is creative right from the opening Marvel montage. They’ve changed it many times over the years, and this one shows scenes from the past Spider-Man movies, with Peter slowly fading away from the effects of Dr. Strange’s spell. They also let us know exactly how long it’s been since No Way Home (and it was longer than I expected) and give is a montage of Spidey fighting assorted foes from the comics, even recreating a few classic covers. I personally was amused at the brief scene with Tombstone, who was played by Marvin Jones. Jones played Tobias Whale over several seasons on the tv show Black Lightning, so now he’s a different albino villain for the other company.
The interesting new status quo for our hero says a lot about where he is. Spider-Man is the hero of the city, getting pubic awards, working closely with the cops (instead of being hunted by them), and has a lot of fans. There’s at least one entertaining moment when a Spidey-fan is a bit too helpful during a fight. Peter, on the other hand, lives alone, and seems to have no real life at all outside the mask. The closest he has to a friend appears to be a cop he works closely with, who is a deep cut, a supporting character from the comics from decades ago. One of my few problems with the movie is we never do find out what Peter is doing for money. He has an apartment, he eats, gets coffee (a lot of coffee), but there’s not so much as a reference to whatever he’s doing to pay for it all. I’ve heard a lot of theories, some good, some not, but it’d be nice to have at least a passing reference to his employment.
The main plot is a mysterious force is stalking the city, apparently setting its sights on Damage Control. Damage Control is the government agency that deals with supers, although they haven’t exactly been the good guys in Homecoming, Ms. Marvel, or Wonder Man. They seem to have changed their operations from what we see early on. It’s a very different kind of foe for Spider-Man to deal with. Some of his villains become part of the struggle, but he also turns to some other allies, including the Punisher (continuing to be played masterfully by Jon Bernthal), and at one point, a surprising source of information in a really entertainingly awkward scene.
Subplots include Peter’s devastating loneliness, MJ and Ned moving on with their lives, and Peter going through some changes. The last, as you can most likely tell from the trailers, has Peter turning for help to Dr. Bruce Banner, now a professor at ESU. Empire State University has long been a part of Marvel’s version of New York, and it’s nice to see it acknowledged.
There are many surprises as the plot unfolds, some things that appear to be mistakes that were actually clues as to what’s going on, and some great character interactions. Some of the things I’d heard as rumors proved to be true, and some not. Just like some Batman movies seem to forget he’s a world class detective, some versions of Spider-Man seem to skip over his being a brilliant scientist. This one does not, and it’s great to see. The end has an ongoing series of surprises, new close friendships, and possible hints of things to come. The movie ends with the promising onscreen text: “Spider-Man will return.”
What I Liked: Almost everything. Tom Holland’s Peter and Spider-Man are both wonderfully well performed. One amusing thing that I have no idea if it was deliberate or not; there were several times when it seemed like Spider-Man has a much more pronounced New York accent than Peter did. I liked Spider-Man’s ally in the police force, and enjoyed their relationship. The assorted minor villain cameos, and the cover recreations, were great. They were used in very different ways, but the Punisher and the Hulk were used very well. MJ, as usual, was wonderfully portrayed by Zendaya. The story of the villain was interesting to watch unfold, and I like how they handled a lot of it. Spider-Man’s visit to his special information source was a lot of fun to watch.
What I Didn’t: Very little. As I mentioned above, I would have liked at least some kind of explanation about what Peter’s doing for money. His classic Daily Bugle career is never referenced, and everything else I’ve heard has been some version of fan theory. The villain’s motivation made sense, but there was another way to go with it I think would have served the character, and set up for the future, better. I wish some of the rumors I’d heard about who was in it had panned out.
I enjoyed this movie so very much, and I’ll give it a rare 5 out of 5. Judging by the box office that has been reported so far, the problem has never been “superhero fatigue.” It’s been a desire for a better story. This did that.
Interesting trivia: One thing I learned after I saw the movie: there was a scene filmed with Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple, who was a huge part of the Netflix Defenders various shows. Evidently, it was sadly cut for time. I hope I get to see it at some point.
