Spider-Man: Brand New Day wants to be a reset, and for the most part it succeeds. For the first time since Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man, New York actually feels like a character again.
The movie opens with a stylish montage set to TV on the Radio while iconic comic-book covers come to life onscreen, immediately establishing a sense of history and momentum. Director Destin Daniel Cretton clearly understands that Spider-Man works best when he's connected to a city rather than a universe, and nearly every frame benefits from that perspective.
Tom Holland's Peter Parker is essentially starting from scratch, navigating a strange new phase of his life while adapting to organic webbing and a set of powers that feel increasingly unpredictable. There's an appealing roughness to the character this time around, similar to the early growing pains that made Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne so compelling in The Batman.
Holland is also in incredible shape, and the added physicality helps sell the illusion of Spider-Man as a guy barely holding things together. Oddly enough, this is also one of the few times Holland occasionally feels like he's pushing too hard. The emotional beats generally work, but there are moments where the performance drifts into overacting, something rarely seen from him.
Fortunately, his chemistry with Zendaya remains effortless. Every interaction between them feels genuine, and the movie is at its strongest whenever it allows the two actors to simply share a scene together.
The supporting cast follows suit. Liza Colón-Zayas immediately feels right at home as Jean DeWolff, Tramell Tillman is predictably fantastic as Bill Metzger, and Sadie Sink delivers a performance that reminded me just how talented she actually is.
The film's body-hopping antagonist leads to one of its more interesting creative decisions, allowing a number of actors to embody the villain throughout the story. A few brief appearances stand out considerably, particularly Phoenix Di Sebastiani as a DODC escort guard and Niyi Akin as David. Neither receives much screen time, but both make enough of an impression to linger in your memory long after their scenes end.
The action is mostly excellent. A fight involving the Hand feels heavily inspired by Yuen Woo-ping's choreography and occasionally recalls Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, while several sequences make inventive use of Spider-Man's webbing in ways we've genuinely never seen on film before.
Not every experiment works, however. Some of the first-person web-swinging shots are so aggressive they become distracting, creating a disorienting sensation reminiscent of the hyperactive action photography found in The Hobbit films.
The biggest issue is one Marvel fans will recognize immediately: the movie simply can't stop introducing characters. Villains, cameos, guest appearances, references, and surprise reveals arrive at such a relentless pace that the narrative never has room to breathe.
It's fun at first, especially because the film keeps you wondering who's going to show up next, but eventually it starts feeling like Sony is more interested in advertising the Marvel universe than telling a Spider-Man story. Some of these appearances are exciting, while others feel like lower-tier substitutes that exist because more significant characters weren't available.
This frustration is especially noticeable because Brand New Day already has enough interesting ideas of its own. Scorpion finally gets the spotlight after years of waiting and looks every bit as intimidating as fans hoped.
Jon Bernthal's Punisher brings a welcome edge to the material and was effective enough that I left the theater wanting to finally sit down and watch his show. Even the central twist works reasonably well, despite a villain reveal that feels slightly undercooked.
In the end, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a good movie that keeps flirting with greatness without ever fully achieving it. The pacing is brisk, the runtime flies by, the action works, and Cretton delivers the most convincing version of New York this franchise has produced in decades.
Yet the film never feels complete. Too many questions remain unanswered, too many story threads feel suspended rather than resolved, and the lone post-credit scene only reinforces the sense that we've watched the first half of a larger story. As I left the theater, the overwhelming feeling wasn't excitement or closure. It was frustration. It's the sense that Spider-Man's brand new day has only just started, and this chapter ended before it was truly finished.
Jessie Hobson