“Brand New Day” is a return to Spider-Man basics

I think I need to avoid casting speculation. When it was announced that Sadie Sink would be in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” I watched/read a few things about who she could be playing. When I went to see the movie, those were in the back of my mind, and the reveal of her character ended up not being a surprise for me. Things like this are why I am avoiding anything related to “Avengers: Doomsday,” which comes out in December. The business of trailer analysis and fan casting does great for those who release them, but it seems to be becoming the go-to article or video for sites to publish. I do not begrudge those who do, but I feel like it is taking something away from the movie. The upside is that, at least with “Brand New Day,” there is more going on than who Sadie Sink is playing.

Years after a spell wiped Peter Parker from everyone’s memories, Peter (Tom Holland) throws himself into being Spider-Man. His world is thrown into chaos when the spider DNA starts to take over, and his powers become erratic. On top of that, a mysterious individual (Sink) is using their powers to cause destruction.

I will not reveal who Sadie Sink is playing, but I will say this: she does an incredible job; I like the take on this character, and I am interested to see what they do with her going forward.

If you followed the casting of this movie, you would have seen that a lot of people were cast as villains in this movie, along with Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle aka The Punisher and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner aka The Hulk. One worry I had going in was that the movie was going to be overstuffed. It was, to some extent, but not for the reasons I thought. The villains that were cast are in little more than a montage at the beginning to fill in the gap as to what Spider-Man has been doing since the last movie. As for The Punisher and Bruce Banner, their presence is justified because they naturally fit into the plot. It makes sense that Spidey and Punisher would have run-ins while fighting the bad guys and form a relationship. Banner is teaching at a local college, so when Peter has a question about his mutations, that is the guy he would go to.

I recently replayed all the Insomniac Games “Spider-Man” video games (2018’s ”Spider-Man,” 2020’s “Spider-Man: Miles Morales,” and 2023’s “Spider-Man 2”) and had a blast. What those games got right that no other Spider-Man game had was the movement. When playing those games, you move just like the character should (the web-slinging through the city is especially satisfying). I bring all this up to say that this movie captures the feeling of the games in the action scenes. In the game, there are enemy types that have a weapon that disrupts your webs, and you have to take them out a different way. That weapon makes an appearance in this movie. There is a scene where Spidey is chasing a tank that feels like it was pulled out of the game in how he approaches that situation. The action scenes are some of the best in any of the previous “Spider-Man” movies.

“Spider-Man” has always been best as a street-level hero. The past few movies featuring “Spider-Man” have seen him facing cosmic-level threats, and it was great to see him come back to his roots. These aren’t world-ending stakes he is facing in “Brand New Day”; he is dealing with more localized problems. Holland continues to be both the best Spider-Man and Peter Parker on screen. I know he doesn’t have many more of these in him; he has openly talked about how he and Marvel are preparing for the next Spider-Man. He has embraced being this character on and off screen (he has done appearances at children’s hospitals and the like in costume), and that has translated to some of the best “Spider-Man” movies.

8/10

PG-13 for sequences of action/violence and some language.

2h 25m