Spider-man: Brand New Day: Honest Review (Some Spoilers)

We were originally supposed to see this on the 31st, but some life changes hit and we decided we needed a win and a change of pace. We wanted to escape reality for a bit. Oh boy, were we in for a treat.

Quick score: 9.5/10

Last warning: Spoilers ahead.

We walked in and right as the movie started I jokingly told my wife, “Hi, I’m Peter Parker.” Bam — the movie opens almost exactly like that. We both laughed. Then we see Peter sitting on the edge of a building looking out over the city, doing Spidey things. He starts locking up a bunch of criminals (Scorpion, the Red Hand, and a few others I won’t name).

He picks up flowers for Aunt May… and we learn she’s gone (not a huge spoiler if you’ve been following the movies). The first big action sequence is a runaway tank tearing through the city. Spider-Man chases it down and tries to stop it. He realizes it’s headed for Damage Control. For a split second we see an older woman inside the tank — and then it becomes clear she’s somehow possessed. The possession jumps from person to person while Spider-Man can sense it. The possessed person even says, “You can see me.” It’s a strong opening sequence (the tank eventually explodes and the police commissioner shows up).

Spider-Man starts digging into the possession. He goes to the new Black Widow (the original died in Avengers, so this isn’t a huge surprise). She basically tells him the new Avengers aren’t interested in “small potatoes” and that this is more of a Spider-Man problem.

Peter starts getting constant headaches he can’t shake. Later we find out his spider gene is growing out of control — something similar to what happened in Spider-Man 3 with Tobey Maguire. He goes to a genetics specialist who turns out to be Bruce Banner. Banner helps him figure out a way to keep the arachnid DNA from taking over.

From there the movie keeps moving. Spider-Man saves MJ, who was possessed, and we learn that inside her there’s no memory of Peter Parker. As he saves her we also find out who the mysterious force behind everything is (I’ll leave that one for you).

This movie was a ride from start to finish. There were funny moments, sad moments, and a few big “aha” moments. For those 2 hours and 25 minutes it felt like the real world didn’t exist. I was just in New York swinging around with Spider-Man. They even used some first-person Spidey point-of-view shots that worked really well.

Zendaya actually showed some real acting range here. A lot of people say she’s just “Zendaya” in every role, but even with limited screen time she brought something extra. Tom Holland nailed it again — you can clearly see the difference between Spider-Man and Peter Parker, and we get a bit more of Peter’s intelligence showing through. Top performance.

I’ll be honest — the score is the biggest reason this isn’t a 10 for me. It’s not a bad score, but it’s not on the level of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man theme, which is surprising since Michael Giacchino composed it. The movie had a good atmosphere overall, but I kept waiting for that familiar Spider-Man jingle and never really heard it (or at least I don’t remember it). Maybe I was too locked in to notice, but it felt missing.

Final score: 9.5/10

This movie has a bit of everything and made me wish we could have stayed on that ride just a little longer. Exactly what we needed.