'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' Review: Tom Holland's Most Mature Spidey Adventure Swings Back to Basics
It's been over a decade since Tom Holland web‑swung into our hearts in the MCU. Since then, the boy has been put through the ringer—I mean, which Peter Parker hasn't? But none can say they've experienced what Peter did as a teen, especially the last time we saw him in No Way Home, when Green Goblin did a drive‑by on Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Peter had to make the executive decision for the entire world to forget him—his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) included.
Now in his 20s, with Shang‑Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton taking a swing at the web‑crawler, Spider‑Man: Brand New Day finds Peter Parker entering a new chapter, this time by avoiding his trauma. A street‑level Spidey flick that channels the best qualities of classic Spider‑Man movies, this somber, emotionally riveting new entry stands out as the most mature the franchise has gotten, and easily the best Holland‑era Spider‑Man movie to date.
Image copyright (©) Courtesy of Sony Pictures
MPA Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of action/violence and some language.)
Runtime: 2 Hours and 25 Minutes
Language: English
Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, Pascal Pictures
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Screenwriters: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Justin Kuritzkes (uncredited)
Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Mando, Tramell Tillman, Sadie Sink, Liza Colón‑Zayas, Zabryna Guevara, Eman Esfandi, Marvin Jones III, Florence Pugh
U.S Release Date: July 31, 2026
Four years after No Way Home, Peter (Holland) is out of high school, living alone in a studio apartment—though it's unclear what he does for rent —and no one knowing who he is. He’s buried himself in his Spider‑Man duties, working closely with detective Jeanne De Wolfe (Liza Colón‑Zayas) to stop whatever street‑level criminals from wreaking havoc. His anonymity is all he has left to protect anyone he cares about—including Ned and MJ, whose TikToks he still stalks. After a chance run‑in with Ned, he follows him to a housewarming party and learns MJ has a new beau. Stuck in unresolved trauma, Peter begins to experience his arachnid DNA horrifically taking over his human biology. Now he has the Tobey-Spidey organic webshooter powers coming out of his skin. The more time Peter Parker spends living in Spider‑Man's attic neglecting his mental health, the more heightened and uncontrollable his powers become. And it only gets worse when a mysterious yet vengeful red‑headed foe (Sadie Sink) with mind‑controlling abilities wreaks havoc across the city with her sights on the Department of Damage Control.
Destin Daniel Cretton soars and delivers a real Spider-Man movie.
Peter Parker (Tom Holland) works on his suit in Columbia Pictures SPIDER-MAN™: BRAND NEW DAY. Photo by: Jay Maidment
After all the multiverse madness that’s still shooting the larger series in the foot, Brand New Day benefits from Peter returning to the basics. It forgoes spectacle, nostalgia, and his need to cling onto an emotional support system to hone in on Peter Parker when he has none, considering that nobody on earth knows who he is. It finally gives Peter what he’s been missing since his ass went to space: groundedness. This one recognizes that dialing Peter back as a hero for the people while he’s facing his own internal struggles is one of the web-slinger’s greatest appeals.
Despite enjoying the Jon Watts trilogy, Destin Daniel Cretton shows em what a real comic‑book movie production looks like. When Holland himself got injured from doing his own stunt, you knew this was gonna cook, and man, what a meal. Prioritizing on‑set locations (as he did in his prior Marvel entries) and practical stunt work—at the behest of Holland, fresh off practical-oriented The Odyssey —Cretton elevates Spidey to soaring heights Watts simply couldn't achieve. Hell, he even outdoes his own Shang Chi. The street level fight choreography and action sequences are exhilarating, especially when they involve the foe's mind-hopping abilities. As she hops from person to person, Cretton flexes working with extras on the streets of NYC as opposed to No Way Home’s sound-staged Flash Thompson in an empty street in broad daylight. With shot selection as creative as reading a comic book, he personalizes Peter's alienating weight of his double life while making his swing style and combat that’s blatantly inspired from the Insomniac Spidey games actually feel weighty.
There's a classic 2000s comic‑book movie flair to this entry, taking the best qualities of the Raimi films in its cerebral approach matched with a distinct style—all lending stakes that feel more emotionally gratifying while capturing the spirit of classic Spidey comics. It's impressive that even in some dramatic beats, Cretton underscores the scenes with strong lighting cues and camera angles that evoke a potent horror‑tinged element.
Granted, several action sequences revert to typical CG beat‑'em‑up schlock (the VFX and digital composition across the teased Hulk vs. Spidey fight being just visually dreadful). We've been dealing with the Pinocchios of past Marvel entries for so long. Cretton, proving he's one of the best filmmakers the MCU has on speed dial, brings back the significance that can come from a real boy.
Holland still owns Peter Parker and Spider-Man.
