Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review (Spoilers)

This review will contain some spoilers.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is finally here, and I’ll be honest… I had my doubts going into this considering how big they went with No Way Home. My main concern was that they wouldn’t be able to bring anything overly new to the table… but boy was I wrong.

Everything about this new instalment is exactly what was needed for Tom Holland’s iteration of Marvel’s iconic web-slinging hero to stay fresh and interesting.

The street-level gritty fighting style felt like it was plucked straight from Insomniac’s Spidey games, the inclusion of Jon Bernthal’s Punisher is executed perfectly, and most importantly Peter Parker’s journey locks you in from beginning to end.

It’s fair to say this movie has a fair few nods to past live-action Spider-Man adaptations, not only in the suit design, but also with Peter’s struggles between his personal life and full-time superhero gig.

This is the first time that Holland has truly been able to truly shine in the role that is Peter Parker, after years of killing it as Spider-Man, since nobody can remember who he is. Everything feels fresh and new again, despite a full decade of character development.

It’s established pretty early on that Sadie Sink’s character is up to something, but it’s introduced as a mystery leaving Spidey having to investigate while also having to deal with his own struggles and newly introduced mutation.

Every scene leading up to the big reveal feels – again – like something plucked straight out of an Insomniac Spider-Man game in the best way possible. Spidey spends a fair portion of the movie gathering information and piecing together all the pieces, which makes for a very interesting watch alone.

On top of all that, there is the whole situation with Zendaya’s MJ and Jacob Batalon’s Ned – Peter’s former girlfriend and best friend who have zero memory of him… how this is tackled was beyond my expectations.

Then there’s Peter’s mutation storyline, something I didn’t see coming as a permanent change for his character. His body goes though changes that affects him both mentally and physically, which is also used in a symbolic way.

However, the physical aspects of these changes completely changes his fighting technique in battle, possibly giving us the coolest live-action use of his webbing to date.

Bernthal’s Punisher stole the movie for me. He fits in so well, and despite it being a family friendly setting, it felt no different to seeing him in your more mature Marvel projects. In fact, this may be the best use of Bernthal’s Punisher in years.

Sink is introduced as one of the most iconic X-Men characters of all time: Jean Grey. The rumors were true, and this role is no easy task with former stars Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner having taken on the role in the Fox era of the franchise.

I can gladly say she did not disappoint, not in the slightest. If anything, her performance mixed with the writing should be the blueprint for the upcoming X-Men reboot. The entire final act is essentially used to introduce us to the new Jean, who is also going through something that Peter can loosely relate to.

Despite Brand New Day being used to set up the return of various characters, it still felt very much like a standalone story with a solid beginning, middle and end. Highly recommend.