Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review – A Perfectly Enjoyable Web-Slinging Adventure

Please note: This review contains major spoilers for the film, including story details, character moments, and plot developments. If you haven’t watched the movie yet, we recommend bookmarking this review and coming back afterwards.

Introduction

Spider-Man: Brand New Day was always going to have an incredibly difficult task following the global success of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Set some time after the events of that film, Peter Parker finds himself completely alone, focusing on protecting New York while keeping his distance from MJ and Ned after making the heartbreaking decision to let them live their lives without him.

I had extremely high expectations going into this film. I even wrote about how I was initially more excited for Brand New Day than Avengers: Doomsday. If you’re interested, you can read more about that here.

Unfortunately, those expectations weren’t quite met. I didn’t leave the cinema feeling disappointed, but I also didn’t walk away blown away. My immediate reaction was simply, “That was alright… a perfectly acceptable Spider-Man film.” It certainly isn’t the best Spider-Man movie we’ve ever had, but it’s far from the worst. Instead, it feels like a solid foundation for whatever comes next.

Story & Characters

The film wasn’t boring at all. The pacing felt well balanced throughout, and at no point did I feel like the movie dragged. Everything flowed naturally from one scene to the next. However, where Brand New Day falls a little short for me is in its overall direction. Coming off the back of one of the biggest superhero films ever made in No Way Home, this was always going to have an impossible task. Even so, I expected a little more from the story than what we ultimately received.

Before the film began, Tom Holland appeared in a pre-recorded message explaining that this would be an emotional story. Honestly, I didn’t feel that emotion for most of the runtime. There was one moment where I genuinely felt a lump in my throat when MJ appeared to remember Peter. Unfortunately, the reveal that it was actually Jean controlling her immediately took the emotion out of the scene. Instead of leaving me emotional, it left me frustrated.

The story leans heavily into Peter’s loneliness following the events of No Way Home. He has nobody left. Even DeWolff encourages him to take a step back and reset. Outside of her, the only real relationship Peter has is with Frank Castle. Neither of them knows the other’s true identity, yet they develop one of the strongest dynamics in the film.

Frank Castle is one of the standout characters throughout. This feels like a very different version of Frank to the one we’ve seen before. He’s still ruthless when he needs to be, but he also seems to have found a genuine purpose. That relationship with Spider-Man becomes one of the film’s biggest strengths. When Frank accidentally shoots Peter while trying to stop Jean, the look of genuine shock on his face says everything. We’ve rarely seen Frank react with that level of emotion, and it makes their partnership feel far stronger than I’d expected. I genuinely hope Marvel continues exploring that relationship in future projects.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for MJ and Ned. Both characters felt surprisingly underused throughout the film. Outside of Peter and Ned building LEGO together, along with Ned finally remembering Peter towards the end, neither character contributes a great deal to the overall story. Considering how important they were across the previous trilogy, I expected them to play a much bigger role here.

Jean Grey is another character I found myself conflicted about. There’s no denying how important she is to the future of the MCU, but throughout most of the film she never quite feels like the major threat she’s capable of becoming. Much of her power comes from controlling people from a distance and moving between different hosts, rather than unleashing the incredible telekinetic abilities comic fans will already associate with Jean. Considering how young this version of the character is, that decision makes sense, but it also means she never feels quite as intimidating as previous live-action versions. Thankfully, the final act begins to unlock that potential, and by the end of the movie I’m genuinely excited to see where Marvel takes her next, especially with what appears to be a clear path towards Xavier’s School.

Despite those criticisms, Brand New Day still delivers some fantastic moments. One of my favourite aspects is finally seeing Peter embrace just how powerful he really is. Previous Spider-Man films have often relied heavily on Stark technology, but here we see the arachnid side of Peter becoming increasingly important. Watching him fully embrace those abilities against the Hand makes for one of the film’s standout sequences. More importantly, it proves Spider-Man doesn’t need advanced technology to feel powerful.

Overall, Brand New Day reminds me a lot of Spider-Man: Homecoming. It feels like the opening chapter of a much larger story rather than a complete experience in its own right. If Tom Holland goes on to complete another trilogy, I wouldn’t be surprised if this eventually becomes the weakest of the three. That isn’t because it’s a bad film; it simply feels like Marvel is laying the foundations for something much bigger. That said, I still wish we’d seen Miles Morales properly introduced.

Action & Presentation

When we talk about action, it’s a Spider-Man film, so of course it’s going to be action-packed. The real question is whether that action is actually exciting and memorable. Honestly? It absolutely was. I’m about to discuss in my highlights the callbacks and inspiration to the Insomniac games, and they nailed it here. It wasn’t just the fancy takedowns either. Peter went toe to toe with Scorpion, and when the arachnid DNA took over, it made for one of the most brutal and exciting sequences in the entire movie.

