Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a very different Spider-Man film, and it’s the best argument in years that the MCU still knows what it’s doing. Director Destin Daniel Cretton takes a character who has spent four films being the plucky kid in the room and asks a harder question: what happens to that kid after the world forgets he exists?
The answer is a film about isolation, growing up, and the cost of being the only person who remembers your own life — wrapped around the single best action filmmaking this character has ever received on screen. We came out of the theatre buzzing. It is, by some distance, one of the strongest entries in the entire Spider-Man run.
The Cast
The Best Spider-Man Has Ever Looked in a Fight
Let’s start with the thing that had our whole row sitting forward. The action in Brand New Day is spectacular, and it’s spectacular in a very specific way: somebody on this production has clearly been playing the Insomniac Spider-Man games and taking notes.
The choreography borrows the language of those games directly — the wall-running, the mid-air web-yanks, the way he chains momentum from one surface to the next, the constant flipping and repositioning. Cretton shoots it with camera work that follows him upside-down through a fight instead of cutting away from it. When Spider-Man finally powers up, the sense of threat is enormous. This is a Spider-Man who is genuinely, visibly dangerous, and the film knows exactly how to sell that.
Crucially, the visual effects hold up throughout. There’s no shot here where the seams show — a low bar the MCU has tripped over repeatedly in recent years. The new suit is, frankly, immaculate.
A Spider-Man About Being Alone
Here’s what makes the film work beyond the spectacle. The premise — everyone Peter loves has forgotten he exists — could easily have been a plot device the film sprints past. Instead it’s the whole spine. Brand New Day is genuinely about isolation, about grief for a life you can’t get back, and about a young man being ground down by the sheer weight of doing the right thing alone for years.
The connective tissue between the action scenes is where Cretton earns his fee. These are quiet, well-acted scenes with real emotional gravity, and they never tip into melodrama. Holland is outstanding — there are moments here where the whole film rests on his face, and he carries every one of them. When the film lands its emotional beats, they genuinely hurt.
The MJ material deserves specific credit. The Peter/MJ relationship has never quite convinced across the previous films; the chemistry has always been more asserted than felt. Here it finally lands, precisely because the film makes it difficult. Peter’s need to protect her, his desperation to find something still there — it comes through, and the film is brave enough not to hand him an easy resolution.
One small mercy worth flagging: the film skips the tired “Peter Parker is broke” beat entirely. He is one of the smartest people alive with access to serious technology, and Brand New Day lets him be that. It’s a relief.
Punisher, and a Genuinely Great Odd Couple
Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle is one of the film’s real pleasures. He talks the way Punisher talks, and the film doesn’t sand him down for the rating — this is a big part of why Brand New Day reads as the most adult Spider-Man entry yet. The dynamic between the two is a proper odd-couple pairing: they butt heads, they argue methodology, and underneath it Castle clearly has a good heart and is genuinely trying to help.
Their scenes together are funny, tense, and among the best character work in the film. If this pairing comes back, we’re seated.
Where It Stumbles
Brand New Day is overstuffed, and it’s the film’s clearest flaw. There are a lot of villains here, and most of them get a montage appearance and a handful of seconds. Some are genuine deep cuts that comic readers will enjoy spotting, but “enjoy spotting” is about the extent of it — several are gone before they register as characters.
More frustratingly, the physical transformation at the film’s centre — the “surprising physical evolution” the marketing has been teasing — is underdeveloped. The film skims the surface of what should be a body-horror-adjacent nightmare for Peter, and then more or less sets it aside until it’s needed. It functions as a plot mechanism rather than the terrifying, isolating change it should be. Given a PG-13 rating there’s a ceiling on how far it could go, but the film doesn’t push anywhere near that ceiling. It needed more impact by the end.
There’s also some power-scaling inconsistency. Pre-transformation Peter takes losses he arguably shouldn’t, seemingly to make the eventual power-up land harder. It works dramatically. It’s still noticeable.
And at 2 hours 25 minutes, the film still doesn’t have time to button everything up. Several threads and organisations get introduced, get a partial resolution, and then get left for later. You can feel the sequel setup taking room away from the film in front of you.
Finally: there is a credits scene, and it is the weakest part of the film. Stay for it if you want the information, but adjust your expectations — it’s functional rather than exciting, and after everything preceding it, that’s a strange note to end on.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good | The Bad | The Ugly |
|---|---|---|
| The Best Spider-Man Action Ever FilmedChoreography lifted straight from the Insomniac games — wall-running, mid-air web-yanks, momentum chained across surfaces, shot with cameras that follow him rather than cut away. When he powers up, he is genuinely frightening. The Scorpion fight alone is worth the ticket. | Wildly OverstuffedA parade of villains who get a montage moment and vanish. Fun to spot, but several never become characters. There’s a real film competing for space with a lot of universe-building. | The Transformation Is UnderbakedThe film’s central physical change should be a body-horror nightmare and instead it’s a plot mechanism. It’s skimmed, set aside, and brought back when convenient. PG-13 caps how far it could go, but this doesn’t come close to that cap. |
| Holland’s Best Performance in the RoleFour films of build-up pay off here. The isolation, the grief, the exhaustion of doing this alone for years — Holland carries all of it, and there are scenes resting entirely on his face that absolutely land. He’s grown up completely. | Inconsistent Power ScalingPre-transformation Peter loses fights he probably shouldn’t, clearly to make the eventual power-up hit harder. It’s dramatically effective and still noticeable enough to pull you out. | The Credits Scene DisappointsAfter two and a half hours of confident filmmaking, the stinger is functional at best. It delivers information and little else. Stay for it, but temper expectations — it’s the flattest note in the film. |
| Bernthal, Ruffalo, Sink & a Real MJCastle is a highlight and the odd-couple dynamic is superb. Hulk is used better here than in years. Sadie Sink is a genuine surprise. And the Peter/MJ relationship finally has the chemistry the last three films only claimed to have. | Threads Left HangingOrganisations and characters get introduced, partially resolved, and shelved for later. At 2h25m the film still can’t button everything up — you can feel the sequel taking room from the movie you’re watching. | Not the Spidey You Bring Small Kids ToIt’s still PG-13, but the language is sharper and the tone considerably heavier than the Homecoming films. The child in our screening was bored throughout. Know what you’re buying tickets to. |
The Verdict
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is what happens when a studio hands a beloved character to a director who actually has something to say about him. It’s an emotional, grown-up Spider-Man film that treats isolation as a real subject rather than a plot beat, and it pairs that with the most thrilling, best-shot Spider-Man action ever put on screen.
It isn’t perfect. It’s overstuffed with cameos it doesn’t have time for, the central transformation needed far more room to breathe, and the credits scene is a limp handoff after a confident film. Those are real problems and they’re the difference between a very good Spider-Man film and an all-timer.
But the things it gets right, it gets emphatically right. Holland has never been better. Bernthal is a joy. The MJ relationship finally works. The fights are extraordinary. And underneath it all is a film about a young man who keeps doing the right thing when nobody remembers he exists — which is, when you strip everything else away, the most Spider-Man idea there is.
90% on Rotten Tomatoes is not an accident, and the record-breaking preview numbers suggest audiences already know. Go see it in a theatre. Go in unspoiled if you possibly can — the discourse is already everywhere and this is a film that rewards knowing nothing.
When Spider-Man is this consistently good in the MCU, these films really are something special. This one’s a banger.
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Score Breakdown
