It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life… or so we were promised. But in reality, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is more of the same from the MCU. And maybe 10 years ago that would’ve been just fine, but in a day and age where Marvel Studios’ stock has never been lower in the eyes of the larger moviegoing culture — following years of underwhelming project after underwhelming project — instead it’s quite problematic, and potentially even damming for where the future of this franchise lies.
The studio’s failure to recapture the magic of the Infinity Saga in the post-Endgame MCU landscape has been clear for all to see. Newly introduced characters have failed to see follow-ups to movies that underperformed relative to the franchise’s previous success, over saturation of content has alienated those with a casual interest in the series, and what was once the foremost talking point of any playground, group chat, or workplace environment, became less and less important to the world; gone are the days where if you didn’t catch the latest Marvel, you simply were left out of the conversation.
But there’s always been one shining light beaming brighter than any other that the studio could rely on: Spider-Man. Holland’s sophomore solo Spidey outing, Spider-Man: Far From Home, though critically lacklustre, is one of just 4/15 post-Endgame MCU movies to cross the billion dollar threshold. Whilst its sequel, the seismic cultural moment that was Spider-Man: No Way Home, sits in third in the all-time domestic box office gross — whilst being generally well-received by those touched by its heart-stringing charm.
Safe to say then, this latest release is going to be just fine financially. But whilst its financial success may hang above many of its contemporaries, its creative redundancy sees it swing straight back into the centre of a pile of carbon copy comic book flicks afraid to lose its uniform in favour of some flavour.
See, the MCU has long been a series of ham sandwiches, and for all intents and purposes, those are pretty good. But after 16 years, maybe I'd like a bánh mì, a tuna melt, or at least a BLT. And whilst this latest friendly neighbourhood flick at least toasts the bread, at the end of the day, when you take out the ingredients, the make-up remains that of the formulaic and, whilst certainly once dependable, now stale ham sandwich. It’s time to head to a new bakery.
The chief problem with the movie is the constant reminders of its attachment to a larger cinematic universe. Without spoiling the movie, it’s essentially used to act as a platform for the next saga of the franchise, and whilst this action figure-smashing may do it for some, I see it as a mark of an era that will fail to stand the test of time.
Using supporting players to further the narrative of the titular character whose story being told in this isolated movie is one thing, and, to give credit where it’s due, Spider-Man: Brand New Day successfully walks this fine line with some of the star-studded cast, but not all.
The story is just not that of a standalone Spider-Man adventure, and I fail to see how in 20, 30, 40 years it could be revisited as such. My fear, as with most of these movies, is that it’ll be lost amongst the shuffle. Part of a continuous, multi-year long-spanning story that’s impossible to understand in retrospect without revisiting thousands of hours of content. A formula that simply isn’t sustainable.
As I mentioned, however, the movie is not totally without merit. The staleness of the thinly sliced white farmhouse loaf is at least somewhat masked by having been popped in the toaster for a while (some half-decent lighting and the odd well-choreographed action sequence).
The movie particularly looks pretty good when humans are sort of just having a chat! But, you, know, that’s all pretty short-lived and we’re soon back to some shoddy visual effects work — this is a Kevin Feige production after all.
But beyond that of its technical faults — which, again, has its redeeming moments; more than most MCU efforts — I just can’t find the answer to the question of why we can no longer focus a story to one compelling arc. My feeling is that we’ve just gone too far. Not with Spidey as a cinematic attraction or even Tom Holland as the titular web-slinger, but perhaps with the MCU at large — and maybe even cinematic universes altogether.
We once had a winning formula of isolated narratives, usually trilogies: Lucas’ Star Wars, Spielberg’s Indiana Jones, Raimi’s Spider-Man, Nolan’s Batman etc. But somewhere along the way, we seemed to have reached a point where that no longer was enough. Action figures needed to be smashed together as hard as possible to release as much capital as can be sucked from these beloved characters, and I think it’s time we head back to basics.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is not entirely successful, and it certainly isn’t the huge return to form we might have all been hoping for, but that isn’t to say it isn’t worth your time.
For all its faults — and of which there is plenty — there is, at its core, a collection of performances from its returning cast that make good on this nine year promise first made in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Holland, Zendaya, and Batalon are as wonderful as ever, whilst the likes of Bernthal and Ruffalo slide seamlessly back into what always made them special in their roles as Hulk and Punisher.
But what this says about the future of the MCU, I’m not so sure. To me, this felt like the dying words of a franchise that’s been withering away for some time now, and despite all its efforts to muster up the absolute best final push they could, it’s still just kind of okay. It remains to be seen how successful the franchises next effort, Avengers: Doomsday shapes up, but if the trailer that played before my screening of this movie is anything to go by, then I expect it’ll be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back — and if not, Shawn Levy awaits on the other side to finish the job. God life’s relentless.
Go watch Spider-Man: Brand New Day and form your own opinion on the whole ordeal, but if you want my advice, maybe book some tickets to see The Odyssey again whilst you’re at it.