Spider-Man: Brand New Day, rated PG-13
***
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is an exciting and entertaining action film. Due to the action violence and adult language, it would be best for teens and older.
The film, which follows 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (The Glass Castle, Just Mercy), and written by Emmy nominee Chris McKenna (Community), and Emmy nominee Erik Sommers (American Dad!). The film had an estimated budget of $225 million, and after two weeks had already grossed $1.7 billion worldwide.
Dr. Strange’s spell erased Peter Parker, played by Tom Holland, (also in the theaters in his role in The Odyssey), from the memory of everyone who loved him, particularly MJ, played by two-time Emmy winner Zendaya (Euphoria), and his best friend Ned Lees, played by Jacob Batalon.
Peter has been living an isolated life ever since, which is what he wanted. He wanted the world to forget he ever existed. After Aunt May’s death, played in flashbacks by Oscar winner Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny), he didn’t want to endanger the lives of anyone else he cared for.
During this time, Peter has become extremely popular in New York City as Spider-Man. Working with the police, in particular detective Jean DeWolff, played by Emmy winner Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear), the city’s crime rate has plunged. Still, he’s lonely and misses MJ and Ned, and follows them on social media.
In addition to his loneliness, there are strange things going on with Peter’s body, including migraine headaches and the lack of some of his functionality, and a mysterious and initially invisible entity is threatening the city that has the power to control minds, jump from one mind to the next, and hijack people’s bodies. The entity is later revealed to be Jean Grey, played by Sadie Sink (Stranger Things). Jean can control everyone – even the Hulk, played by four-time Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things, Spotlight, Foxcatcher, The Kids are Alright), but she cannot control Spider-Man. Jon Bernthal plays Frank Castle, initially an adversary of Spider-Man, but later a partner with him. Will Spider-Man and Frank be able to save the city from this new villain?
The film contains the action violence you would expect in a Marvel film. It also includes nearly forty obscenities and profanities. God’s name and Jesus’ name are both misused a total of 16 times (seven of those combining God with “d–n”).
We enjoyed the film. It had exciting action scenes, good character development, strong performances, and positive messages such as sacrifice. Unfortunately, it was marred by a lot of adult language that it doesn’t need to have.
