'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' Review
- Connor Petrey
- 56 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Release Date: 07/31/26 [Cinemas]
Genre: Action. Adventure. Fantasy. SciFi.
MPAA: Rated PG13.
Distributor: Columbia Pictures.
The Verdict: A Must-See
It’s difficult to believe that we are seven films deep into Tom Holland’s tenure, with now four of those being solo outings. The original trilogy of standalone films was helmed by director Jon Watts, and while those have a mixed reception among fans, I always enjoyed the coming-of-age vibes he brought to the first three. Now onto the fourth, Spider-Man has a new filmmaker calling all the shots, and that’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Destin Daniel Cretton. His takeover had a more neon and saturated vibe than the previous takes, making it almost reminiscent of the Garfield days, with first-person perspectives and up-close-and-personal web-swinging across the skyline.
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Continuing the over two-hour runtime of these films, writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers return and fill this to the brim with what Spider-Man (and Marvel) fans have been longing to see. What exactly? A return to the old-fashioned Hulk, an X-Men tease, a resolution to the memory wipe from No Way Home, and The Punisher making his big-screen debut in the MCU. It’s a lot crammed into the runtime; I’m not going to lie, it can be daunting. However, while occasionally swinging off course, the creative team always finds their way back.
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Assisted by the incredible talent on screen - notably the man of the hour, Tom Holland as Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man. Holland remains one of the best representations of both sides of the role we’re probably ever going to get, and it’s almost involuntary to smile continuously. Not to say that the film doesn’t have its emotional webs, because the unease Peter has with taking off his mask the entire film or revealing his past to his old friends brings a genuine heart-wrenching aspect to the character as we see him fighting with his inner dilemmas.
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Zendaya and Jacob Batalon are truly remarkable as best friends MJ and Ned, who, in this context, make Peter Parker feel as though, in the original trilogy, he was the third wheel. It takes a while to welcome them into the film, but once they do, you can instantly understand what Peter is dealing with.
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Not just mentally and morally, but also with his literal internal issues as his genes begin to mutate and mature, making Spider-Man more arachnid than man and fighting the urges of this beast wanting to come out (ala the Hulk) all while attempting to defeat a mysterious force that has taken over the city (to a limited capacity).
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Jon Bernthal returns as Frank Castle, while also making his debut and this time in a PG13 context. They do neutralize a bit of his violent ways and his foul mouth, even to the point of making a joke of it. Fans wanting him to bring the mayhem may be disappointed here, but his personality remains very much intact.
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I may be biased (he is my favorite hero after all), but there has never been a big-screen Spider-Man that disappoints. While everyone has their favorite title and man behind the mask, it comes with great enthusiasm and encouragement to allow for a refresher course on the last few of the Holland era. Not as a necessity, but as an enhancement, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is yet another grand Spider-Man adventure, a rare title in the MCU that doesn’t assign homework to enjoy some good old-fashioned crime-fighting thoroughly.