A One Mann’s Movies review of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”. (2026, 4.5*, 12A).
Hot on the heels of “The Odyssey” filling out cinemas comes the latest in the Tom Holland franchise – “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” – to keep those box office tills a-ringing!
This is a film with some neat cameos and some nice twists, which I will not be spoiling in this review. It is a film best served cold, ideally avoiding the trailer and indeed many of the posters.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Following the events of “Spider-Man: No Way Home“, Peter Parker’s identity is forgotten by everyone – even his one love MJ (Zendaya) and his best-bud Ned (Jacob Batalan). Parker (Tom Holland) may be receiving recognition for demolishing the crime rate in New York as Spider-Man, but away from his superhero crime-fighting he leads a sad and lonely life. But this depression and repressed anger comes with side-effects for a human/spidey DNA cross-breed.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC website: “Moderate violence, threat, injury detail, implied strong language.”)
Talent:
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Mark Ruffalo, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Sadie Sink, Liza Colón-Zayas, Tramell Tillman, Marisa Tomei, Naomi Watts, Michael Mando.
Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton.
Written by: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. (Based on the Marvel characters created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko).
Running Time: 2h 25m.
Review:
Positives:
- This is a film that crackles along at a hell of a pace, linking some truly outstandingly adept action set-pieces, many filmed on the streets of Glasgow. Some of the shots in this movie exceed anything we’ve seen in the previous Spidey-movies: really dynamic and exciting. The director is Destin Daniel Cretton, who previously did the equally good Marvel adventure “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings“.
- The story is engaging with a particularly tricksy adversary whose name (for reasons of spoilers) is best avoided on IMDB. The ‘jumping’ scenes are exceptionally well done and must have been fun for the host of extras on set during those days!
- There are some neat cameo appearances from Marvel regulars that I enjoyed very much, continuing to string Marvel’s bow by crossing some diverse connections in preparation for “Avengers: Doomsday” in December. The villain twist is a good one (scrambling my brain somewhat with the timelines of the different parts of the Marvel Universe) and there is a dramatic moment in the finale which I thought might actually be an OMG bombshell event.
- The relationship (or lack thereof) with MJ and Ned is really nicely played out: a kiss and its aftermath are up there with the Kirsten Dunst/Tobey McGuire kiss of the origin film; and a final scene between Ned and Peter is joyfully done. Tom Holland, Zendaya (Mrs Holland!) and Jacob Batalan all feel very comfortable in their roles, with Batalan’s character being less annoying in this outing than previous films.
- Michael Giacchino’s score to this franchise is one of my personal favourites and here I was satisfied with some neat variations: a solo piano variant over the opening of the film (which I will be ‘Chordifying’ and attempting to play) and a full-throated bombastic version over the end-titles. Coming to my Spotify playlist very shortly.
Negatives:
- The film throws ‘villains’ at you from the off for Spidey to catch and I frankly had no idea whether I was supposed to know all of these characters or not. Some I’m sure are familiar to the comic fans. We also get introduced to Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) who clearly knows Spidey well. I had no idea who the character was and thought I had just not been paying attention at the end of “Spider-Man: No Way Home“. But no… it turns out that to get this connection I had to have watched the Marvel series “The Punisher” on Netflix. I do wish Marvel would stop expecting every cinemagoer to be a Marvel-completist!
- I said it for “The Odyssey” and I’ll say it for this… Tom Holland is too old for the part. I know there is no getting away from this casting, but these four Spidey films, chronologically, are supposed to be set within a year or two of each other. Indeed, the last three films follow directly on from each other! Here we have a much craggier and older Holland who is not the fresh-faced high-school boy of the “Spider-Man: Homecoming“, now nearly 10 years old.
- At nearly two and a half hours, the film is about 20 minutes longer than I think it should be. There is a lot of scope for trimming of the story to fit a 120 minute runtime.
Monkeys
There is a very brief “monkey” after the end-credits which involves no characters on screen but leaves a clue as to where Spidey might be heading next.
Summary Thoughts:
I’m not sure if Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jon Bernthal negotiated a box-office cut as a part of their package: but if they did, all of them being in the two biggest films of this summer (this and “The Odyssey“) won’t have done their bank balances any harm.
This is a terrific Marvel film as a summer blockbuster that does what it promises on the tin. Fun, exciting, moving at times, this is Marvel back in top-gear again. It actually received a round of applause at the end from the packed matinee audience which, in the UK, is a rare event indeed.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3uI5sLosKU.
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