I admit that I had not been planning to watch another Spider-Man movie in the same way that I had anticipated watching The Odyssey. My MCU-love had seriously waned. However, after hearing the cheers and reviews, I was excited to watch Brand New Day. I thought the other two movies featuring Tom Holland as Spider-Man were really good, and a lot of fun, so it’s little surprise that I ended up loving this movie. In many ways, it’s done something super-heroic by reigniting my excitement for superhero movies. Honestly, at the start, I wasn’t so sure this was going to be a hit with me (and I was worried that I’d have to go back to my raving friends to say that it didn’t work for me the way it did them). This movie continues the story from the last film — remember the one featuring multiple Spider-Men (Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield), and how Holland’s Spider-Man asked Doctor Strange to cast a spell for everyone to forget him and forget that he was Spider-Man? I was not very excited by a movie that had him brooding over the loss of his friends and the woman he loved (MJ, played by Zendaya) while throwing himself into his work as protector of New York City — nor was I looking forward to 2½ hours of regret over the heroic decision he made in the previous film. Thankfully, this movie went in many positive directions from that sulking start and became, in my opinion, the first true MCU film. Nice going, Spidey!

The plot is a bit complicated, frankly, and while it starts to follow the typical “villain needs to be stopped” arc, it takes a few twists and turns along the way to becoming something more. Mostly we are focused on the government agency known as Damage Control, which is tasked with keeping a handle on super-powered beings, and enforcing the law with them. Spidey is their partner and ally and when they get attacked by a mysterious being who can apparently take over people’s minds, the central mystery of this movie kicks off. Who is this person, why are they attacking Damage Control, and what do they ultimately want? Along the way, Spidey gets the help of other MCU characters (including The Punisher, The Hulk, and my personal favourite, Yelena Belova — the newly-christened Black Widow, played by the amazing Florence Pugh) who make wonderful guest stars and really made me feel like the events of this movie were happening in the Marvel Universe, where all these characters live. Previous team-ups that brought MCU characters together seemed to do so only on the battlefield, in secret venues, or in remote places where there was no normal life around them. This time, we meet these characters in their homes, workplaces (including Black Widow’s peculiar “office”) and that does more to make this MCU feel real than any other Marvel Studios film has achieved thus far. Nice going, director Destin Daniel Cretton!

Coming back to Spider-Man/Peter Parker’s carry-over storyline (where he’s lost his loved ones), that definitely gets revisited throughout the movie, and it turned out quite well. For one thing, I thought Tom Holland’s performance was great. He’s such a good fit for this character. He’s got a nice blend of awkward charm, bookish smarts, and a truly good heart — you cannot help but root for him. Holland brings so much more emotionality to this movie than he did as Telemachus in The Odyssey. Same with Zendaya. I know everyone loves her, but I am not generally a big fan. However, she so naturally shifts from guarded and clever, to kind and sensitive, that she really sold me on MJ’s character and what Peter sees in her. The scene where she has to tell him that (because of the forgetting spell) she doesn’t actually love him, was heartbreaking. Finally, Spider-friend Ned has a much smaller part in this movie, but was surprisingly good. His main role has always been Peter’s stalwart best friend — transformed into Spider-Man fanboy after the forgetting spell — but Jacob Batalon is so lovable and charming that you genuinely feel what Peter has lost. Surprisingly, the trio are not brought back together to help Spider-Man save the day — instead, the focus is on the friendship Peter has lost, and what embers of it might still be rekindled. Even if you were to lift out this storyline, remove the magical aspect (let’s replace it with retrograde amnesia or something), it would still have been a nicely made dramatic story. Nice going, Tom, Zendaya, and Jacob!

The main Damage-Control-vs-Mind-controlling-super-villain storyline definitely went in a few interesting directions. I’m not going to spoil anything, but there were things that nicely set up the future of the MCU (something so many previous Marvel films have tried and failed to do since Avengers: Endgame) with a whole new theme and phase. I originally didn’t think the villain of this movie was well handled. I thought it was taking a character that I loved, and using them cheaply as a gimmick-villain — mind control and possession being a thrilling but economical device that requires no CGI — but I guess I should have trusted Cretton and the writers a little more, because even though many beats in the second half were familiar, it was still very well done — and the outcome genuinely thrilled me. The cast and the filmmakers were able to take a whole lot of common ingredients and combine them in interesting ways to create something fresh and very satisfying. Nice going!

As I mentioned at the start, being able to ignite my faded love for the MCU was no small achievement. After watching Brand New Day, I am keen to see what’s next (even though I don’t want to see Robert Downey Jr. cast as Doctor Doom — Why’d you do that, Marvel? Come on!) But I guess I need to have more faith in Marvel Studios and their magic-making. Perhaps the title of this film was more prescient than it seemed, and a new era has just begun. Nice going, Marvel! I cannot wait.

4.5 stars