I have seen Spider-Man: Brand New Day, took a few days to consider my thoughts on the movie, will give a bullet point list of random thoughts not in any order. Spoilers, obviously. Also I will be tagging my posts about the movie as #spider man: brand new day spoilers for around a month.
This I think is my first Spider-Man movie I'm watching as an adult. I just double checked, and I was 17 when No Way Home released. I honestly have been fairly close to Peter's age in each of his movies in the MCU, so it has been cool how I have grown up with him. Honestly the MCU has been such a pivotal part of my life, I remember first watching Iron Man when I was like 7. MCU was out here raising gen z, but having a teenage hero that was very close to many of our ages was honestly really cool growing up, and now seeing Peter in his 20s dealing with adult issues was great to see.
Similar topic, it was fun seeing Tom Holland as an adult Spider-Man since up until now he has been in high school in every movie. Which I think was great and not just because of the nostalgic I grew up with Tom's Peter thing. We didn't really get to see Tobey and Andrew as teenage Peters that much, their movies was more about them as adults. So it was fun to have Tom's movies focus on him being a teenager up until now, and it means that his 20 something year old Spidey has had years of experience since he was 14 in Civil War.
I'm not going to argue over who was the better Spider-Man because frankly I don't care and 90% of the time that answer is entirely nostalgic and based on which actor you watched the most growing up. It's very rare that I see anyone in their teens say Tobey or anyone in their 30s say Tom. I think they all have their strengths and enjoy all of our live action Spider-Mans. That said, holy frick Tom Holland! I am part of those 90% that prefers the Spider-Man they watched the most growing up, and watching Tom Holland in theaters are some core memories for me honestly. But he killed it in this movie.
I love the emphasis on not being able to handle your problems alone. I love how Peter was forced to get help throughout the movie from different people, how many of them said he needed to seek human connection. Even characters that were meeting him for the first time like Yelena were concerned for him (I actually love how in the video chat when Yelena saw MJ and Ned she was honestly happy that Peter wasn't alone). I loved watching him slowly learn to rely on others again, how he worked with Frank, how MJ helped him with the tech problem, etc. I thought it was a relevant theme that felt very targeted towards gen z and given that I have gone through a lot of stuff this year I am trying to remember the message behind this movie.
I also love how Peter at the end turned around and helped Jean accept help as well. I also thought it was cool because in the "Home" trilogy as I'll refer to it he had at least one mentor character in every movie. Tony, Happy, May, Stephen, they all were there to help him improve and give him guidance. But he didn't really have that this movie. Yeah, he talked to Yelena about the DODC attacks, asked Bruce about his inhibitor, and asked Frank to help protect MJ, but none of those characters filled in a mentor role I didn't think. Yelena and Bruce were barely there, and it was just that Peter knew they might have information he needed. And Frank has a good amount of screen time but he's not a mentor, he is honestly Peter's equal with the two of them helping each other, arguing with each other, etc. But at the end of the movie he took the role as someone to give Jean some guidance and understanding. And I think that shows just how much he has grown that he doesn't need a mentor character and that he can be the character to guide others. I also thought it was kind of cool because the vibes I got were that Peter came to where he is now partially due to the help he received when he was younger. Jean didn't have anyone after Sarah was taken and still needed lots of help. She got to where she is now because she didn't have a Tony or a Happy in her life.
There also is a message of accepting who you are. Peter doesn't want to accept his Man-Spider-esque changes (which also fyi as a child the 90s animated Spider-Man was my favorite and that show is where we first saw Man-Spider so I was so hyped for the references) but eventually does. He accepts he can be both Peter and Spider-Man (which ties into the needing human connection thing). He accepts his flaws, he accepts the difficulties, and he moves forward. That scene where he fought the Hand was amazing. I like the comparisons between him and Bruce, how he felt like he had a monster in him he needed to restrain. Bruce said something about needing to let biology take its course sometimes, which I found interesting. Also we already know that it's a big deal that Peter built an inhibitor in the same movie introducing Jean Grey and how that is going to have consequences in the future so yay for X-Men movies dealing with this!
Okay let's talk about Jean. Sadie Sink did great. I've never seen Stranger Things and this movie was the best marketing I personally could have received for it because I'd be down to watch a show with Sadie Sink in it now. I loved the design of her clothes (and Sarah's scrunchie) matching the colors of Jean's suit in the comics. Sadie's hair is a gorgeous shade of red. She excelled at being creepy but sympathetic at the same time. I am excited to see more of Jean in the future. Also I think most of us knew Sadie Sink was probably going to be Jean even though it wasn't confirmed. But even though I was fairly certain she was Jean it was still executed so well. Which is great because plot twists just to create shock almost never hold up after multiple watches. It makes me think of Agatha Harkness' reveal in WandaVision and how many people guessed Agnes' identity but that didn't take away from the reveal at all, if anything it made it better because we were able to guess it. Similar story with Sadie as Jean. Also I was worried at first they were going to nerf her and was hoping that it was only that she was young and hadn't developed her powers enough. And then she froze a significant part of NYC and controlled multiple people at once and unlocked telekinesis. So safe to say she was not nerfed.
Okay, about VMax. I actually liked the reveal. I think everyone assumed it was something like a weapon or a powered person DODC was controlling or maybe the tech they'd use to experiment on Jean, heck I even saw that one person thought the V stood for Venom and that it was about the tiny bit of the symbiote left behind in the NWH post credit. But it being literally the last thing Sarah saw before she died was so powerful and I think was more meaningful since it wasn't a stereotypical weapon or something.
Also, speaking about Jean. Since we have now seen her in a villain-like role, it makes me excited for a potential Phoenix storyline because Sadie would kill it.
