The New Spider-Man Is Pure Fun
The record-breaking Spider-Man: Brand New Day is gleeful, undemanding fun that doesn’t pretend to be anything more. In a superhero monoculture that keeps draining Hollywood of money, talent, and ambition, that’s about the best you can hope for.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is proof that superhero movies work best when they aim no higher than cartoon fun. (Columbia Pictures / Marvel Studios)
What can be said about a new Spider-Man movie besides, in a tone of incredulity, “It’s another one!”
Well, a few things. Spider-Man: Brand New Day was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who also did Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), which I enjoyed. It was lighthearted and humorous, with excellent action sequences and nice low-key character work, and it made a movie star, briefly, of Simu Liu. I’d like to see more movies with Simu Liu, by the way, and I don’t mean when he’s playing bit parts like one of the Kens in Barbie (2023), or one of the crowd of Avengers, as he will be in his return as Shang-Chi in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. It’s nice that he’s making a living and all, but the way Hollywood wastes charismatic charm is a sin and a shame.
Young stars getting much more career cosseting are Tom Holland and Zendaya, who return for the fourth entry in this latest rebooted Spider-Man series, after the trilogy Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). Playing Spider-Man/Peter Parker and his snarky beloved Michelle “MJ” Jones-Watson in this start of a new trilogy — my gods, it’s relentless — Holland and Zendaya are reaching a professional zenith after their much-publicized marriage and their performances in the epic hit The Odyssey, which opened just a few weeks ago and is still showing on rival screens.
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