Critic Reviews

If “No Way Home” had the gee-whiz thrills of an original “Star Wars,” then “Brand New Day” has the mature melancholy of an “The Empire Strikes Back,” a movie that it references.

From the action to the drama to the superhero cameos, this is a more mature Spider-Man with smarter storytelling and a more satisfying payoff.

Dark, grounded, vulnerable, and unexpectedly moving, it finds the heart and soul of Peter Parker and understands that his humanity—his compassion, decency, empathy, and instinct to reach toward others—is as essential to his heroism as anything the mask or his powers can give him.

It’s getting harder by the movie to walk the tightrope (or spider’s web) that is the ever-crowded Marvel Cinematic Universe. But Spider-Man: Brand New Day, fourth in the Tom Holland Spidey-series, manages it. Just.

There’s a useful lesson for superhero films in that. More often than not, there’s much greater power in protecting your hometown than in saving the universe.

Once the movie finally gets moving, it’s a gloriously thrilling time.

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.

With the possible exception of Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man 2, it’s the wall-crawler’s best film to date.

This movie still shows there's plenty of life to the franchise when it comes to street-level stories.

A remarkably coherent, often joyful film, dedicated to giving the character some growth and grace.