Okay, Ned and MJ were great. I love that Ned made the Spidey tracker, that he doesn't remember Peter but knows Spider-Man saved him and wants to thank him one day. The handshake at the end was so sweet. MJ was so good. Maybe it's that Zendaya and Tom are married, but their chemistry was so good even though it wasn't the romantic chemistry everyone wanted. Love that she helped Peter fix the tech issues, loved her interactions with Frank, and loved every second she had with Peter. Also comparing how she was with Peter in NWH and how she was with her boyfriend now is funny because y'all it's nothing like NWH. Also in the credits he is only boyfriend which is so funny to me. I loved how they did legos and MJ was drawing them and Peter and Ned were quoting LOTR together. And again that Yelena was happy that Peter wasn't alone.
Also, someone hire Zendaya as a villain now. Gosh when Jean was controlling her her acting was so good. Genuinely wanted to scream. Also the facial expression change as she's smiling as she falls, blinks, and then MJ is back and she's screaming. Also when MJ was calm while swinging I at first thought it was because she already had done that with Peter before. But when it was revealed it was Jean I suddenly realized that was a stupid idea because MJ never liked swinging. I thought that switch up was great because the minute I realized it it all clicked so fast for me.
Speaking about that scene and the kiss. I love how one true love's kiss didn't fix everything. I love that it takes more than that. I also liked MJ's reaction to the letter. How she feels bad but is honest about not having feelings for him but is hurt that he didn't tell her. Valid reaction and anyone that says otherwise I don't like that of them. Also the people that said that Peter shouldn't have taken her home because she rejected him are creeps and don't understand Spider-Man at all.
So I never watched Daredevil or Punisher, so this is my first intro to him in the MCU though I have a basic understanding of roughly his backstory. Loved his interactions with Peter and how the two become friends by the end. Loved Jean's reaction to getting inside of his head. Loved how guilty he felt for shooting Peter on accident and how he saved Jean from him. He had the most relatable reaction in the entire MCU to fighting the Hulk. Honestly I've been meaning to watch Daredevil and the other Netflix originals for a while now, but this is helping to convince me to do that.
I honestly called it before I watched the movie that Peter would think Jean was the villain, it would actually be DODC in a standard anti-mutant way, and then he'd team up with Jean. Mostly because Jean is usually only a villain as the Phoenix and while I'd love to see Sadie portray the Phoenix I wasn't really expecting that right off the bat, especially in a Spider-Man movie and not an X-Men one. But even though I saw it coming a mile away it was executed very well, like I said it's a twist that holds up after rewatches I'm sure since I loved it even though knowing that would happen.
I've had that Tame Impala song stuck in my head since I watched the movie.
The look and feel was so good. I love how swinging was, the color grading was so much better than a standard Marvel film, and I love the references to comic covers! I never played the Insomniac game, but I'm sure those players loved those references too.
I've seen some people upset over Yelena's big/small potato thing when Peter was in Infinity War and Endgame. But honestly I don't get why? Yelena wasn't saying that Peter isn't capable of handing Avengers level threats, she is aware that he has done that multiple times. But since NWH Peter has focused on street level stuff like Scorpion and the Hand and Tarantula. He has been focusing on small potatoes whereas the New Avengers have to focus on big potatoes and are able to do so because of Peter and others handling the smaller stuff. I felt like all she was saying was that she doesn't have time to get involved in friendly neighborhood Spider-Man stuff. She recognized that this was a bigger deal than say Scorpion probably was, and helped him by telling him what she knew which was highly classified info. And when he found out about Jean and Sarah he looped Yelena in again because it's a bigger deal than either of them realized, and while Peter was in the hospital they said that Yelena was a major part of handling the DODC. So I don't think it was a big deal. I think Yelena recognizes what Peter has done, but knows he mainly focuses on street level threats and mostly just wanted to make sure she isn't getting looped into small things when she wants to focus on big things, while helping out Peter where she could. Anyway I think it was reasonable and I liked seeing her again. The pool office thing was kinda random but honestly can't argue with her saying it got rid of people's weapons effectively so yeah good for her I guess. But yeah I'd love to see Peter and Yelena and the rest of the Thunderbolts cross over in the future.
Genuine question: why does the fandom freak out thinking literally any black man could be Miles Morales and any blonde woman could be Gwen Stacy? Don't get me wrong I'd love Miles and Gwen to be live action but they'll be introduced when they're introduced and it will be in a way that makes sense and not just a blonde girl getting her Juicy couture stolen by Peter while standing next to a black guy. Though actually shout out to the black guy Jean controlled and started talking about MJ and Ned. I don't think he's Miles but I think other than the named characters he was the best at portraying Jean taking someone over so good for him. He's not Miles but he did great in his 30 seconds of screen time.
Also it's funny that people freak out over every black person when Cindy Moon aka Silk has literally been in the MCU since Homecoming and no one noticed. She canonically is called Cindy and was on the decathalon team in Homecoming, on the bus in Infinity War, I don't think she was in FFH but maybe in the background in NWH and was the student asking Bruce about Thanos. I am serious this is the same actress every time and she is canonically called Cindy yet I haven't seen anyone freak out over Silk in the past ten years.
I've seen people mad about the post credit scene and I'm literally not. Yeah we didn't learn a ton but we learned he'll be in space. Also the point of the Spidey Tracker is that other people report where he is at so it's implied someone else was there and reported it maybe as a way to try to tell Ned where he is. Also MJ literally said that she switched her major from biotech/biochem (I don't remember which) to aerospace. They could have not said that. She could have had a bio major. Or they could have not specified her major. But they specified she has a degree in aerospace and then said Peter will be in space in the future. Idk but that might mean something.
I'm going to rewatch it again and I'll let you know what other thoughts I have but honestly I'd recommend and I'm excited for future Spider-Man projects.
