Spider-Man Brand New Day review praises darker, more mature tone
Developed over time first seen 3 months ago
Deadline critic Pete Hammond has reviewed "Spider-Man: Brand New Day", the fourth instalment in the Tom Holland-led franchise, praising it as a darker, more mature entry that hands directing duties from Jon Watts to Destin Daniel Cretton. Holland and returning screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers help steer the character back towards his roots as a street-level New York crimefighter, following the acclaimed run of Homecoming, Far From Home and No Way Home. The shift in tone and creative direction matters because it sets a new course for the franchise after the record-breaking multiverse spectacle of its predecessor, choosing introspection over scale.
The story picks up four years after "No Way Home", in which Doctor Strange's spell erased all memory of Peter Parker's identity from everyone, including MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), leaving Peter known to the world only as Spider-Man. With Aunt May now dead for two years, the film explores his search for personal identity beneath the mask, a theme the review notes will resonate with the franchise's young fanbase. Cretton opens with an action set piece pairing Spider-Man with detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colon-Zayas) against villain Scorpion (Michael Mando), features a cameo from Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, and introduces a new mind-controlling, AI-tinged antagonist as a fresh, unseen threat unlike the character's usual physical foes.
- Deadline's review praises "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" for its darker, mature tone.
- Destin Daniel Cretton replaces Jon Watts as director for this instalment.
- Story follows a memory-erased Peter Parker facing a new mind-controlling villain.
New here? Start with this
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the fourth film in the current run of Spider-Man movies starring Tom Holland, made by Marvel Studios and Sony. It follows on from 2021's "No Way Home", which ended with a spell that made everyone in the world forget Peter Parker's real identity, so people now know him only as Spider-Man. The new film picks up four years later, with Peter also having lost his Aunt May, one of the character's long-standing emotional anchors.
Directing duties have passed from Jon Watts, who made the previous three films, to Destin Daniel Cretton. Returning cast members include Zendaya and Jacob Batalon as Peter's close friends, with new additions such as Liza Colon-Zayas as police detective Jean DeWolff and Michael Mando as the villain Scorpion, plus a surprise appearance from Florence Pugh reprising her Yelena Belova character from another Marvel film, "Thunderbolts".
The film matters within the franchise because it follows three commercially successful predecessors and represents a shift in tone, reportedly darker and more mature than earlier entries, with a new type of villain who manipulates minds rather than relying on physical strength. Early reviews, such as one from Deadline, are among the first public reactions ahead of the film's wider release.
More coverage
Cricket Entertainment Film Geopolitics Politics Sport
Read the full article at the source →
Originally published by Deadline as “‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review: Tom Holland And Zendaya Forge A Challenging Path Forward In Dark And Thrilling New Chapter From Marvel Superhero”.