Is Spider-Man: Brand New Day Worth Watching? Our Honest Review

Zendaya and Tom Holland have been making waves with their Spider-Man: Brand New Day press tour, but is the film worth watching? The anticipated sequel to Spider-Man: No Way Home has just hit theaters, and it’s a more grounded, serious look at Spider-Man’s life as he attempts to live life in solitude. The film has received an overwhelmingly positive response from critics, with a solid score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s easy to dismiss Spider-Man: No Way Home as a superhero film that’s all about action and big set pieces, but there’s a deep look into what makes you unique, how connection and relationships are so important, and it will make you want to call your best friend.

Below, entertainment writers Angeline Barion, Bernice Corral and Rachel Choy examine what makes Spider-Man: No Way Home so emotional, the acting performances from Sadie Sink, Zendaya and Tom Holland, and how many tissues they went through. Spoilers below.

Rachel Choy: How excited were you for this movie?!

Bernice Corral: Literally my most anticipated movie of the year. From Sony.

Angeline Barion: I’m not usually openly expressive about how much of a fan I am about things, except for minions. So this coming out around the same time meant I had an out of body experience. I think I almost blew up, like spontaneously combusted. That’s the level of excitement.

RC: I want to know the level of tissues. How many tissues did you use?

AB: I bought a packet of 60 Kleenex tissues, and I think that collectively between three of us sitting in the same row as really big Spider-Man fans, I think we got through 20, and we had like a whole plastic cup full.

RC: Let’s talk about the performances to begin with. What did you think of Tom Holland?

BC: I mean he’s great, but did he need to be topless that much?

RC: Yeah, he didn’t need to be in his undies. But also, he did. Wait, guys, can we talk about the moment he got his organic web?

AB: That was a bit red hot.

RC: It was like jizz. It was splurting, and I was like, did we need such a close up?

AB: But also, I was just thinking about the passage of how much time had passed from when he passed out to when he woke up in that web. He really put his body on the line in this particular movie, and I thought his performance was amazing.

RC: The yearning!

AB: You could see it in his eyes, and he was just stoic. He was just looking for MJ the whole time.

RC: But also low-key stalkerish because she doesn’t know who he is!

BC: Well, yeah. When he showed up to her apartment, I was like, that’s trespassing.

RC: I was like boy, just read her the letter! Don’t do this, please. And what did you think of newcomer Sadie Sink?

BC: I just love her. I watched her in Stranger Things, she’s great.

RC: She was so good as Jean Gray, and I love X-Men. I’m not the hugest Marvel girl. I dropped off a little bit, but I’ve watched all the old X-Men films and all the Spider-Man ones. The depth and emotion in her, with her backstory and how they were treated like animals, there’s a lot to unpack there. Very similar to how you’re treated in our world if you’re different.

AB: I’ve never watched any of her stuff before, so this is the first time I’ve ever encountered Sadie. I think I was so drawn to her because she has quite an expressive forehead and eyes. The top section of her face is quite expressive.

RC: Also, her power was so cool. You could physically see her jumping from person to person. It was such a big jerk.

AB: The extras were so good! They just took it full force, and the way they were moving around, I was like, this could actually happen in real life and you wouldn’t notice. So if any telepaths are out there, some of our brains are rot.

BC: You could tell when she was possessing them and how they were able to capture it. Yeah, wow, your IMDB is gonna be crazy after this.

RC: What did you think about Zendaya, our MJ?

BC: One of the wigs she was wearing wasn’t my fave.

AB: It was the second one.

BC: You’re wearing a wig.

RC: Wigs aside, the scene where she was possessed by Jean Grey and Peter Parker thought his MJ remembered him?! You knew it was coming. I was screaming.

BC: The switch she was able to do between MJ and then possessed by Jean.

AB: I’m floored by her. I have no words to describe or encapsulate how well she played that, and keeping it a secret as well. I think that was really hard, especially Tom being her actual husband. I think that that plays such a big part of it. But damn, that twist in the, I’m not gonna say it outright, but the twist in The Punisher’s house was devastating.

RC: It adds such a human quality to it because because there’s a lot of big scenes and set pieces, but I feel like the small scenes actually had the most impact.

BC: I feel like with her character MJ, it’s been very surface level for the past movies, but then this one we’re able to see her depth. People didn’t take her seriously as an actor until this year.

There’s a lot of big scenes and set pieces, but I feel like the small scenes actually had the most impact.

Rachel Choy

RC: She wasn’t in the first one very much, and they were so little and young, so now there’s all the years of trauma growing up. So there’s that scene in the Punisher’s house, but there was also the Lego scene.

