Review — ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Is Surprisingly Emotional And Action Packed

And so, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is finally here and the mystery of Sadie Sink‘s character has been resolved. Although, that secret will remain in tact for a little while longer as the internet forms its discourse around the revelation.

In the interim, though, there’s plenty to discuss without going deep into spoiler country. For one thing, Brand New Day is a surprising emotional roller coaster anchored by Tom Holland, who finally gets the chance to play the MCU Peter Parker as down-on-his-luck and incredibly depressed. Of course, like many people in real life, he uses a mask to hide the depth of his problems. Ironically, that mask is also New York’s favorite hero: Spider-Man. Set four years after Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter has essentially thrown his own identity in a garbage can to focus on being the friendly neighborhood webslinger. He has a contact in the police department (a delightful Liza Colón-Zayas) and, seemingly, a few inroads with the rest of the superhero community.

But in the handful of moments he allows his mask to truly be off, Peter watches Ned’s (Jacob Batalon) social media videos of his time at MIT with MJ (Zendaya) ever looking cross at his antics. The two still lack their memories of Peter.

After a dizzying but thrilling montage of those four years, the action picks up as a mysterious body-swapping villain targets the Department of Damage Control for unknown reasons. Their power allows them to use innocent bystanders and super-powered folks alike. Only Spidey seems immune. Meanwhile, Peter learns Ned and MJ are back in town and the stress of that revelation kick-starts a seemingly-long delayed change in his radioactive arachnid DNA.

Remarkably, director Daniel Destin Cretton keeps all of these plates spinning with well-made action scenes and a pop sensibility that places Holland’s Spider-Man closer to the world Sam Raimi envisioned in his 2000s Spider-Man film series than ever before. The director also makes special appearances by the Hand, a few infamous foes of Spider-Man, and one or two other guest characters all feel natural and lived-in. The overall effect is the most comic-book feeling Spidey-flick since Spider-Man 2. But beyond that is the emotional content of the film, which gets the center stage and impacts nearly every fight or set-piece Cretton presents throughout the runtime.

Since we’re still in the spoiler zone, we’ll highlight one of the most charming, surprising, and easy-to-talk-about aspects of Peter’s emotional journey: his relationship to Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal). Uniting Spider-Man and the Punisher on screen has been a long time coming. Their team-ups in the comics are … special. And the initial sequence with them both honors that, but the two experience more peaks and valleys as people than you might expect. Additionally, Bernthal is at his best here, toning down the more violent aspects of Frank while also amping him up to Cretton’s more heightened pitch and finding some new pathos for the character.

Honestly, Frank’s appearance here is the most this reviewer has ever cared about his emotional state.

But Frank isn’t the only character to benefit from this renewed sense of character interiority mattering to the plot. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) repeats a line that has the potential to be devastating depending on how much you’ve become invested in the MCU Hulk. Colón-Zayas’s Detective Jean DeWolff, while only having a few moments of screentime, gets the opportunity to build a character and reveal her genuine care for Spidey even if he won’t offer much about himself.

Ironically, MJ and Ned do not receive a lot of this character integration as they still directly relate to Peter’s plot dilemma and, we suspect, they are also stuck emotionally because of the spell cast in No Way Home. Nevertheless, both actors continue to play the roles wonderfully and they continue to shine when paired up with Holland. It will be hard to embrace an eventual fourth Spider-Man reboot where these supporting players are replaced with more traditional depictions of his closest friends. But we also accept that’s our particular bias.

Sink, meanwhile, also gets to be more of a character than you might expect from the way her identity has been shrouded. Without getting into specifics, there is something tragic to her. The actor gets the most out of the role and brings exactly what is required. Although, to elaborate more would give away the big secret of the film.

That said, we’re ultimately unsure if the secret was worth keeping.

Nevertheless, the character is a welcome addition and another element Cretton keeps alive while serving all of the other characters and the main plot. It all leads to the most satisfying Marvel film in some time. And although most of them are fun and thrilling roller coasts on first watch, this may be one where the emotions and characters receive additional depth from a second viewing.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in theaters now.