This is the first time in quite a while we've seen a live action Spider-Man that is, essentially, a fully formed, grown up superhero, fighting crime on his own terms rather than looking to mentors to guide him.
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day it's four years after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. No one knows who Peter Parker is but Spider-Man has become a local legend, helping to keep New York free of crime.
Personally, Peter is still struggling with not reconnecting with his former friends, whose lives are again put at risk when a new foe crosses his path.
If you're a fan of Tom Holland's Spider-Man films, and the MCU in general this film should not only not disappoint, you may even consider it to be one of the best MCU films you've seen in a while.
I really enjoyed all the quick cameos by small time Spider-Man villains even though I don't know many of them. Their inclusion really started to broaden the scope of the character, despite this installment being relatively self contained.
It's a trend I'd like to see continue as any of these villains could reappear in cameos of future films or even materialise as the main protagonist.
One particularly genius inclusion in the film is Jon Bernthal's, Punisher. Despite Spider-Man and Punisher never crossing paths in any earlier MCU project, you immediately believe they have history and some kind of mutual understanding of the other's approach to crime fighting.
For me it was refreshing to see the Punisher just going about his business, with a little less of his PTSD clouding his judgement, and some really good back and forth with Peter as some kind of superhero odd couple. For once Peter didn't seem like he was in awe of a more experienced hero and talked to him like a peer.
I'd certainly like to see more of that - and that version of the Punisher.
The heart of the story is, of course, Peter coming to terms with whether or not to continue to keep his former friends, and in particular MJ (Zendaya), safe from the knowledge of his identity. A theme that is a very crucial part of the overall plot of the film, which centers around loss and being alone.
This aspect of the story I thought was woven through the film really well but did lead to the biggest let down, in that it kind of robs the movie of a clear villain, and the one we're left with isn't really resolved. There's just the aftermath of the final conflict. I can't really say more without creating a spoiler.
It's not a big problem overall, because Brand New Day is a solid Spider-Man film where Spider-Man is the clear and central focus, even against guest star characters like the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).
It has taken Sony a while to get here, and now that we've finally got an almost fully realized, grown up Spider-Man, I really hope Tom gets a few more films to explore this part of the character's life.
While Tom is my third live action Spider-Man, if he gets another film, he will be the first to have his school years well behind him. Allowing his story to build on a new era of Peter's life that we haven't really seen much of before.
Although Brand New Day is still very much tied to the events of the MCU and previous Spider-Man films, Sony could very much lean into Peter being the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man with his own stand alone stories with what they've set up here.
They might even be able to give us that Spider-Man/Venom movie that people have been wanting to see without it affecting Kevin Feige's plans for Spider-Man in the wider MCU. Here's hoping.
In the meantime, if you're a fan of Tom's Spider-Man this is a must see installment, and is probably one of the best of all the Spider-Man films to date.
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