Is Spider-Man: Brand New Day Worth Watching? Reviews So Far

Great news for Spider-Man fans – years after the franchise’s last installment, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is finally out.

And Tom himself has said he’s “loving” promoting both the Marvel flick and his other summer blockbuster, The Odyssey.

“When you’re doing press for movies you’re really proud of, it’s really easy. Because when they ask you questions about, ‘Why should people go and watch this movie?’, you’re not lying to anyone. You really feel like people should go see it,” he told the hosts of Waitrose’s Dish podcast recently.

Here’s what the reviews say so far:

“Zendaya saves this film. She rescues it from silliness and the generic deja vu overfamiliarity that is always threatening to sink it… Otherwise, things are the same in Spideyworld in ways that we will recognise with affectionate exasperation.”

“If the back half of the film feels a little sluggish, [director] Cretton… never fully loses focus of the guy behind the mask. Spider-Man is always at his best doing the friendly neighbourhood stuff, and when this film remembers that, we’re reminded why he’s still Marvel’s ace in the pack.”

3) The Hollywood Reporter

“The dominant thread… at least until full-scale mayhem erupts, is Peter Parker’s identity crisis, which gives a never-better Tom Holland soulful new notes to play… All this chugs along satisfyingly even with the occasional patch of sluggishness and the usual overly convoluted plot contortions.”

“For the first time, [Zendaya and Tom Holland] make a persuasive romantic pairing and the now-classic shot of MJ falling to her doom, only for Spider-Man to swoop to the rescue, has a palpable emotional charge… corniness sits well in Cretton’s palette, and is amply counterbalanced by the sort of grounding, street-level texture that all but vanished from the series since it was absorbed into the wider Marvel project.”

“The film is… bogged down by the same thing that has caused late-stage Marvel Cinematic Universe films to sag: the weight of tying all of the stories together… while hardcore M.C.U. fans might be pleased, the rest of us are, demonstrably, getting kind of tired of having to do our homework. Nothing can erase the enjoyment of witnessing Holland’s performance.”

“Tom Holland… provides all the requisite humor, heart and highflying style to make this work so well, graduating to a new level but still retaining what we have related to in the series that just seems to get better. What he and Zendaya (now married in real life) manage to still do chemistry-wise in a plot that seeks to keep them at a distance is no easy feat.”

“[Director] Cretton, who steps into the director’s chair after Jon Watts directed the last three Spider-Man movies, is the first MCU director to really respect Peter Parker’s internal life… By giving these characters that we’ve lived with for almost a decade (!) some much-needed depth, Cretton also manages to foster some of the best performances that Holland and Zendaya have ever given.”

“Coming after No Way Home, Spider-Man: Brand New Day feels at moments like a balm of contemplative drama… watchable without ever being transporting.”

“The story matters, and it works. I wish I could say that much for the plot… It’s only on the car ride home you realize the villain’s plan makes no sense… But, and I say this from the bottom of my heart, screw the plot… We don’t get many great MCU movies anymore. That this is one of the highlights of the whole franchise feels amazing. And spectacular. And sensational.”

[Tom Holland] delivers his most nuanced and mature Spider-Man performance to date…Much like Spider-Man, the Marvel Cinematic Universe knows that it can’t go back to the way things were, but it’s also absolutely clueless about how to push forward.”

11) The Independent (4/5)

“The full span of [Tom Holland’s] character, in all his strengths and vulnerabilities, has never been more felt than here… Brand New Day offers a maturation not only of its hero, but of the franchise’s entire vision, too.

“The best Spider-Man movie in more than 20 years.”

“The best looking Spidey has been since the days of Raimi, and that is no coincidence. Cretton brings a quieter, more measured gaze into Peter Parker’s world, still keeping the lightheartedness the MCU is known for, but painting in grays and blacks, and the shadings of life.”

“If nothing else, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is proof that you can at least try to build a better Marvel movie – even with its flaws, this one is superior to most. That’s partly thanks to Holland, a smart, sensitive actor who, inside a stretchy suit or not, takes his character’s emotional travails just seriously enough. It doesn’t hurt that as MJ, Zendaya is allowed to do more than scowl disapprovingly.”