I didn’t feel any repetition during the action sequences; they all felt natural and flowed well. Peter chasing Jean as she continuously jumped between different people around the city made for one of the film’s more unique action scenes. There were also the fights against the Hand, the tank driving through the city, and even the brief moment with Tombstone.

The action didn’t exist simply for spectacle. In fact, it’s one of the few Spider-Man films that hasn’t felt the need to do that. When you look at Tom Holland’s previous movies, many of the action scenes are flashy because Peter is relying heavily on Stark technology. Everything here, despite the fact that there is tech (albeit a little), shows that Peter can do it alone, but it also shows that he shouldn’t.

Then we come to the presentation; the CGI, visual effects, and overall look of the movie. Marvel hasn’t exactly had the best reputation in recent years after projects like Thor: Love and Thunder and She-Hulk, but thankfully there are no such issues here. Everything looked polished from start to finish.

We knew what the suit was going to look like beforehand, but seeing it properly in action was something else. It’s one of the nicest and sleekest Spider-Man suits we’ve seen to date. The same can be said for Scorpion. His design looked fantastic, even if I wish we’d seen a little more of him throughout the movie.

The soundtrack never particularly stood out to me, but that’s not necessarily a criticism. It quietly complements what’s happening on screen without ever becoming distracting. I can’t say I left the cinema remembering any particular piece of music, but it certainly never took anything away from the experience. Overall, I really don’t have any complaints when it comes to the presentation of the film.

Highlights

1. I actually loved how cocky Yelena has become since Thunderbolts*. She has her own office, which is just a pool, but acts as if she’s almost the leader of the Avengers. She’s hilarious as always. The dynamic between her and Peter was great, and I hope to see it again soon.

2. When all hope feels lost for Peter, feeling defeated by the hand. The arachnid DNA completely takes over, but this time, Peter has full control. It felt like one of the most epic scenes of the entire movie. He didn’t even hesitate once he realised he had control; he just took them out one by one with relative ease.

3. Although I wasn’t fond of how Ned and MJ were portrayed throughout the movie, I did love the scene where Peter and Ned build LEGO together. It felt normal, familiar, and reminded me why these characters worked so well together in the previous trilogy. Moments like this are exactly why I hoped their memories would’ve been restored much earlier.

4. One of the coolest aspects of the movie was the clear inspiration taken from the Insomniac Spider-Man games. Tom Holland mentioned in an interview that the games heavily influenced the film, and it really shows. Some of the finishing moves looked like they had been lifted straight out of the games, even without Tom confirming it.

Here is Tom discussing it with IGN:

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DbWoDJbCAUp

5. Finally, the ending. As Jean enters one of Peter’s memories with Aunt May, she finally comes to her senses, only for Frank to be waiting with a sniper rifle ready to take her out. He pulls the trigger, Peter’s spider-sense kicks in, and he takes the bullet for Jean instead. The look on Frank’s face is harrowing. It’s followed by one of the best Punisher moments we’ve had, with Peter waking up in hospital to find Frank sitting beside him. It felt like a genuinely beautiful moment between the two.

What Didn’t Work

1. One of the biggest missed opportunities in the movie was the Hulk. I think many of us expected Bruce to remember who Peter Parker was, especially considering how emotional that moment is in the comics. Instead, Hulk felt like a wasted character. Bruce offers very little beyond inspiring Peter’s inhibitor, and after that he simply fades into the background. If anything, it feels like Hulk’s time in the MCU may finally be coming to an end.

2. The MCU felt strangely absent here. There were no mentions of the wider universe; Iron Man, Daredevil, Fisk, or even Happy. I never walk into an MCU movie expecting cameo after cameo, and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the appearances we did get. However, the film felt disconnected enough that even a simple mention of those characters would’ve helped tie it back into the wider MCU. After everything Fisk put New York through, it felt surprising that Peter spent so much time protecting the city without anyone even acknowledging it.

3. I wanted some sort of restoration for Peter. The movie does an excellent job of making you feel sorry for him, but it gives him very little in return by the end. Even during Peter’s darkest moments, he’s usually had someone to lean on, whether that’s MJ, Aunt May, Miles, or someone else entirely. Here, he truly has nobody. Something does happen towards the end, with Ned seemingly remembering Peter, but it didn’t quite land for me. I wanted Peter to have those moments properly restored, similar to what we saw on the rooftop with MJ before it was revealed that Jean was controlling her.

Should You Watch It?

I think it’s worth a watch in the theatres. It’s nowhere near as good as No Way Home. I think if you can walk in not expecting a surprise at every turn, you’ll find the film enjoyable for the most part. If you’re fancying a cinema trip very soon, it’s definitely worthwhile picking up a ticket to go and see Spider-Man.