The words "Brand New Day" in the title Spider-Man: Brand New Day promise a blank slate, an opportunity to press the reset button in a franchise cluttered with multiversal stakes. That promise is half-kept in this action-adventure where no one remembers Peter Parker (Tom Holland), and Spider-Man has to save New York without any help from his friends. His friends, in fact, don't even remember him, thanks to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which Doctor Strange was asked to cast a memory-wiping spell. And so Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and MJ (Zendaya) graduate from MIT with their other friends, while Peter, living and working alone, is offered a peek into their lives through Instagram posts that Ned enthusiastically shares with his followers. Without his girlfriend, best friend, or any remaining family, Peter wholly dedicates himself to the job of being the city's guardian and chats with NYPD detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas) over phone calls that are almost entirely work-related.
It soon becomes clear, however, that all work and no play is giving Spider-Man terrible headaches. (Spoilers from this point ahead.) Also, these symptoms lead to something more, um, "transformative" when Peter sees MJ with a new boyfriend. In an early scene, a spider is seen wrapped in its web outside Peter's apartment. Peter, too, is discovered in a similar position after blacking out due to drastic mutations. These bodily changes are accompanied by black eyes, extremely heightened senses, and organic webs (in a sex comedy, these webs could have doubled as an ejaculation gag). They also make Spider-Man angrier, giving rise to a moment where he throws Scorpion (Michael Mando) at a police car, thus injuring the cop in the process. Fret not, this PG-13 Spidey doesn't get any more "villainous." He instantly apologizes for his actions and never repeats them. The studios don't want to risk alienating fans. Their fidelity to the target audience as well as the brand prevents them from making a Spider-Man movie that could be either darker or contain rough edges.
At one point early in the film, a woman tells Peter that they live on the same floor in an attempt to flirt with him, but Peter only awkwardly acknowledges her and simply walks away. He doesn't try to pursue that woman as a friend, a partner, or even a one-night stand, not even out of jealousy after learning about MJ's boyfriend. Then again, MJ's new relationship itself is neutered by placing it under the label of "it's complicated." In other words, the movie leaves one door open for a future Peter-MJ reunion even when it closes the window on their love life through a scene where she essentially tells him, "You are a stranger to me, but we can be friends." Ned, too, doesn't make a new best friend. His and Peter's friendly reunion takes place at the very end. Brand New Day might be all about Peter/Spider-Man transitioning into adulthood, a brand new phase of his life, yet some crucial elements don't seem to evolve—they remain the same.
What works in Brand New Day's favor is the sweet sincerity with which Destin Daniel Cretton introduces the themes of growing up, loss, and acceptance. Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) unleashes her psionic abilities in an attempt to find something known as V-Max, and her abilities result in neat tricks involving common New Yorkers being mentally possessed by Jean in a passing-the-baton manner. One moment, Jean could be inside, say, a man walking his dog, and the next, she would jump into the mind of a construction worker. Cretton certainly knows how to render images active, and he does more admirable things with Spider-Man's webs when he fights a group of Hand ninjas or when Jean places the city under lockdown through her mental powers, freezing both people and bodies of water in place. Still, if Cretton manages to elicit more gentle appreciation and less open-mouthed awe, that's because, despite having a superhero who enters characters' heads, he fails to develop a subjective view with which to depict these moments. What's inside the heads of Jean's victims, based on available evidence, is sentimental speeches in the vein of the one that May Parker (Marisa Tomei) gives to Spider-Man.
Does Jean see that speech because Spider-Man grants her limited access? Or is Jean always in control of what she wants to observe inside her victims' heads? Sometimes, Jean performs the same movements that she wants her victims to perform, and in one scene, she is seen experiencing the pain that's inflicted on her psychological captives as well. These rules, though, aren't consistent. The exact logic behind Jean's abilities remains vague. All this only accentuates Cretton's incuriosity. He zooms in on very narrow aspects of the story, which is why Jean gets the May Parker vision inside Peter's head, and there is no mention of what the New Yorkers go through when they are all under Jean's grasp (again, Cretton merely provides a "clever" visual of a dog barking at its frozen owner).
Above all, Brand New Day offers nothing distinct or unique from other superhero vehicles. Its simplistic viewpoints and sentimental resolutions are a matter of old wine in a new bottle. Beneath its cozy, affectionate surface lies a factory-made product that sells a new face for the franchise's future (Jean Grey). In Brand New Day, Peter/Spider-Man refuses to take his mask off when he meets Yelena (Florence Pugh), when he is under a security scanner, and when he drinks coffee at Frank's (Jon Bernthal) place. In all three instances, Peter is told to remove his mask, but he stubbornly keeps it intact. The mask does come off in the end, though, with the realization that Peter is doing himself no favors by distancing himself from a social life and from the company of his friends. Adulthood should not only center around your professional existence; it should also have plenty of room for your buddies and companions. Brand New Day strongly disapproves of all work, no play. It's basically a superheroic argument for the virtues of work-life balance.
Final Score - [5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times