Spider-Man: Brand New Day: The hero's triumphant return.

Riot’s Reviews: Spider-Man: Brand New Day

As I gather my thoughts for this review, I am experiencing a bit of a pounding headache. Is it dehydration from it being the Devil’s anus outside? Maybe. Is it the neck tension from simply being old and sleeping wrong? Most assuredly. But if I had to put my finger on an additional reason, it’s the whiplash I experienced this weekend having my expectations and “superhero fatigue” turned completely on its head by Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It’s a strange feeling being completely vindicated and completely proven wrong in my opinions simultaneously. 1) I was right about Marvel defeating DC in their revamp. 2) I was also right that people are not sick of superhero movies, they’re sick of s**tty stories. And finally 3) I went into this film genuinely thinking it wouldn’t move the needle, having given in to my own superhero fatigue and being just that depressed by how awful Supergirl really was. Either way, Spider-Man: Brand New Day was an inspiration to say the least, exemplifying how the blend of exceptional story-telling and properly cultivating the Hero’s Journey leads to box office big bucks.

I’m operating as best I can on memory here, apparently I was so enthralled I forgot to take better notes, but this film is now the crowning achievement in the live-action Spider-Man series. There’s a lot of supporting factors to why this is the case. BND (Brand New Day) continues on the trajectory that No Way Home set before it, establishing an emotional center for this iteration of Peter Parker (Tom Holland) that is both tragic and compelling. One of the mainstays of the Spider-Man/Peter Parker character, and why I think he’s one of the most relatable in comics, is that he is most often a lighthouse in a storm, by choice or by circumstance. This Spidey is as alone as he can possibly be (because no one knows who he is), but he works diligently and works overtime to re-establish and root himself in the role of hero and friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Peter Parker’s heroic life and personal life are almost always written as a deep struggle and it was a brilliant decision to go back to his roots in that sense.

The writers/creators of BND also made some key additions that paid off in a huge way. First, we have to talk about The Punisher (Jon Bernthal). While I once lamented that Disney+ needed to abandon their TV shows (I’m still 75/25 on this issue) one of their key areas of improvement has been the DareDevil and The Punisher shows. Bernthal has helped to make The Punisher completely his own, helping to add some much needed depth and emotional gravitas to the MCU. Bernthal and Holland, having worked together on multiple previous projects, have a friendship and chemistry that bleeds out of their performance in BND. The banter is perfect for their individual characters which elevates the story to a level I didn’t expect. The chemistry between the actors by no means ends there, especially for a group that has worked together for so long, and the real-life relationship between Holland and Zendaya (MJ) certainly doesn’t hurt things. Every actor performs as if they fully understand the assignment and you’re extremely hard pressed to find any moment where the dialogue doesn’t feel completely genuine.

BND does an amazing job leaning into the humor, especially in the moments between Spidey and The Punisher, but also with his core friend group (Jacob Batalon) and a surprise addition of Yelena (Florence Pugh). But the film leaves plenty of room for the emotional struggles/payoffs, so much to the point that my favorite scene of the whole thing had nothing to do with the action sequences. I won’t spoil anything, but there’s a rooftop scene with Holland and Zendaya that drives the whole point of Peter’s struggles like a dagger into your heart. BND excels with its action sequences and really turns up the heat on its special effects, particularly any moment involved with Spidey’s swinging/travel around New York. It looks absolutely stunning and honestly begs the question of why other productions have so much trouble with things like flight animation (cough…DC…cough).

Now some of my returning readers are probably wondering, what did Riot think about the return of The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)? I’m of course going to be hard to please here, I wrote an entire review trashing what Marvel did with the character after all. But, they did the absolute best they could at this point. The Hulk’s appearance in BND proves a couple things: 1) they never should have moved away from Savage Hulk. 2) The less Ruffalo is involved the better. The plot of what Dr. Banner does in BND directly contradicts steps he took in the Avengers films, which irked me a bit. But, because of this minor retcon of sorts, they are able to establish a very important plot point to the MCU, namely mutation inhibitors. It will be interesting to see where this all gets taken in the future. Though I wouldn’t consider it the best action sequence of the film, the fight between Spidey, The Hulk, and The Punisher was exceptional and I simply wish there was more.

BND is a wonderful lesson in how proper storytelling really is the root of a good story and makes it so that my negatives are nitpicky at best. I was slightly miffed about the story not having a true villain. But when the source of your conflict is as good as she was, what else can you really say? The film did feel a little too long and I’m not entirely sure why, outside of the pacing of some of the more emotional scenes. But they were often crucial to how the story develops, I would find it an impossible choice what to cut (maybe the stuff with Yelena, regardless of how funny I found it). Could they have tightened them up for the sake of giving us more action? Like extending The Hulk’s battle scene? I’m sure there is a way, but I would find it a difficult decision. The plot suffers a little in its predictability, but I still think it was compelling enough that you can forgive a bit of that.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day was a comic lover’s dream. If nothing else, the opening sequence spent re-creating classic Spider-Man comic book covers would have blown my mind on its own. BND was the first title in a while that felt like it was narratively fitting into the rest of the MCU and giving it a direction to go, which gives me more hope for Avengers: Doomsday. It embraced the Hero’s Journey and was backed by performances that made the super hero feel human again. It is without a doubt in my mind the best live-action Spidey yet and gun to my head, might be in the "best Marvel film thus far" argument, but that would require a much longer breakdown. It’s a film for the whole family and arguably cements Spider-Man’s legacy as the number one Marvel hero. Trust me when I say I don’t make those statements lightly, but I have to call them as I see them.

Riot’s Rating: 9.7: I deducted some points for the predictability of the plot and the minor pacing issues. Otherwise, this is a summer blockbuster that the whole family simply cannot miss.