BC: Don’t talk to me about that.

AB: No, no, no, no!

BC: It’s a movie about trauma.

AB: I love that they called back to her first performance though, with the drawing and Lego. I think that that was really special because it really ties their friendship together. Despite obviously having lost it and then coming back together, it’s the small things. You can go a length of time without talking to a person or seeing a person, but there’s always something that ties you together. And I think they really nailed how that chemistry works between the three of them in that Lego scene.

BC: It didn’t feel forced.

AB: They’re just hanging out. I feel like if they were just hanging out at someone’s house, that’s literally what they would do.

RC: The other big plot point is the inhibitor. How much of your DNA can you change before you become a completely different person?

AB: I thought that’s how they were going to write the Hulk out of the MCU, because he becomes a monster, and all that. But I think that’s such a side thought. This whole theme was great because it leans into the whole being yourself, showing your true colors to your friends, being open and honest and authentic, and how you don’t have to walk through things alone, even when they’re difficult. And even when Jean broke her inhibitor, and that’s how she was able to have the release. I think it really also feeds into that like plotline, that theme, that narrative.

RC: And it’s exhausting to try to be something that you’re not. Loneliness is such a big theme as well. He’s trying to do everything perfectly, but his body just says no.

BC: Reach out when you need to.

You can go a length of time without talking to a person or seeing a person, but there’s always something that ties you together. And I think they really nailed how that chemistry works between the three of them in that Lego scene.

Angeline Barion on Zendaya, Tom Holland And Jacob Batalon in Spider-man: brand new day 

RC: Everyone needs connection, whether it’s relationships or friendships. It’s so important. The one critique I had was there were the cameos from the other MCU characters. Sometimes you just want more from the character that’s the title character. I know they need the crossover so it can set up the next Avengers. But I wanted more of Spider-Man.

AB: Him and Ned. I think that we, especially in this particular press tour, we’re so focused on like Tom’s and Zendaya. Their relationship is so beautiful and admirable, but I think that this film really leans on Peter and Ned as well, and their connection to each other. I wish we got to see more of that because, the guy in the chair is such an iconic part of the franchise for for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. And with Ned’s aura blow up, he just had an extreme amount of confidence, but at the same time, he was still that little nerdy boy on the inside. I wish that we got to see more of him playing that part out.

RC: He’s such a genuine, friendly character. There’s nothing sinister, he’s just wholesome. I want more of that.

AB: Can they make side movies?

BC: Shorts, like Ned’s Side Quest!

RC: Where does it rank out of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man films?

BC: I will say No Way Home, I do love that… but I love Homecoming. This is genuinely really hard. I will say I love how they brought it back to street level with this one and it was grounded in reality. It wasn’t like a portal opens up.

RC: I think this is why I love this one the most.

BC: He’s just a little guy!

RC: I quite liked how depressed he was. Because then he’ll have to get happy. He’s at rock bottom, so he can only get better… we hope.

AB: Him being street level, that is so great.

BC: That is the core of what Spider-Man is.

I love how they brought it back to street level with this one and it was grounded in reality.

Bernice corral

AB: I don’t think it sensationalizes a multiverse and all of these infinite possibilities. I think it just focuses on the one possibility that sometimes things just don’t work out, and you have to find your way to to deal with it. Things that you thought were gonna be forever fall apart, but it just focuses on you doing the simple things, and I think that’s what is great about Spider-Man, and I think that’s what so many people love about Spider-Man.

RC: Is it worth watching?

AB: I think if you are a Spider-Man fan, I think you’ll be happy.

RC: If you’re a casual fan or a bit neutral?

AB: I think the good thing with Spider-Man is it can stand on its own. You don’t have to watch the other Marvel movies in order to understand it. I think that this one feels like it can create its own line. Obviously it connects to the MCU, but this can standalone. It lives within like the same universe as Homecoming and Far From Home.

I think it does it justice, and I think that everyone should watch it. Doesn’t matter if you’re a Spider-Man fan or you’re not a Spider-Man fan. Even if you’re just feeling like you’re going through something and you don’t have people around you, and that’s literally that’s that’s what it is. It makes me emotional because I was sitting next to my best friend, and we sometimes go periods of time where we don’t talk to each other.

RC: You have that connection.

AB: That drawing scene, she draws in the same style. So it was very emotional.

RC: I feel like that you have those friendships that you can go for years being apart. I’ve lived so many places and overseas for years. But my best friend since I was 14, every time I see her, it’s like nothing’s changed. And I feel like if I even if I forgot my memories and connected with her, I feel like she’s in my soul. You just know each other. You just get it.

AB: It’s part of your DNA.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in theaters now.

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