MJ (Zendaya) watches Spider-Man work in Columbia Pictures SPIDER-MAN™: BRAND NEW DAY. photo by: Jay Maidment
He’s officially the longest Spidey-actor to inhabit his role and the first to reach movie number four and to no surprise Holland yet again astounds. What can I say at this point? He intuitively knows this boy inside and out and naturally evolves him as its audience. He naturally translates Peter’s gradual mania, vulnerability, and his charms so effortlessly to the brink I nearly choked up. Occasionally, he’d display some Garfield-isms from his thick NY’er drawl in his Spidey-suit along with his constant head nods and curved up grin when having adorable banter with a scene partner.
Sometimes I have to forget he and Zendaya are married because as she’s folded into the narrative and it takes big dramatic swings, Zendaya turns out just another MJ portrayal that actually gives the character more of an emotional depth. The film’s best scenes are in relation to Peter circumventing his desire for MJ and Ned combating his sacrifice.
Brand New Day is a Spider-Man story first, an MCU movie second.
Spider-Man and The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) in Columbia Pictures SPIDER-MAN™: BRAND NEW DAY. photo by: Jay Maidment
The writer-vets in Chris McKenna and Eric Sommers (and Justin Kuritzkes’ who shares an uncredited script rewrite because if you’ve seen Challengers and Queer, you can clock when his hand touches the paper) seem to have taken notes from Thunderbolts and solidly provide a darker, thoughtful approach to the installment, seriously taking his lack of emotional well-being into account, feeling all the ramifications of his rather traumatic adolescence. It gets very similar to Steven Universe Future with his heightened archaic senses symbolizing his burnout and neglect of his trauma. It's more impressive how, despite having more Marvel toys in their box with Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), alongside Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), they centralize on Peter first and foremost, with each character appearance asking how they can be beneficial to his arc that he has power through on his very own.
Brand New Day fixes much of my issues with recent MCU flicks set in NYC, where so many characters simply live in the city but are conveniently absent when something catastrophic happens. For the first time in a while, the universe actually feels lived in, rather than just a means to promote another product (insane to say pre Doomsday). There's no sense of tier concerning who handles what, especially since everyone works on their own. Like a classic comic book, it interweaves other characters into Peter's story while maintaining them in supporting roles that serve a narrative purpose and not glorified cameos, without losing sight of Peter's overarching journey.
Frank Castle and the new foe are integral as both foils and mirrors to Peter's isolation and the cost of his responsibilities. None of these installments have ever established Parker and Castle together, yet their dynamic becomes one of the film's strongest assets. Make that twice this month when Bernthal/Holland scene‑sharing marks some of the finest summer moviegoing. A good chunk of the film turns into a procedural buddy thriller with the two of them, like a beagle and Rottweiler working together. It's perhaps the best character progression for The Punisher (including his one‑shot special) since his MCU debut, and the film finds great ground for the two, mutually benefiting their respective arcs.
Concerning the adversary I don't want to spoil — though you already know who she is but I don’t want anyone up in my comment whining spoiler—many will take umbrage at her not essentially being an in-universe Spider-Man villain. Hell, Pete hasn’t had one since Mysterio. However Sink finds the right middle ground, posing as a spirited, menacing threat and an empathetic foil, who is as confused and harboring as much pain as Peter.
Their reflective arcs had me reminiscent of the recent AvatarAang: The Last Airbender, wherein a rage-fueled antagonist acts as a moralistic contrast to the same isolation the lead faces. Additionally, her presence finally threads the needle while subtly laying down natural groundwork for future threads that I'd surprisingly be interested in. Though functional here, next time, please have Peter face his own rogues' gallery.
Brand New Day contends with its own intentions.
Spider-Man in Columbia Pictures SPIDER-MAN™: BRAND NEW DAY. photo by: Courtesy of Sony Pictures
Despite Brand New Day marking the best of the Holland films in many regards, it struggles with having its character-focused cake and eating it MC-tU. The film has a strong sense of keeping itself largely contained to Peter's current personalized crisis and abilities and would go on for large junctures with him doing classic Spidey-character work while throwing the antagonistic threat into the backseat. At a certain point, Brand New Day contends with itself, having to sacrifice its nuance for recycled beats. If I had a nickel for every time a woman with mind control caused Banner to Hulk out on someone. Or if anyone's unresolved trauma threatens the lives of many New Yorkers in the past year, I'd have two nickels.
It's extremely well-paced, especially its bold swing on concentrating on Pete's emotional depth above implementing frequent blockbuster beats. But there does come a certain point where the film is trying to be two different movies at once, a character-focused Spider-Man and an MCU Spider-Man entry, and settles for both. It contends with itself at times, playing at two different movies jammed together at once. But the overarching grounded lens and ambitious swings across an emotionally stirring character focused and driven story makes the best. Maybe not the most rewatch-able but one that I respect the most. And with great power comes great respectability.
