‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ review roundup

Hey there, there go the reviews for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Two weeks after The Odyssey landed, Tom Holland and Zendaya are once again sharing the screen — and the top of the box-office charts — in the fourth installment of their shared superhero franchise. That means the real-life couple has officially outlasted Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst as the longest-serving Spider-Man and MJ, respectively, although it should always be remembered that Zendaya’s MJ is Michelle Jones-Watson, not Mary Jane Watson.

Brand New Day also sets another record for the extended Spider-Man franchise: with a 91% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, all four of Holland’s movies have debuted over the 90% mark — a streak that surpasses the tenures of both Maguire and Andrew “Emo Spider-Man” Garfield. Meanwhile, the film’s 71 rating on Metacritic also puts it in line with its three predecessors.

Looking at all nine live action Spider-Man adventures, Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man 2 continues to be the top-rated film on both RT and Metacritic with scores of 93% and 83, respectively, while Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is at the back of the pack with respective grades of 50% and 53. Among the Holland quartet, Spider-Man: Homecoming is the favored choice on Metacritic (73), while Spider-Man: No Way Home is preferred on RT (93%).

Critical reaction to the Spider-Man live-action films (by year of release)

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Brand New Day launches a new direction for Holland’s Spidey saga as our hero wrestles with a post-No Way Home status quo where Spider-Man is a somebody, but Peter Parker is a nobody — even to his friends, including MJ and Ned (Jacob Batalon). As if that’s not challenging enough, he’s also got to deal with a bevy of bad guys, ranging from the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) to the Scorpion (Michael Mando). Good thing he’s got some backup in the form of the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), whose presence will no doubt help facilitate Spider-Man’s upcoming appearance in December’s all-star crossover event, Avengers: Doomsday.

But Doomsday can wait. Here’s a sampling of how critics are feeling about the brand new story being told in Brand New Day.

It’s spectacular

The Wrap’s William Bibbiani breaks out the alliteration to praise a “sensational Spidey sequel,” that he calls “surprising” and “heartbreaking.”

“Brand New Day is a fantastic film about Peter Parker and his ongoing, often disastrous attempts to be a good person, no matter how much it hurts him personally,” Bibbiani raves. “It’s even a fantastic movie about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which other superheroes and supervillains show up, contribute to the story and meaningfully relate to its themes, but never outstay their welcome or hog the spotlight. We don’t get many great MCU movies anymore. That this is one of the highlights of the whole franchise feels amazing. And spectacular. And sensational.”

Writing in The Daily Beast, Nick Schager considers Brand New Day to be Spidey’s best outing… yes, maybe even better than Spider-Man 2. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day roots itself in the crippling pain of loss, the transformative power of trauma, and the means by which they’re overcome through togetherness and love,” he writes. “Such ideas surround the usual array of extravagant CGI-heavy battles that mix-and-match Spider-Man and his pals and adversaries, but to a greater extent than in many Marvel affairs, they aren’t just padding.”

And over in The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney praises Cretton — who got his start directing indie darlings like Short Term 12 — for balancing “self-reflection with action.”

“[The film] foregrounds the humanity that has always been Spidey’s greatest strength — with an extra dash of angst,” Rooney reports, later adding: “All this chugs along satisfyingly even with the occasional patch of sluggishness and the usual overly convoluted plot contortions. As much as the movie revels in the thrill of Spidey swinging between skyscrapers with erratic command of his shooters, the more intimate scenes with MJ and Ned are what supplies the emotional charge.”

It’s less-than-amazing

Rooney’s trade paper counterpart, Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman, isn’t caught in Holland’s web, labeling the movie a try-hard “arduous adventure.”

“Coming after No Way Home, Spider-Man: Brand New Day feels at moments like a balm of contemplative drama,” he notes. “But when you can feel how hard a movie is working to be all those things, it tends to detract from the goal. …If the movie is fun at times, it’s also arduous, overly episodic, and half an hour too long. I was glad to see that Brand New Day doesn’t get lost in the superhero-fatigue syndrome of CGI overkill, but the movie is more busy and self-serious than it is emotionally involving.”

IndieWire’s David Ehrlich was left fatigued by Brand New Day as well, writing: “Not only does the MCU’s fourth dedicated Spidey outing fail to undo the damage done to its brand since Thanos died in 2019, this dull and downbeat action sequel goes out of its way to epitomize why the mega-franchise has lost so, so much of its sauce over the last seven years. The film meanwhile clumsily slings between a Peter Parker grief drama (trite), a Frank Castle buddy comedy (forced but funny), and a labored set-up for the next few Phases of Marvel character mix-and-match (a triumphant victory for entertainment lawyers everywhere). But back!?! As the late Maya Angelou famously never said: “When someone tells you that there’s No Way Home, believe them.” 

And, finally, The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw tries to walk a fine line between praising — and burying — the film. “[Tom Holland] is maturing in the role,” he notes. “But is the role maturing with him?”

“Things are the same in Spideyworld in ways that we will recognise with affectionate exasperation,” Bradshaw observes. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day, like all MCU movies, always gravitates towards apocalyptic but weirdly temporary destruction in the digitally confected big city. It’s an entertaining spectacle, but really without the novelty of movie-iterations like the more experimental Spider-Verse animations. A more radical reboot is needed.”