Spider-Man Brand New Day Review

Spider-Man Brand New Day is one of the closest adaptations to the comics we've gotten yet. It was full of sarcastic humour but also didn't shy away from the hard-hitting emotional moments. For the first time in a while it felt like I was watching the Spider-Man I grew up reading.

Story (spoilers)

The story followed Peter four years after he had wished for everyone to forget that he existed. There was a brief montage done very well which revealed all of his encounters with villains, as well as the progression of his tech. We got to see that he's fully immersed in his Spider-man persona and doesn't have any time for himself. We also see that he's still not fully over losing his friends, MJ and Ned, who have completely forgotten about him.

The catalyst of the story comes up when Peter finds MJ has a new boyfriend. He suffers a panic attack and rushes to his apartment where he faints. He wakes up in a cocoon, and realises his emotional trauma has led him to mutate which as a result, heightened his senses to the point where he is unable to control himself.

All while this is happening, he's been tasked with finding another mutant, Jean Grey, and bringing her in to the Department of Damage Control. Jean causes a large amount of distress to Peter throughout the story, and pushes him to his emotional limits. In particular, her threats to harm MJ cause Peter to spiral even more and lose control even more.

Peter eventually apprehends Jean and hands her in. During the process of apprehending her, MJ discovers Peter's secret note to her, and realises that she has had her memory wiped. Peter confesses his love for her, but MJ cannnot reciprocate as she doesn't have those memories anymore.

We later find out Jean's motives were to figure out what had happened to her sister who had been captured by Damage control. Upon realising this, Peter realises his mistake and breaks into the department to save her. This action conflicts with Frank Castle, who believes Jean doesn't deserve to live. As Peter breaks into damage control, he finally is able to control his powers and embrace both his enhanced Spider identity, and Peter Parker's. He defeats everyone, including The Hand. However, while rescuing Jean, he is shot accidentally by Frank, who was attempting to kill Jean.

He's rushed into the hospital in critical condition, and the entirety of New York watches nervously. He only survives as Jean had kept him alide with her telepathy. Frank is beside him on the hospital table, incredibly apologetic. Peter forgives him, and during his escape from the hospital notices the large amount of support he has from the city. This lifts his spirit, and encourages him to go and reunite with his friends. He visits Ned in a cafe, and then gives him the secret handshake they have had for years. Ned's muscle memory makes him go along with this, and then he realises Peter is Spider-Man.

What Worked

There were lots of great moments throughout this film. One of the best things was the web swinging. In the previous trilogy, there was a sense of immaturity when he was swinging. Peter would text while swinging, perform unecessary flips, and it felt more childish in a sense. Now, every movement feels deliberate. He's no longer swinging around for fun, he's moving as someone who's been Spider-Man for years. There's no wasted movements, and Peter actually moves with purpose now.

The fight scenes in Brand New Day were also fun to watch. Peter wasn't toying with his enemies anymore. He would directly web them up and stick them to walls to be arrested. When it came to the bigger enemies, like Hulk and Scorpion, he fought with more caution too. The choreography alone sells how much Peter has matured since the previous trilogy.

In the previous movies, Peter was lonely at times, but never truly on his own. This was the first Spider-Man movie in all trilogies where he had nobody to rely on. He breaks down numerous times, and in the end we see him reunite with his old friends. I think this was a good move to make, and they really wanted to sell to us that not even Spider-Man can deal without a support system. The soundtrack complemented these emotional moments too, and didn't take any attention away from the story.

Another thing that I liked was the flashbacks to Aunt May. The film shows how good she really was, and how it instilled a large part of Peter's goodness. Her words in Peter's mind which saved Jean was core lesson into her own words "When you help someone you help everyone". Without Aunt May, Jean would have turned down a dark path and caused mass destruction. We didn't get to see this level of emotional depth throughout the past trilogy, and I think that is was cemented it as a great Spider-Man movie.

What Didn't Work

No movie is perfect, and there were a few things which didn't really work. One thing I thought was a bit odd was Frank Castle's (The Punisher) involveness. While there's no doubt he had great chemistry with Peter throughout the film, I was expecting him to still be a fugitive, and not able to be roaming free in public.

One small missed opportunity was a Daredevil cameo. I know that the cast was already bloated with big names, but in New York City, it does make sense for him to show up somewhere.

The last thing I thought was strange was The Hand submitting themselves to the Department of Damage Control. There wasn't enough time in the film for a backstory on this which makes sense, but it definitely seemed out of character for one of the most strongest crime groups.

The Villains

Not all of these are villains per say, but just in the context of the film

Jean Grey

I was pretty shocked from seeing her in the trailer. I know she wasn't revealed in the trailer, but we all knew who she'd be playing. It made me scared for Peter as she's one of the most powerful characters in Marvel history. What I liked most about her after finishing the movie was that she never felt evil for the sake of being evil. Even though she pushes Peter really far, it becomes clear she's acting out of grief rather than malice.

The Hand

What I liked about their inclusion in the film was their fight choreography. It was very aesthetic and cool to watch. It forced Peter to perform acrobatics in a similar way, which put the audience on their toes. The camera shots and movements definitely enhanced this too. The Hand also forced Peter to embrace both his personas during combat. This definitely helped elevate Peter in a way.

Hulk

While it wasn't his fault, under Jean's mind control he really tested Peter. Surprisingly, he held his own for much longer than I expected. It was exciting to see the real Hulk after all these years of Professor Hulk.

My favourite scene

The fight scene with the hand after finally balancing his Peter and Spider persona's is one of my all time favourites. He became incredibly overpowered, but also maintained his humanity. There was a reference to Tobey Maguire's spiderman when he dodged the ninja star in slow motion, with no panic on his face at all.

Final Verdict

I think this is probably the best Spider-Man film to this date, across all universes and trilogies. The main issues from the previous iterations was the combination of humour and emotional depth. I think that this movie has balanced those two perfectly, and we finally got a live-action Spider-Man that is an exact replica of the comics.

Rating: 9/10