The new Spider-Man takes 60 minutes to finally get good
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is actually two films. One gets bogged down with minor characters and side plots, the other one tells a genuinely great Spider-Man story. It’s just a pity the better film doesn’t start until halfway through.
Don’t worry, the following review contains zero spoilers. I won’t be revealing anything more than what’s already in the public domain or has been shown in trailers. Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theatres on 29 July.
As I’m sitting there in the cinema with the lights coming back on, a sense of disappointment washes over me. Turns out, the predictions I made in this opinion piece were almost as accurate as Akinator the genie’s mind-blowing clairvoyant abilities.
When I wrote the article, I feared Brand New Day would be generic enough to be borderline forgettable. Yet the film has one of the strongest Spider-Man premises we’ve encountered in years. After No Way Home, Peter Parker finds himself isolated, forgotten by the world and left to fend for himself. His life as Spider-Man is going fine, but as a human being, he’s suffering. Like I said, this is a genuinely good dramatic premise. It’s just that the film takes ages to figure out what to do with it.
Ages. But not forever. And that’s exactly what saves Brand New Day.
Let’s go back to the beginning.
Two films in 144 Minutes
The first of these two films is the one I’d feared watching. Spider-Man races from one minor job to the next, dealing with «small potatoes», as the film calls them. While this is going on, practically the entire Marvel roster shows up around him: Scorpion, Boomerang, The Hand (the ninja organisation from Daredevil), Bruce Banner in his non-Hulk form and a brief appearance by Frank Castle as Punisher.
So far, so … standard.
Source: Sony Pictures
In the first part of the film, I struggled with that sense of standard-ness. To be fair, I pick up on the filmmakers’ intention to bring Spider-Man back down to earth a bit after all his wild adventures in space and battles with multiverse beings. It’s a well-intentioned move – one that takes Spider-Man back to «street level», reminiscent of the friendly neighbourhood spider we used to know.
And yet, especially after No Way Home, Brand New Day feels like a downgrade. One that isn’t quite sure what story it’s trying to tell. On the one hand, among all those small potatoes, there’s one villain who could easily rank among the most threatening dangers in the entire Marvel Universe. Using a combination of mind control and telepathy, his consciousness can jump from person to person at lightning speed and control them – like an unstoppable virus. At this point, we’re unaware of his motive and goals, which creates suspense since Spider-Man has to solve a mystery.
Source: Sony Pictures
On the other hand, there’s still a dilemma. The reason Spider-Man is doing so well as New York’s new, celebrated hero is that Peter Parker the person is on the verge of disappearing. Not just metaphorically, but literally. Peter has been suppressing his loneliness for so long that his spider DNA has begun to take over and consume his personality.
Narratively speaking, that should make for quite a story. The film even attempts to make it one when Peter visits his friends. When it turns out they no longer recognise him, he ends up feeling even lonelier as a result. The thing is, under the weight of numerous small subplots and this one major subplot, an hour goes by in which everything – and yet, somehow, astoundingly few memorable things – happen.
This is exactly what I meant when I called the first half «forgettable» and «generic».
Just what story is this film supposed to be telling?
Then, about halfway through the film, everything changes. We find out who’s really behind this threat and why (don’t worry, I’m not about to give anything away). This revelation is the moment when Brand New Day suddenly realises what it should have been all along.
Source: Sony Pictures
The small potatoes disappear, the treasure chest of Marvel characters snaps shut and a single, clearly focused story is left in their place. For the first time, the two conflicts, which until this point merely exist side by side, come together. There’s the external conflict, embodied by the villain, whose leaping from body to body is symbolically linked to Peter’s loss of identity. Then, there’s the internal conflict that Peter is waging within himself. Who is he, really, when his Spider-Man side has been threatening to consume him for so long?
In this, we see precisely why authentic Spider-Man stories have always worked. Even Sam Raimi, when making his first two films with Tobey Maguire, knew that the conflict between the hero and the human being can’t simply be treated as a given. It has to hurt.
Source: Sony Pictures
Which is why the first part of the film annoys me even more in retrospect. If the well-intentioned foray into «street-level» territory had been kept shorter and the cast of supporting characters had been noticeably pared back, Brand New Day might well have found its footing in 20 minutes instead of well over 60. It’s as if Brand New Day actually knew from the beginning what its best version would be, only to put it out there shockingly late.
I saw this toned-down Punisher coming – and it works surprisingly well
Criticism aside, one thing about Brand New Day did pleasantly surprise me: Frank Castle, better known as Punisher. In the trailer, we saw Spider-Man sealing Frank Castle’s mouth shut with a web before he can say the word «motherf***er». Back when it came out, I interpreted that to mean they’d be toning Punisher down, smoothening out his rough edges and making him suitable for young audiences.
Source: Sony Pictures
This had really concerned me before watching the film. In my view, there are four Marvel characters who just wouldn’t work outside of an R-rated version: Blade, Deadpool, Daredevil and, of course, Punisher. Not that they need violence and swearing to be interesting. But their total lack of moral compromise is the very essence of their character – take that away, and all that’s left is a mask.
In the end, my fear was confirmed. This Frank is a different man from the one Jon Bernthal played in Daredevil, The Punisher and Daredevil: Born Again. He’s gentler. Tamer. Almost cordial.
I’d never have thought that this toned-down Frank Castle would be one of the best things Brand New Day had to offer. But I must say, the 12-rated version of Frank Castle works. Perfectly well. Even if it’s only because Jon Bernthal and Tom Holland’s chemistry is so insane that they remind me of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in Deadpool: Wolverine.
A chemistry that’s unsurprising when you see the level of bromance energy on display here.
Source: Sony Pictures
They constantly bicker like an old married couple, but beneath all the friction, there’s a familiarity. Maybe even a friendship. A friendship I believe in right away, even though the film barely explains their shared history. In any case, Frank gets a lot more screen time than I’d worried he would. And honestly? If this is meant to build our appetite for a film about those two teaming up, I’d watch the heck out of it. Even if it featured a toned-down Frank.
In a nutshell
Starts off generic, then gets really good
I went to see this film with a prediction that turned out to be almost entirely accurate. The first half of Brand New Day is just as forgettable as I’d feared it’d be after watching the trailer. A film that, amid all the «small potatoes», loses sight of the story it actually wants to tell. It isn’t until the revelation around halfway through Brand New Day that it becomes the focused, wiser film it could’ve been from the very beginning. This second half of the film is so good that I’m happy to give it four out of five stars.
However, there was one prediction I got totally wrong. I’d written off Frank Castle as soon as I saw him silenced by a spiderweb in the trailer. But it’s this tamer version of Punisher who, alongside Tom Holland, gave me the scenes that have stuck with me since leaving the cinema. So, Marvel, please announce Spider-Man & Punisher soon!
I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
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