While fighting as Spider-Man in a world that doesn’t remember him, Peter Parker has to deal with odd physical changes, a powerful new foe and a whole lot of loneliness. There are some nice messages about the healing power of community. But there’s also a lot of destructive pounding here and quite a bit of foul language.
When Dr. Strange did his magical alakazam and repaired the broken multiverse, it made life pretty rough for Peter Parker. I mean, Strange did the right thing, but Peter has been, well, living a resolutely isolated life ever since.
Now, don’t get me wrong, that’s sort of what Peter had in mind: He wanted the world to forget he ever existed. It was safer that way. After Aunt May’s death, he definitely didn’t want to endanger the lives of anyone else he cared for. So, making himself into a nobody that nobody remembered seemed the best—the smartest—thing to do.
Still …
On the plus side, Peter has gotten really good at being Spider-Man. He has a sweet, tech-filled setup in his attic apartment, an advanced AI assistant, his own 3D, suit printer, and he’s working hand-in-web with the police. In fact, the city’s crime rate has dropped like a stone. He simply thwipps his way around the city, wrapping up thugs and snatching innocents out of harm’s way.
The city loves Spider-Man.
Problem is nobody loves Peter Parker. And no spider is an island. Peter is feeling the weight of being isolated. Loneliness and his ever-constant crime fighting is stressing him out to the max. Hey, Peter even tiptoed over to meet the people he once loved most: former girlfriend, MJ, and best bud, Ned. But they seemed, frankly, quite happy without him.
Peter even got an eyeful of MJ snogging her new boyfriend. Ugh!
Fact is, though, there are bigger things tangled up in Peter’s web right now. For one, his body is … changing. Is it some kind of hormonal shift brought on by extreme stress? Is it some further mutation of his radioactive arachnid DNA? Peter isn’t sure, but he’s oddly developed his own organic webbing—the very same goopy stuff that he once marveled over a different Peter Parker having. (Ah, the multiverse.)
Then there are the migraines, the blackouts, the sporadic bouts of rage, the overwhelming heightened senses and increased strength. Peter must learn how to control these new developments or risk badly hurting the innocents he wants to protect.
That, however, isn’t even the worst of it. There’s also a new threat creating chaos in New York City.
A mysterious individual (entity?) with the power to control minds and jump from one mind to the next is a new and dangerous threat. Who can Peter trust (or fight) when anyone can attack him from any direction? This individual could lay waste to the populace by simply controlling the wrong powerful people. If someone like the Hulk came under that control, for instance, buildings could be demolished in minutes.
It’s up to Peter to discover what this new foe is seeking. He must save a frightened city. He needs to figure out how to control his own body. And he’s gotta keep from going crazy with loneliness.
Man, it’s a tough time for a nobody named Peter Parker.
Early on, we see Spider-Man jumping into heroic acts to stop marauding thugs and save groups of innocent civilians from danger. People cheer the superhero’s attempts to clear the streets of evil. And they hold up signs and stand vigil to show their support when he later gets hurt.
With time, Peter crosses paths with MJ and voices his regret for past actions he’s made. He also makes it clear that some of his new abilities might qualify him as a monster rather than a hero. MJ makes it clear that she doesn’t share Peter’s memories or feelings. But her observations of him suggest that he’s a “really good guy, who might just be changing.”
Peter also turns to Frank Castle (“The Punisher”) for help. The two clash but work together, gaining one another’s respect. Frank notes to Peter that if he could bring back his lost loved ones for even one second, he wouldn’t hide anything behind a mask. He’d make his feelings open and plain.
Peter relives memories of Aunt May comforting him and supporting him after learning about his abilities. Later Peter uses that same memory to demonstrate to a wounded and grieving person that healing from painful tragedy is possible with the help of people who accept you for who you are and step up to help and love you no matter what.
“Just because we’ve lost someone, it doesn’t mean that we have to do this alone,” Peter declares. “Even if that’s true, I have no one,” this grieving individual states. Peter offers his own friendship and backs it up with self-sacrificial action.
Someone jokingly suggests that the mind control Spider-Man encounters might be caused by a “ghost or demon.” After Spider-Man is hospitalized, a person in a crowd of well-wishers holds up a sign requesting prayer for the injured hero.
Spider-Man goes to see Yelena Belova (The New Avengers’ Black Widow) for advice. She meets him in a spa pool and demands he disrobe and join her. We see her bared shoulders and his badly bruised, undershorts-clad body. It’s later clarified that Yelena does all her business meetings in this manner so that she can verify her visitors are not carrying weapons (and, she says, so they can all have a relaxing soak). Peter also wakes up wrapped in a web cocoon he’s created and dangles in the air dressed in nothing but undershorts.
MJ kisses her new boyfriend in front of Peter. And she also kisses Peter while being mind controlled. (We see Peter and MJ kissing in flashback.)
Superhero violence abounds here, ranging from Spider-Man barely avoiding gun blasts, speeding vehicles and wielded weapons to him leaping into massive battles with superpowered enemies. And whenever Peter removes his mask (or shirt) he is always bruised and cut. The hero is nearly impaled on several occasions, and he’s shot in the back by a high-powered sniper shot while protecting someone.
