Weird to think that Tom Holland has been Spider-Man for a decade. Across six appearances he has been recruited, loved, lost, showered with Stark tech, been to space, blipped, had his identity revealed, worked with spells and the multiverse, and generally been put through the ringer.
That last bit is typical Peter Parker. He rarely catches a break. But something that the MCU Spider-Man hasn’t had is a lonely existence. There’s been family, friends, and fellow heroes.
In his seventh outing, we finally see classic Parker. On his own, trying his best, and juggling things poorly. Tom Holland has never been bad, far from it, but here he’s at his best. More muscle and more chops.
Some of that is due to a much more adult script, nicely matching his age and experience. Alongside that we have multiple real locations, and thanks to TASM2 a suit with wrinkles! Then there’s the choreography of both the web-swinging and the fighting. As a fan of the Insomniac games, seeing specific moves and attacks from them in the MCU is very cool.
Brand New Day very much looks forward when it comes to how it fits into the MCU. One viewing does leave me wondering if the second half could have been paced better. It has a lot to do as it juggles several characters.
After helping one-another audition for their MCU roles, Holland and Bernthal are finally together. It’s great to see Spider-Man alongside another “street level” character, and their chemistry is unmistakable. We might not find out what happened in Staten Island, but the mixture of sibling bickering and father/son age-gap makes for some great interactions.
There’s a lot to like about Brand New Day, and I’ve purposely not talked about so much. Spoilers for these kind of films aren’t cool at the best of times, and this benefits from surprise. With the sheer number of rumours and possibilities these films have now, it’s hard to meet expectations. But so far at least, Brand New Day is a strong MCU entry.
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