Out in Irish cinemas this week is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the next cinematic adventure for Tom Holland’s Spidey. When a dangerous new foe threatens New York, can Spider-Man step up and save the day all the while trying to handle the changes he is going through?
Holland has been in the MCU now for 10 years, and since his arrival there has always been something that some audience members (myself included) have felt about his portrayal; he’s never quite felt like Spidey. He’s a hero defined by those who teach him, whether it be Iron Man, Doctor Strange, or even other Spider-Men. Holland has always been in someone’s shadow; in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, however, he steps out as his own Spider-Man, and this is one of the reasons why I love this film so much.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton brings the same emotional storytelling that made his work on Wonder-Man so emotionally brilliant to Spider-Man: Brand New Day. After the events of No Way Home, Peter is Spidey 24/7, and it is doing something to him emotionally and possibly physically. He’s going through a kind of metamorphosis, and this could be both a good thing and a bad thing for the web crawler.
It’s my responsibility
Holland is bringing a maturity to this character that only comes from playing a character so long. After all, at this point Holland is the longest-reigning Spider-Man. He brings a weight to the pain he feels as the lone hero out there with no one to come home to, but unlike other heroes, Peter doesn’t let this keep him down, and Holland balances this well with a brilliant performance.
Zendaya is great; MJ has also grown as a character, moved on from the snarky try-hard that I felt she was in previous entries; MJ is part of a wonderful double act with Peter. Couple this with the emotional turmoil brought over from No Way Home, and Cretton has brought a lot out of the material.
There are several highlights in Spider-Man: No Way Home for me; a clash with a certain green goliath is a visual treat. However, one of the best elements of this film is its antagonist. Sadie Sink brings equal parts razor-sharp wit tinged with unforgivable rage. And her journey is equally as fascinating and heartbreaking as Peter’s.
Like any great superhero film, this film has a visual style all its own, drawing on the roots of the comic book medium to establish something quite impressive. As I spoke on earlier, Spidey has several visceral action set pieces that highlight this style. There are times when the visual effects stumble, unfortunately, and it did take me out of the film when that happened.
When I came out of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, I had a genuine smile on my face and a few tears in my eyes. It’s been a journey for Tom Holland and Spider-Man, and this has been a particularly thrilling chapter of everyone’s friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.
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