SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

So, I’ve seen ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’, the fourth film in the ‘Spider-Man’ film series, starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. I greatly enjoyed this film. I hoped this would be a good solid instalment in the ‘Spider-Man’ film series. I wasn’t disappointed. 🙂

I don’t think this film is as good as ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ (both of them), the third film that preceded it. But it’s certainly better than ‘Homecoming’ and ‘Far From Home’, which I felt delved into more comedic territory and it didn’t quite take the character of Spider-Man seriously.

‘Brand New Day’ feels like a good progression from where we left off in ‘No Way Home’ where Peter had to make everyone forget he was Spider-Man. Certain things are developed for better as far as the longevity of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man era is concerned.

I should also point out that whilst this is still part of the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’, there aren’t so many ‘MCU’ elements getting in the way to make this a worthwhile Spider-Man story. And the ‘MCU’ elements do work very well in Spider-Man’s favour than against.

In the film, four years have passed since the events of ‘No Way Home’. Peter Parker as Spider-Man protects New York City whilst keeping his identity a secret. Along the way, he investigates a new powerful threat whilst his superpowers undergo a dangerous evolution.

Tom Holland excels in the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in this film. It’s interesting how he undergoes a set of challenges in his superhero life, both in terms of how he reconnects with his friends Michelle (‘MJ’) and Ned Leeds as well as handling being the webslinger. 🙂

It was nice to see Zendaya back as Michelle (‘MJ’) in the film. Whilst she and Peter don’t exactly get back together as a romantic couple, I like she doesn’t reject him and treats him with kindness, even to the point of inviting him to join her and Ned at their apartment.

It was good to see Jacob Batalon back as Ned Leeds in the film. Ned doesn’t have a major role to play in the film compared to Michelle (‘MJ’), but I like it when he gets to meet Spider-Man in his and MJ’s apartment and how he reunites with Peter by the film’s end. 🙂

Sadie Sink stars as Jean Grey in the film. It was fascinating to see a young version of Jean Grey in the ‘MCU’ before she presumably joins the X-Men. Jean is presented as a semi-villain for most of the film, but I liked it when Peter got through to her by the story’s end. 🙂

Jon Bernthal stars as Frank Castle a.k.a. the Punisher in the film. It was interesting to see the Punisher appear in this ‘Spider-Man’ film and that he and Spidey already knew each other. I haven’t seen Jon Bernthal as the Punisher in other Marvel projects before this one.

Florence Pugh returns as Yelena Belova/Black Widow in this ‘Spider-Man’ film, having previously appeared in ‘Black Widow’, the ‘Hawkeye’ series and ‘Thunderbolts*’. It was great to see Yelena interact with Spider-Man in two scenes featured throughout this film.

Tramell Tillman stars as William ‘Bill’ Metzger, the head of the DODC (Department of Damage Control) in the film. Initially, Metzger comes across as a helpful ally to Spider-Man in solving a mystery. As the plot unravels, Metzger isn’t as good as Spidey thought. 😐

It was nice to see Marisa Tomei return as Aunt May, albeit in dream-like scenes where we’re seeing in Peter’s mind when he interacts with her as well as Jean Grey. It’s good Aunt May was able to appear to Peter and Jean this way, especially in the film’s climax. 🙂

Mark Ruffalo makes an appearance as Bruce Banner/the Hulk in the film. Whilst not a huge presence in the film compared to Tony Stark, Nick Fury (sort-of) and Dr. Strange in previous films, I like how Bruce interacts with Peter and how Spider-Man tackles the Hulk.

Other cast members in the film include Michael Mando who returns as Mac Gargan/the Scorpion from ‘Homecoming’, Zabryna Guevara as Sheila Rivera, the new mayor of New York City, and Liza Colón-Zayas as Jean DeWolff, a NYPD detective who Spidey befriends.

Marvin Jones III briefly plays Lonnie Lincoln/Tombstone in the film, Emma Esfandi briefly plays a new boyfriend for Michelle (‘MJ’) – Don’t know what his name is ( 😀 ), and Olivia Booth-Ford plays Sara Grey, Jean’s older sister, who has similar telepathic abilities as her.

There’s Shannon Young Cho as Cindy, one of Bruce Banner’s students at Empire State University (ESU), Billy Clements as Ramrod, a cyborg supervillain, E.V., Peter’s AI assistant is voiced by Naomi Watts, and Keith David voices a narrator for some spider videos. 🙂

Whilst there’s no appearance of previous Spider-Men like Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in ‘Brand New Day’ like there was in ‘No Way Home’, I’m sort-of glad there wasn’t. It’s better that this film works for Tom Holland coping alone as Spidey without others Spideys.

I don’t know what the future holds concerning Spider-Man’s appearances in the rest of the ‘MCU’ and whether Tom Holland will be in another ‘Spider-Man’ film in future. I know Spidey will make at least return in an ‘Avengers’ film. Possibly ‘Secret Wars’, me thinks. 😀

Apart from that, I’m very pleased that I’ve seen ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ at the cinema recently. It’s a very satisfying film to check out at the cinema and it kept me interested concerning how Peter Parker/Spider-Man tackled things post-‘No Way Home’.

I’m sure there’ll come a point where I’ll be revisiting ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ in a future in-depth review along with other ‘MCU’ films and TV shows I’ve yet to check out and do in-depth reviews on. Despite that, I’m happy ‘Brand New Day’ is a worthwhile film.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