With: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, Mark Ruffalo, Liza Colón-Zayas, Marvin Jones III, Florence Pugh
Written by: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers
Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of action/violence and some language
After the amazing Spider-Man: No Way Home, this fourth movie in the MCU Spider-Man franchise has some big shoes to fill, but it sidesteps that multiverse spectacle, musing instead on trauma and on connection.
Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has been erased from everyone's memory. He devotes himself full-time to being Spider-Man and living an anonymous life. When M.J. (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) arrive back in New York after attending M.I.T., Peter can't help but follow Ned to a party, where he sees M.J. kissing another man.
Meanwhile, the city is under attack by a mysterious entity that has the ability to jump from one body to another, briefly taking over their consciousness. The entity seems to be targeting the Department of Damage Control, as if looking for something.
But when the entity figures out who Spider-Man really is, Peter realizes M.J. is in trouble, and asks for help from an unlikely ally, Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher (Jon Bernthal). Meanwhile, something has been going haywire with Peter's spider DNA, causing him to lose control of his powers and himself.
With Spider-Man: Brand New Day, director Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) takes over for Jon Watts on the series; this movie even ditches "home" from the title, as Peter no longer has any home. There are no "villains" here, not technically. They are all just wounded souls trying to do the best they can, dealing with loss and pain, including our hero. He refuses to show his face or to confide in anyone, determined to carry his burden all alone. His suit is now more fabric than armor, more vulnerable.
His unexpected budding friendship with Frank is a delight, both lonely souls whose approaches to crime fighting are, to say the least, polar opposite. Their bickering is the stuff of screwball comedy. Peter's interactions with the forgetful M.J. and Ned are likewise emotionally mature.
Of course, this is a Marvel movie, and there are action scenes aplenty, each with its own generous selection of "oohs" and "aahs" and "WOWs." Spidey swings wildly over the city, trying to control his new organic webs, using them as fulcrums to simultaneously subdue a foe and swing around to catch another.
Certainly there are a few tiny quibbles here and there (first and foremost: how does Peter earn any money?). Yet even with a massive 145-minute running time (the second longest of any Spidey movie), the pacing of Spider-Man: Brand New Day feels assured and balanced, excitement nicely intertwined with the feels, as if bundled up in a beautiful web.
