Spider-Man: Brand New Day raises emotional stakes in thrilling chapter

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova is known for telling truths with a signature devil-may-care drollness.

So when Yelena says to Spider-Man that he’s small potatoes, there’s something to it.

That’s part of the appeal of the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, his adventures are generally contained to New York City. Sure, this version of Peter Parker as inhabited by Tom Holland has gallivanted around Europe and even went up into space, but there’s an intimacy to his heroism.

He stops bike thieves and bank robbers, as well as genocidal galactic villains. For someone with immense superpowers, Peter Parker feels… relatable. He has family, friends and hang-ups that are as important to him as being a hero. His relationships define him as much as his extra arachnid DNA.

Or at least they did, until the events of the previous instalment, Spider-Man: No Way Home, reset the world and left Peter all alone, severing his connections to the three most important people in his life: Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and bestie Ned (Jacob Batalon).

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a thrilling and emotional chapter in one of the bright spots of the comic book adaptation canon, a corner that seems largely immune to superhero fatigue. It might be the ninth Spider-Man movie in a quarter of a century, but there is enough verve in these stories to keep it all swinging.

And boy does he swing. No, not that kind of swinging, these movies are very earnest, and not in a bad way.

There are some genuinely catch-your-breath vertiginous sequences of Spider-Man moving through New York City that are mighty impressive, even if you know it’s CGI. A lot of the cinematography by director Daniel Destin Cretton’s long-time DP Brett Pawlak looks great.

Cretton and his team also staged some excellent stunt sequences, which make the best use of Spider-Man’s evolving powers, as well as that of his opponents, including those of the martial arts masters The Hand and the brute strength of the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).

It’s really exciting that decades into this superhero screen canon, Spider-Man: Brand New Day still has something new to show the audience.

What’s consistent is Holland’s Peter Parker is so pure of heart and intention, that it is impossible to not be invested in him. Credit to Holland, who has evolved his performance as Peter so that he is still the same kid we met in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but with a maturity and sadness stemmed from his experience of loss.

The story of Brand New Day time jumps four years after the events of No Way Home where a spell had made everyone forget Peter Parker ever existed, and in the time since Peter has devoted all of his energies to being the best Spider-Man he can be.

He’s an efficient, singular crime-fighting force whose only relationships are with NYPD detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colon-Zayas), and a bickering brothers back-and-forth with Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal).

But neither of them know his real identity, and that’s always going to create a distance for someone who’s always been emotionally open with Ned, MJ and May.

While he’s battling a telepathic antagonist (Sadie Sink) who can jump from person to person, acting and speaking through them, Peter also starts going through some changes. The arachnid DNA is starting to dominate and his physiology is morphing.

He also starts to encounter Ned and MJ ago, unable to truly stay away from the people that shaped Peter into who he is.

The film is sprawling and has some pacing issues in that there are too many subplots to service. The inclusion of Bruce Banner/Hulk probably wasn’t necessary, although comic book fans will delight at Spidey and Hulk sharing the same screen and Ruffalo is always a welcome presence.

Brand New Day clocks in at almost two and a half hours, and about two-thirds of the way through, you really start to feel that length.

While its energy can sag here and there, the strength of this film is in several emotional beats that are actually affecting.

That’s what these Holland Spider-Man films have been good at, and Brand New Day kicks it up a notch because the emotional stakes are higher.

It puts greater value on what Peter and the characters have been through, and are going through, rather than some great evil that could destroy the world. The jeopardy is their humanity. That goes for everyone in Brand New Day.

All that gooey good stuff? That’s big potatoes.

Rating: 3.5/5

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in cinemas