A review of the new blockbuster movie “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”
Four years have elapsed since the last Spider-Man movie and this film is presented as a reset. A new director, Destin Daniel Cretton (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”), takes over the franchise in a scenario where, thanks to Dr Strange’s powers in the last film, the identity of Spider-Man (once again played by Tom Holland) is no longer known, even to former love interest MJ (Zendaya, now Holland’s wife) and former friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), both back in New York (location shooting was actually in Glasgow!) after obtaining degrees from MIT.
To spot every allusion in this movie, one should have seen every previous “Spider-Man” film (this is the ninth) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and ideally every film in the MCU (this is the 38th segment of that Universe) and perhaps even have read some of the comics, because there are some unexpected appearances here (no spoilers!) which gives the film a rich texture. This time, a more mature but lonely Spider-Man has some new problems: something or somebody is messing with his mind and his web-making powers. The action sequences are genuinely exciting and Holland and Zendaya get to play some emotional scenes (the chemistry enhanced by their real-life marriage) in this splendid adventure.