The subtitle of the newest Spider-Man movie, Brand New Day, implies a grand reset. Yes, this is the fourth Spider-Man installment starring Tom Holland as the spindly hero, not including the other Marvel projects he’s popped in for. This sequel, however, purports to bring the character back to basics, offering a street-level adventure after far too many big crossovers. Its predecessor, No Way Home, mixed up good and bad guys from three different iterations of the Spider-Man franchise for a ridiculous phantasmagoria of clanging action figures. But it ended with a magic spell that made Spider-Man’s true identity (as Peter Parker) unknown to all, even his loved ones; instead, he became an anonymous, local do-gooder battling bank robbers and costumed thugs around New York City. And Brand New Day pretends to tell that story, for about 20 minutes.
The simple, rather depressing, and completely overwhelming fact of the matter is that the Marvel Cinematic Universe cannot be ignored, even as superhero fatigue has definitively set in at the global box office. Spider-Man: Brand New Day briefly aspires to be unconcerned with the plotty goings-on of the Avengers and their ilk, yet as Destin Daniel Cretton’s movie drags on, it’s used as a launchpad for future projects. That Marvel is relying on its best-loved hero—who consistently attracts wide swaths of moviegoers to theaters—to spark some later success makes sense; the approach used to work very well for the MCU. But it has become progressively more exhausting for viewers. Worse still, the sections of Brand New Day that do focus on Spider-Man are maudlin—they dial up his loneliness and malaise while forgetting about the screwball joie de vivre that often sets him apart from the rest of the Marvel catalog.
That tendency toward downbeat storytelling has befallen many Spider-Man films over the years. The character, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, is fundamentally unlucky—repeatedly besieged by public scorn, or money troubles, or romantic turmoil—but he bears that misfortune with spirit and grace; he gleefully swings via web across skyscrapers while the city tosses problem after problem at him. In Brand New Day, though, Peter Parker has become a workaholic. He dons the Spider-Man costume to beat up bad guys, seemingly because he has no social life or family at home.
[Read: Why Spider-Man still matters]
Peter’s beloved Aunt May (played by Marisa Tomei) died in No Way Home, and his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and best pal, Ned (Jacob Batalon), had their memories of him wiped away for their own protection. Brand New Day’s script, by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, emphasizes Peter’s growing sense of alienation by having him go through a spider puberty of sorts: He begins to spurt uncontrollable web-fluid from his wrists and experiences total sensory overload every time he goes outside. The idea that Spider-Man is becoming a little too much of an arachnid at the cost of his own humanity could be a fun one, with a nice dollop of body horror. Instead, it mostly involves Peter gloomily walking the streets, gazing at MJ from afar, and then getting sucked into various MCU quests that are hard to feel too invested in.
That includes some business with the Punisher (Jon Bernthal), a hardened antiheroic assassin who has been softened for Brand New Day’s PG-13 environs. Now he’s an outer-borough crank who lives in a tugboat and barks at Spider-Man to stop being such a softie. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), a.k.a. the Hulk, makes an appearance, helping Peter puzzle out the scientific mysteries of his ongoing transformation. Then there’s the new, mysterious character played by Sadie Sink, introducing a major element of MCU lore that has very little to do with Spider-Man. I won’t reveal the details for the spoiler-phobic, but it’s dispiriting that Sink’s entire storyline not only feels forced in but also seems desperately cribbed from Stranger Things, the show on which the actor first made an impression.
For much of the baggy running time, Spider-Man is less of a likable urban superhero and more a friendly neighborhood bystander. Holland’s performance in this role has always been winning; he has a Marty McFly–esque chirpiness that suits Peter’s inherent nerdiness, and he’s just as capable of delivering a puppy-dog stare as befits the big, broad emotions of comic-book storytelling. Despite numerous outings, however, Holland’s Spider-Man has never really gotten the chance to save the day on his own. His entries have always been besieged by cameos from popular characters such as Iron Man, Nick Fury, or, as in No Way Home, the Spider-Men that preceded Holland’s take. Brand New Day opens with a montage of Spider-Man duking it out with villains solo in New York, yet it feels almost meant to be skipped past.
A prior Marvel film, last year’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, made that same mistake. It, too, kicked off with a sequence for the fans, showing some favorite comic-book heroes and villains getting quickly dispatched before the actual story revved up. In both cases, the assumption is the same—that theatergoers aren’t there for traditional superhero derring-do, only a cavalcade of Easter eggs and teases for upcoming installments to keep the Marvel gravy train running at full steam. No doubt Brand New Day will make billions and prove that strategy somewhat correct. But for a genuine fan of the kind of throwback these movies could offer, it might be somewhat sad to behold.
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