Spider-Man: Brand New Day By Destin Daniel Cretton
A Review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day
*DISCLAIMER: SPOILERS WILL BE LABELED*
Whiskey’s Garage
Film Talk
Volume 2
2026
Spider-Man: Brand New Day By Destin Daniel Cretton
A Review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Runtime: 2:26
Budget: $220 Million
Starring: Tom Holland, Sadie Sink, Zendaya, Mark Ruffalo, & Jon Berenthal.
Tom Holland returns as Spider-Man for his 4th solo film, and his 6th total appearance as Marvel’s most popular character. Holland’s first solo Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Homecoming, premiered back in 2017, followed by his second in 2019, and the third in 2021. With appearances in multiple different MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) films, Tom Holland has now played the character more than any other actor, beating out the original Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield from The Amazing Spider-Man series. The Spider-Man films always turn out to be blockbuster hits, with Tom Holland’s 3 films alone grossing over $3.9 billion in total, and the most recent film, Spider-Man: No Way Home, becoming the 8th highest-grossing film of all time. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is sure to be no exception to this, with grossing projections up over $1 billion again. But are the films actually worth watching still? Or are they just a surefire payday that the executives at Sony & Marvel Studios will continue to pump out time and time again? Honest opinion and review below.
I was blown away. This film far exceeded my expectations, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wasn’t expecting much heading into this one, which may be why I’m so pleasantly surprised, but it was entertaining, unique, emotional, and all around very well done. I figured after the climax that was Spider-Man: No Way Home, the story would start to get stale and repetitive, but I was very wrong. This is personally my 2nd favourite out of the 4 Tom Holland has done. It still has the Spider-Man humour and punchlines everyone loves, but it’s an emotional story that built well off the prior films. The story has multiple layers to it; it has some dark and gritty beats, but manages the light-heartedness of a Spider-Man film well. The story has a few holes that I would have liked to see cleaned up, but it does leave the door wide open for the future. To me, it felt like the ending may have been slightly rushed, almost ending abruptly, but overall it was well written. At the end of the day, it is a Spider-Man film, so don’t head into it expecting a complex masterpiece of storytelling. I think they did a great job filling in the backstory so that new viewers who may not have seen the previous films can follow along and get the gist of what is going on. Of course, if you have seen the previous films, you will understand a lot more of the little innuendos and whatnot that are included within the film, but by no means do you have to know the storyline to enjoy this movie. The camera work was very well done, with some new and refreshing shots. The action scenes, choreography, and CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) were solid as always.
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The reveal of Sadie Sink as the mind control villain was well done as well, and I thought she did a great job playing Jean Grey. I really agreed with the casting of her, as well as Michael Mando as Scorpion. Scorpion had quite a small role in this movie, but I’d love to see Mando come back as Scorpion with more screen time. A weak point in the film was definitely the scene between Punisher and the Hulk. While it doesn’t last long, it should have been rethought. Essentially, the Hulk gets turned against Spider-Man and the Punisher, beginning to attack them. The Punisher walks in, screaming at the Hulk while firing his machine gun, yet you can hear the Punisher yelling and barely hear his gun. The bullets also just look wrong when they hit the Hulk, and it went on a little too long, making it feel almost awkward. It probably could have been done differently, but all in all, that is really the only major standout scene to me. The way they did the flip between who Sadie Sink is controlling was well executed, making it easy to follow and understand. It was really refreshing not to have a huge final “boss” fight between Jean Grey and Spider-Man. The age-old script is a buildup, a big fight between the two, and Spider-Man wins, but this time around they changed it up. They had Jean’s mind-controlled villains battle Spider-Man in a fight that wasn’t big, drawn-out, or overdone. A main point throughout the story is Spider-Man dealing with becoming an adult now. His powers are changing, his hormone levels are spiking, and his stress is becoming out of control, making him unable to manage his powers and actions. They link this up with Spider-Man’s eyes becoming black, like a real Spider, showing there’s no longer any Peter, just the Spider taking over. The first shots revealing his eyes under the mask and then into the explosive rage and power he had were super cool. It’s a basic way to reveal when the Spider is taking over, but it’s executed very well. In the last fight against Jean’s henchmen, Spider-Man removes the device that was suppressing the powers, gets all the effects of the Spider taking over, but manages himself as Peter, showing that he accepts himself and his reality now. The buildup wasn’t overthought, overdone, or too long; it was just, all in all, really well done.
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Overall, I really enjoyed Spider-Man: Brand New Day. As of right now, it’s climbed up to my 2nd favourite Holland one, behind Spider-Man: No Way Home. It far exceeded my expectations; they took the story in a much different direction than I thought they were going to, and the characters they decided to include in this one were new and fresh for the most part. I think anyone can enjoy this film, even without seeing the previous ones. A pleasant surprise from a 4th installment I wasn’t expecting much from.
RATING - How well I think the movie is made, the dialogue, the production, the acting, objectively how good of a film is it. Difficulty and Complexity. Out of 100%
ENJOYMENT - How much I enjoyed the film, subjectively and based on the genre heading into it. For this, I was expecting an entertaining action-comedy superhero film, not a complex, thought-provoking masterpiece. Out of 100%
IMMERSIVENESS - How captivating the film is, how well it draws you into the world they are building, and how it makes you forget reality. Out of 100%
Rating: 81%
Enjoyment: 95%
Immersiveness: 78%
PROS:
Great action and choreography scenes
Feels fresh and exciting
Solid storyline
Very entertaining
CONS:
A few weak scenes
Basic dialogue
OSCAR NOMS (Thoughts)
None