A tank-like vehicle bulldozes its way down a city street, smashing vehicles and unleashing cannon-like fire. Spider-Man swings and scrambles quickly to steer the vehicle away from bystanders with webbing, and he struggles to keep the explosive destruction to a minimum. Eventually he’s able to flip the tank through a huge concrete wall to stop it. The vehicle then explodes, taking down the entire building (and potentially, its occupants).
Peter battles against a massive and raging Bruce-Banner-turned-Hulk, who batters the smaller man viciously, literally tearing up the side of a skyscraper in the process and trying to crush the small hero beneath his huge pummeling hands. At the same time, Frank Castle riddles the Hulk with high-powered rounds to the face and body and hits him with explosive charges. Peter also fights with a group of ninjas called “The Hand.” They acrobatically leap around, battering Spider-man, slashing at him with katana swords and shooting him with specially made anti-Spider-man weapons.
The mysterious telepath controls dozens of people, sometimes forcing innocent people to jump in front of speeding vehicles or jump off rooftops. At one point, this individual takes control of a huge city block, possessing scores of people, blowing out walls and windows and holding one man captive with sharp, floating shards of glass.
Peter suffers through several painful migraine attacks and clutches his arms and body while riddled by sharp pains. Peter’s AI assistant, EV, suggests that the changes are caused by Peter’s extreme emotional stress and a hormonal surge. We also see him convulsing in pain from his heightened senses and falling from several rooftops as he loses control.
When Peter has these attacks, his eyes turn black, and he tends to lose control as he goes into a rage. In one incident, he batters a villain to the ground leaving him torn and bloody. Peter also flails about with a large object, flipping a police car and almost killing the cop inside. Someone gets shot in the back and falls over as blood pools beneath him.
Frank begins to spit out “motherf—” before Spider-Man seals his mouth with webbing. Along with that, the dialogue is littered with 15 s-words, a dozen uses of “h—,” six uses of “a–” and one of “d–n.”
God’s name and Jesus’ name are both misused a total of 16 times (seven of those combining God with “d–n”).
Ned buys large canisters of beer and takes them to a party where guests are drinking beer and other adult beverages. Ned also purchases some energy drinks that he claims are “very addictive.”
Several people get knocked unconscious by drug-laced darts.
Peter goes to Bruce Banner (aka “The Hulk”) and asks about developing tech that might cancel out some of his new powers. Banner asks him: “How would you decide? What parts of nature are good or bad?”
We see that Peter faithfully follows his friend, Ned’s, social media page, though he never contacts him. And we also see Peter avoid a woman in his apartment building who tries to flirt with him. Both actions testify to Peter’s attempts to insulate people from any threat that might be associated with him.
We eventually realize that a government official has lied repeatedly and manipulated powerful individuals to act as offensive tools the government can use. It’s implied that this official also conducted scientific experiments on someone and eventually killed that person in pursuit of her power.
Someone talks about urinating. Peter steals someone’s clothes. When Peter begins to spurt organic web fluid from his wrists, he gags over the grossness of it all.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a comic book movie through and through. And like many new comic books hitting stores these days, that’s not always a good thing.
On the one hand, this pic uses an impressive blend of CGI special effects and practical stunt work to not only give us a nicely crafted perspective on Spider-Man’s new runaway senses and beefed-up abilities, but it also creates some spectacular action sequences that feel plucked right off a colorful graphic-novel page.
There are Marvel easter eggs everywhere. And this Spider-Man story cracks open the door for hints about the future of other Marvel franchises, such as The New Avengers and (shh!) the X-Men.
In addition, Brand New Day promotes the idea that while there is evil in the world that will attack and tear at the very things we love most, it’s the steadying love of those closest to us—our family members, our dearest friends—that calms us, that soothes us. The movie decries loneliness and cautions against isolating yourself. And Brand New Day declares that asking for help is a sign of bravery, not weakness. The kindness and caring love of those around us are the superpowers we need when the world grows dark.
On the other hand, this film isn’t all smooth web-swinging for your typical family audience. As you might expect, there is pounding, blasting, bullet-riddling and scenic destruction aplenty here. (Think: The Hulk demolishing a concrete and girder building with Spidey’s face while Frank Castle blasts automatic weapon fire into the raging greenie’s eyes.)
There are no deaths on display in the mix, but some are implied. Spider-Man is certainly bludgeoned and bloodied from head to toe. And scores of others are badly battered as well. So while goriness is reigned in, blood still drips from many a wound.
The biggest family drawback, though, is probably the foul language in the dialogue. Brand New Day may be a comic book actioner, but it’s a relatively foul-mouthed one—especially when the Punisher cuts loose with his blue-language blasts.
So, yes, there is plenty of superhero action and sparkling CGI to enjoy in this latest Spidey fare, but Mom and Dad might find their special parental senses tingling quite a bit, too.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
