No shade on Project Hail Mary
It’s totally fair to say that, up to this point, Spiderman Brand New Day was the most anticipated move of the year. Not that the bar was set very high (oh, we’re gonna get to that, bet on it). And it isn’t without good reason. Since Avengers Endgame, Marvel really has not put out much to cheer about (and I’m in the minority that really loved Thunderbolts). I’m not convinced that ‘superhero fatigue’ is a thing. I think it’s a ‘write stories that appeal to your target audience and don’t stuff it with an agenda and maybe get better writers’ thing. Oh, and maybe don’t turn Nick Fury – the single baddest bad-@$$ in the MCU – into a total wuss. Maybe not do that.
That’s billion. With a capital B.
It wasn’t just an MCU problem. Your Average Dude thought the Pattinson version of Batman was not just bad but an insult to the amazing legacy of Batman on multiple levels. And don’t get me started on Supergirl. So yeah, the ill-considered choice by both sides of the superhero isle to ‘re-imagine’ their tent-pole heroes, to try and appeal to other than the target audience just feels like greed at best and attempts at social engineering at worst. My point is, it’s not that we’ve gotten tired of the superhero genre. We’re still willing to go. Heck, Spiderman Brand New Day made nearly a billion bucks opening weekend (and that was reported Sunday afternoon, before the evening numbers were in, so…). Clearly, we just want characters we love and a good story. That’s not too much to ask, is it?
Just laziness
In the post Endgame MCU, I truly believe that Disney tried to change the culture with a lot of nonsense that was antithetical to their paying fan-base (the receipts are almost endless). And they gave it their best shot, no question. In the end, people stopped buying and stopped watching and Disney was forced to abandon that agenda. Unfortunately, in the course-correction, they tried schlepping out a whole bunch of stuff that was poorly-written, straight from formula and took for granted that they still had pull with a national audience that was over them. That one-two punch is what might have tanked the genre. Chalk it up to taking their core audience for granted. And laziness.
Then, along came a Spider
Disney MCU threw everything they could into a last-ditch Hail Mary (see what I did there?) with Avengers: Doomsday. They brought back everyone that made them great in the first place. The marketing blitz started early and is reasonably well paced to avoid over saturation. And of a great benefit to them is the spectacular success of Spiderman Brand New Day. I think that it’s popularity will only help increase their hopes (and ours) that Doomsday will be special. Spiderman Brand New Day did what superhero movies are designed to do…bring us hope. That is as true for Disney as it is for the viewing public. And this fan-base, while not inexhaustible, is forgiving. So yes, there is reason for their hope.
You’d think they would have at least mentioned them
Spiderman Brand New Day picks up about 4 years after Spiderman No Way Home. Spidey has become the NYC everyman hero he was always meant to be. He has a crime-fighting relationship with police detective Jean DeWolff, who he has on speed dial. Spidey is beloved by the citizens of New York. He’s even on a first name basis with the Punisher. So yes, he has been established as an icon and a hero of the people. Sadly, references to Daredevil, Kingpin and even J Jonah Jameson are all absent, and that didn’t go unnoticed. But whatever.
Probably my favorite moment
Also, back from college are MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Batalon) with small but impactful roles in Spiderman Brand New Day. Jon Bernthal’s Punisher plays no small part in the 4th Tom Holland era wall-crawler installment (even a scene-stealer). And although we’ve become accustomed to a very R rated mouth on Frank Castle, Spiderman Brand New Day handled it masterfully, in a way that only Spiderman could. Trust me.
And what would a Marvel movie be if it didn’t set up another Marvel movie, either in the course of the story or in the post credits. In this case, Spiderman Brand New Day did it in both. And that inspires at least curiosity, if not exactly hope. But curiosity is enough and I’ll keep watching.
What made Spiderman Brand New Day so good is a combination of things. Was the story good? It was decent in places, magnificent in others. It brought a beloved character into a real, multi-layered situation with real personal stakes. I didn’t cry. I didn’t see anyone crying. But there have been reports. It also brought our favorite web-head back to where he should have been all along…as a street-level, got problems of my own relatable hero. Spidey has no business with Iron Spider armor or cosmic level adventures. Friendly. Neighborhood. It’s right there in the theme song.
The action sequences were some of the best we’ve ever seen from a Marvel movie and top marks for the CGI/real life mix. In an MCU that is overfond of blowing up people/buildings/planets, I have to say that the action of a down-to-earth superdude is 100% better.
The not-so-quiet part out loud
It surely didn’t hurt Spiderman Brand New Day that there has been such a deficit of quality movies (in general) lo these past few years. In this new era of entertainment, the true standouts are few and far between. And for a fourth (or 7th, depending on how you want to look at it) movie, how is Spiderman Brand New Day the best one (because it is)? Shoot, even Die Hard crashed after the 5th installment (the sixth was greenlit then canceled). I think you have to give most of the credit to the perfect casting of Tom Holland. Amazingly likable on and off screen, he was the perfect choice…the role he was born to play.
And if I’m honest, maybe the only role he can play (his part in the Odyssey was mid at best). We love this character, we are powerless to not love him. Same with Jon Bernthal’s Punisher. Just perfect casting there.
As for the plot, it was decent. Kind of an adjustment from the cosmic level stuff he’s done up to this point, but we settled in quickly enough. This movie had the hero run an emotional spectrum. Love, loyalty, sacrifice, heartbreak, joy, hope, heroism and tragedy, and all in nearly perfect measure. Little known director Destin Daniel Cretton absolutely crushed it and clearly has a feel for the emotional elements of a great movie.* I’m noticing his name going forward.
Or fire the webshooter
My gut reaction, straight out of the theater even before putting my empty popcorn bag in the trash, was to give Spiderman Brand New Day a never-before bestowed 5 out of 5. On further consideration, I can’t quite pull the trigger, sorry. There was enough flaw with the story to knock it down just a bit. But I’ve got no problem giving it a 4.8. Is part of that because this movie soars by comparison to pretty much everything Marvel has done since Endgame and GotG3? I’m sure. But if we are in the new norm, this is what a top shelf movie is going to be. And in this case, it did whatever a spider can. It delivered.
*I saw he directed ‘The Shack’. An absolutely great movie, heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. This movie would make Ultron cry, not kidding. See it.
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