Two years after leaving his friends behind, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is singularly focused on life as Spider-Man.
As he tackles a unique new foe, Peter is forced to confront his lingering feelings for MJ (Zendaya).
I have not watched a Spider-Man movie since I reviewed Across the Spider-Verse three years ago.
I was not the biggest fan of the last three Tom Holland-led Spider-Man movies.
I was a big Spider-Man fan as a kid, mostly through random issues, the nineties cartoon and the associated toyline (from memory, I had a Dr Octopus figure).
I was really into animals as a kid, so Spider-Man and his rogues gallery captured my imagination.
The first extended run of Spider-Man I read was the first several issues of Ultimate Spider-Man (I think I started to fall off when they introduced Venom).
Ironically, when the webhead made it to the big screen, I was not swept up.
I did not even hate the Raimi trilogy - for some reason, they just washed over me.
On the re-watch before No Way Home came out, I could appreciate them more - I do not think Raimi will ever quite be to my taste, but the films are far more thought thorough and singular than I remembered.
They highlighted the flaws of the other films, including the Holland pictures.
Regarding the latter, I was frustrated that while I enjoyed the chemistry between the actors, the Marvel-led franchise refuses to have Peter deal with any tough life choices.
The end of No Way Home felt like the filmmakers finally acknowledging this, by having Peter lose all the Stark-based tech, and having to deal with personal tragedy.
I do not think characters need to experience death in order to experience growth. My hope was that when Peter returned, it would be as a regular Joe - someone who has to balance superheroics with more familiar everyday problems: finding work, making rent, dating and friends in a new place.
Some of this has already been mined in the Raimi films, but that was twenty years ago: what does life look like for Peter Parker in the 2020s?
Brand New Day picks up following the fallout of the last film, with Peter separated from his friends and holed up on his own.
The strongest aspect of the film is this emotional through line.
Our hero continues to follow his friend’s lives on social media, while his own life outside the mask is non-existent.
He is caught in arrested development.
It is almost a metaphor for the MCU, which is depressing - as the film ultimately runs away from having Peter make a really difficult choice.
Watching the film, it feels like it is building towards Peter moving on.
Rian Johnson was quoted calling drama having characters make the most difficult choices, and this film bottles it.
It clearly paid off as this film was a huge hit, but it is ultimately why I question whether Holland’s tenure will endure. I was struggling to remember the film the following day.
It is frustrating because Peter’s antagonist is someone who is stuck with making tough choices.
If Peter had chosen to leave his old life behind, then he would have been a better emotional space to confront this individual.
The supporting cast are fun (particularly Jon Bernthal as the Punisher), and some of the set-pieces feel a little more unique, but fundamentally MCU’s Spider-Man is still in training wheels.
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