‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ review: Marvel’s only good series is back after 5 years

The entire world has forgotten about Peter Parker.

However, back in our reality, the planet has definitely not blanked on “Spider-Man.” 

Even taking into account the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s crises in recent years, both creative and financial, and the long five-year gap since he was last onscreen, Spidey firmly remains the best thing they’ve got.

I attend Marvel movies with the same enthusiasm of receiving hospital test results, and I still can’t quit the webslinger.   

And so seeing Tom Holland’s Peter don the red-and-blue suit again in the very satisfying “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is a welcome reunion, although he’s no longer the happy-go-lucky hero he once was.

Starting with “Homecoming,” the first trilogy was lovable, candy-colored teen movies. No. 2, “Far From Home,” was practically a PG-13 “EuroTrip.” And the epic, Multiversal finale, “No Way Home,” still popped, but the plates shifted in the end with the tragic death of Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May and Dr. Strange’s consequential spell that erased Peter from everyone’s memory — including his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon).

Half a decade later, “Brand New Day” may sound like a Brady Bunch song, but it’s a much darker and more mature movie in look and feel from what came before. It’s both a continuation of the character and a necessary restart of the series. 

The personality change of the film, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton of the forgotten “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” begins straight away with an emotional narration from Peter. He’s reading a letter to MJ he plans to one day deliver.

Peter explains their past, hopes that he’ll see her again and that she’ll remember him when he does.

“Until then,” he says, “I’m just gonna be Spider-Man.” 

And that right there is the campaign slogan of “Brand New Day.” Spidey is not a globe-and-galaxy-trotting Avenger anymore — he’s returned to being a friendly neighborhood vigilante in New York.

Praise be.

Instead of reporting to Tony Stark or Nick Fury, ever-anonymous Peter works alongside Detective DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas) thwarting crimes in the five boroughs. Sometimes they’re thugs, sometimes they’re known villains like Scorpion (Michael Mando).

His reputation has gotten a boost in this second life, too. The police love him, and locals revere him. NY1’s Pat Kiernan reports that, thanks to Spidey, crime rates have dropped to a record low. 

Yet a strange new foe has challenged Peter’s formidable abilities. Not exactly a shocking plot twist, I know. The baddie is an eerie force that can hop between bodies, thus making them next to impossible to chase down. Its voice jumps cooly from body to body, like Agent Smith in “The Matrix.” And when their identity is revealed, the fanboys will wheeze and gasp.

Peter is tasked by Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman, doing his mysterious “Severance” thing) of the Department of Damage Control with stopping the evildoer, who is trying to access the secret contents of a safe.

Spider-Man teams up with the trigger-happy Punisher (Jon Berthal, brash and funny) and also seeks the advice of Professor Bruce Banner aka the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Hulk no remember Peter either. 

There’s some drama at home at his crummy, single-dude apartment. Peter’s arachnid DNA is asserting itself more and he starts going through dangerous hormonal changes. Bit of a late bloomer. No shame in that.

And he has increasing run-ins with MJ and Ned. His plan to fully disappear for their protection, it turns out, has plenty of risky cracks.

During the five-year hiatus, Holland and Zendaya’s always apparent chemistry was confirmed — they got married. This time, the sparks between the couple really shoot off the screen with the heavier material, and raw and vulnerable Holland in particular does his best acting of the franchise. “Spider-Man” has always more about characters than action set pieces.

Tonally, “Brand New Day” is a lot more like Tobey Maguire’s aughts films, which to my mind are not only the gold standard of “Spider-Man” movies, but Marvel films as well. 

Fun though Peter’s high-school years were, there’s a compelling weightiness to him re-evaluating his great power and responsibility from the perspective of an adult. 

What especially reminded me of Maguire’s stint is a moving scene in “Brand New Day” when New Yorkers rally around Spider-Man. Members of the crowd hold up “New York Hearts Spidey” signs and the Empire State Building’s lights change to blue and red. It’s nostalgically “Ghostbusters”-y.

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.