One, Two, Punch 💥

There have been 11 Spider-Man films released in my lifetime. I’ve enjoyed them all, and I’m not unique in having done so. But there’s something about Spider-Man: Brand New Day that worked for me on a level that only Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has also managed: it makes the stakes feel deeply internal and emotional rather than relational. 

Of course, this fragmented franchise has always had personal stakes. Whether it’s Uncle Ben or MJ, one of the major throughlines of this character is his love for the people in his life, and his willingness to put himself in danger to prioritize their safety. But here — as in Across the Spider-Verse — we find a Spider-Man who is… lonely. Miles and Peter both feel cut off from the community they’ve built, yearn for people who used to be in their lives, and find ways to remain as close by to them as they can manage. 

At the end of the last Spider-Man film, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) asked Dr. Strange to make everyone forget his existence in order to forestall yet another world-ending event. Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) is now dead. Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ (Zendaya) have gone off to MIT together. And he is now New York’s full-time friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He spends his days fighting the (suddenly very numerous?) villains-of-the-week who plague the city, and keeps close watch on his friends through social media, during the four years that originally would have made up his own college experience. But that singular focus has left him with strange new developing powers, just as a faceless threat has invaded the city. 

Enough time has passed that I think it’s fine to reveal that the film’s marquee villain is none other than Jean Grey, played by Sadie Sink. Her sister, who shares her powers, has been kidnapped by the Department of Damage Control for experimentation, and she’s on a mission to find and free her. Jean is now entirely on her own, because her mother had already abandoned both her daughters. She’s young and scared and lonely. She’s also extremely powerful. She’s a teenager on her own, and precisely where Peter was at the end of the last film. It was moving to see director Destin Daniel Cretton give us a story that merged their struggles in such a revealing and thematically rich way. 

What’s most noticeable about this film is how much it has matured. It is in many ways a franchise reset. You believe Peter, MJ and Ned as characters who’ve lived more life, experienced new things, and have just happened to find themselves in yet another extraordinary situation. Holland, Zendaya and Batalon’s performances are naturalistic and easy. It’s a reminder that they’ve been playing these characters for nearly a decade. Their chemistry together — in all three configurations — is sweet, loving and warm. And despite Peter’s pining for MJ and her relative narrative prominence, the script makes sure to give Ned interactions with him that feel equally sincere and meaningful. 

The three leads have noticeably grown in their talents. Holland was always great in the role, but originally that was because he read so believably as a hard-headed teenager. Here he’s grown as a man alongside Peter, and returns to the franchise with the maturity one would hope for and expect from a young man standing firmly in adulthood. Peter is still young, but Holland brings a settled sort of gravitas that reveals just how well he knows this character.

And while I agree that Zendaya is — as of now — more famous than her filmography, I also think that her work this year alone has made it incredibly clear how much she’s leveled up as an actress. Euphoria was her training ground, but now she’s really ready to play. One scene in particular (if you’ve seen the film you’ll know which, but it’s one of the few things one shouldn’t have spoiled) lets her demonstrate her ironclad control of her face as an instrument. She manages an emotional turn I would not have been confident she could achieve even just a year ago. Her chemistry with Holland is predictably excellent, and it makes for some truly moving scenes between them.

And despite his reduced screentime, Batalon also gets chances to stretch his wings. His easy rapport with Spider-Man reminds you that he and Peter were best friends long before MJ ever entered the picture. Peter’s affection for the friend he cannot claim is crystal clear, and his longing is every bit as emotionally resonant as it is for the girl he loves. Ned’s arc may be smaller, but it’s just as effective. It’s precisely what makes their reconnection at the end of the film pack such a punch.

Rounding out the cast, Sadie Sink also gives a lovely performance, and I maybe should not have underestimated her. I wouldn’t nominate her for any awards necessarily, but I am eager to see where her career goes. Sink is perhaps currently in the trap Zendaya fell into, still playing teenagers as an adult. But the time she spent on Stranger Things clearly prepared her for heavier material. The encounter she has late in the film shows us a grieving, broken girl who seeks revenge, but desperately needs love and safety instead. That she found it where she did is a testament to how closely her struggle mirrors Peter’s own.

Though I famously detest when people of colour are cast as law enforcement, I’ve made peace with Tillman’s role as head of the DODC William Metzger, if only because his performance was worth the price of admission. His character’s turn is easily predicted, but Tillman moderates it just enough that you’re left doubting your instincts right up until your suspicions are confirmed. Liza Colón-Zayas presents the same problem as NYPD Detective Jean DeWolff. But there too her job gives her the proximity to Spider-Man she needs to extend the motherly concern Peter so badly needs. It’s an amusing paradox that Spider-Man’s existence requires the police to be both largely benevolent and utterly useless. His relationship with and to them is possibly the only major stain on the character’s legacy on film.

Florence Pugh also returns as Yelena, the new Black Widow. And after her experiences with depression and grief in Thunderbolts, you’re left feeling warmed that she’s managed to build a better life for herself, free from the oppression and heartbreak of her youth. Her relationship to Peter is that of an amused but close-in-age aunt. She alternates between mischievously teasing him and helping him as the situation demands. The dynamic really works. 

And that’s to say nothing of Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle. I’ve never been a fan of the excessively violent Punisher character. His appropriation by real-world cops doesn’t help the situation. But Spider-Man: Brand New Day makes him Peter’s reluctant accomplice. They butt heads constantly even as their goals align. But their dynamic is one of bickering siblings, and they’re mostly pretty funny together as they grow in each other’s esteem. Castle’s inclusion folds in yet another solitary character desperate for connection — even if he’d rather die than admit it. As Peter’s ally he’s formidable, and this is the only time I’ve ever been eager for more of him.

I haven’t even gotten to the action set-pieces, but they are uniformly fantastic, and well-worth a watch even if you forgo the rest of the film. The final major sequence is honestly just pretty fucking cool. There are so many scenes I can’t wait to rewatch. The Hulk’s minor-ish cameo is worth it, but unfortunately, it pulls pretty hard on the heartstrings. Bruce Banner is maybe the only allied character who makes it out of the movie worse than when he started.

Though the plot is arguably overstuffed, it still manages to stick the landing in a way that impressed me. Every aspect of Peter Parker’s world has grown up — from the story to the themes to the acting. It’s stylish, visually interesting and full of easter eggs for long-time fans of the character that never feel intrusive or underbaked. Cretton has managed to graduate a teen franchise into something more adult, and more emotionally complex. The film brings together numerous characters dealing with grief, loss and loneliness, and lets them help each other climb out of it. 

So it doesn’t surprise me that the film has been so well-received and broken so many box office records. It’s genuinely excellent, and far and away the best film in the Marvel franchise — certainly of the multiverse saga. It gives me some hope that the upcoming Avengers film isn’t quite as bad as the marketing makes it look.