Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Written by Cameron Geiser
Well folks, it is indeed a Brand New Day. With Destin Daniel Cretton at the helm after three Jon Watts directed flicks with Tom Holland as the titular wall crawler it’s the first time in about a decade that Spider-Man has had a new filmmaker behind the camera. It’s immediately apparent too in the best of ways. Not knocking the Home trilogy as it’s commonly referred to, but here we finally have a fully adult Spider-Man, emphasis on Man. Peter Parker’s life has always been one of loss, challenging new threats, and heart- and now we have a film that reflects the character as we’ve known him in the pages of Marvel’s comics.
What I mean to say is that I’ve never watched a comic-book film that more accurately recreates the experience of reading comics than this one. What I can say right away is that thank the Gods that Sony decided against making this film another cosmic level threat- they had been considering that according to reporting- this smaller scale street level story with a massive focus on character development was the exact right move for the character. After the events of No Way Home, Peter Parker finds himself alone, focusing solely on being Spider-Man above all else. Which creates a deliciously painful and emotional knife twist for the character’s closest friends to be essentially strangers to him. Sad day for Parker, but great day for us as putting Peter under intense stress and isolating him makes for the best Spidey stories.
While keeping the spoilers to a minimum, this story is about Spider-Man dealing with the loss of his social life, the evolution of his arachnid DNA, and a mysterious new threat unlike anything he’s faced before. Aside from the actual plot this film is shot and directed wildly differently than the Home Trilogy. Web-slinging through Manhattan has never felt this visceral, unwieldy, or intimate before now. Cretton has experience crafting compelling fight scenes like those seen in Shang-Chi, but the creativity on display for how Spider-Man moves, dodges, and fights in Brand New Day left me breathless on several occasions. Also, let me just take a beat to say that this Spider-Man suit is the best in live action so far. It’s clearly fabric, has vibrant colors that pop off the screen, and it retains the Steve Ditko eyes to craft a suit that is authentically old-school with elements of the other two Spider-Men’s suits from No Way Home incorporated in slight but effective fashion.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day focuses on the adjustments of the title character’s life after the events of the previous film; both civilian Peter Parker and his superhero alter ego are greatly affected.
I’ll have to watch it again before I crown it my favorite of the bunch, but I have an inkling that No Way Home may still edge out the competition if ever so slightly. No Way Home was an achievement in modern mythmaking for Superheroes and honoring all that came before, but Brand New Day does everything right to downsize the Web-Head’s role from Avenger to Street level hero, and that alone is worth celebrating. It’s the breath of fresh air that the character, his own franchise, and the MCU as a whole needed. Especially right before the next Avenger film that threatens to make Thanos’ snap in Infinity War seem trite in comparison. Spider-Man Brand New Day is in theatres now, and it’s worth every cent, and every minute of your time.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.