{"id":32827,"date":"2026-08-11T21:30:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=32827"},"modified":"2026-08-11T21:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:30:08","slug":"in-spider-man-brand-new-day-actor-tom-holland-capably-expresses-the-webbed-wonders-existential-crises-while-fighting-multiple-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=32827","title":{"rendered":"In \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day,\u201d Actor Tom Holland Capably Expresses the Webbed Wonder\u2019s Existential Crises While Fighting Multiple Threats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Review by Brad Balfour, Arts Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, Mark Ruffalo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems like the only way to make an epic feature film these days is to pack it with multiple plot turns and odd secondary characters. That was certainly the case with \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d \u201cDisclosure Day,\u201d and \u201cSupergirl.\u201d Now we have \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day.\u201d It\u2019s much the same in this case as well. It goes from one twist to another with one Marvel Cinematic Universe character after another joining the fray with various and complicated plot twists, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the fourth edition of Tom Holland\u2019s Spider-Man iteration. In the earlier editions of his Spider-Man, the character too often fell back on a cliched emotionality. \u201cAhhh, teen angst;\u201d \u201cAhhh, the great responsibilities of being a super powered being;\u201d Ahhh the coping with all the teen cliches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Spidey was first invented by artist\/writer Steve Ditko \u2014 with Marvel\u2019s master Stan Lee \u2014 he was a character truly coping with personal and social traumas, some of his own making, some societally driven and a lot due to the radioactive spider bite that transformed him into Spider-Man. When Sam Raimi directed Tobey Maguire as Spidey, their versions emphasized Peter Parker\u2019s nerd side, the teen that he was originally meant to be in the comic books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the earlier three films of the Tom Holland cycle, Spider-Man was fraught with sorting himself out while the world around him was getting more complex with multi-verses, deceptive villains and magic spells. As young as he was, Holland\u2019s version of Spider-Man had to grow into one nurturing an on-going existential crisis, but one that was less teen-driven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now with this fourth go-round, director Destin Daniel Cretton can reset him without the world knowing his secret identity of Peter Parker. That leaves Spider-Man to become a great crime-fighting machine \u2014 albeit a perplexing one without any apparent source of financing \u2014 which brings him back to ground zero  without any additional identity crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s still the matter of this film as a continuation of the previous one. With Spider-Man\u2019s reset in the world at large, after the debacle of the previous film, he gets an opportunity to re-do his life and become the hero he was trying to be in the first place. Albeit, this time, without his former best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and former girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), which leaves him with an empty space he struggles to fill. He is determined somehow, to bring them back into his life. Alone without his high school buddy or best girl, he nonetheless is more focused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In “Brand New Day,” the villains and enhanced beings populating this film are, for the most part, neither as heroic nor villainous. Jon Bernthal\u2019s Punisher and Mark Ruffalo\u2019s the Hulk are certainly ambiguous as to their hero status. Oh, Scorpion and Tombstone are clearly villains, but they\u2019re not the real threats in this film. This edition really addresses a far more ambiguous and serious menace \u2014 ultimately one of the government\u2019s own doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once Spider-Man becomes absorbed in finding s mysterious villain who can jump into anyone\u2019s mind and control them — a villain bent on attacking Damage Control, the government agency meant to address superhero and supervillain messes — the film shifts focus. It then brings to the fore an important character from another part of Marvel\u2019s Cinematic Universe, a mutant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make us feel that he\u2019s the superhero he is, the film includes many dynamic scenes of swinging action and fight sequences rendered with overwhelming angles and motion. Incorporated into the narrative is a side of Spider-Man not seen before \u2014 his arachnid side is now trying to take over his life adding further to the existential crisis he\u2019s fraught with throughout this film. He starts to develop arachnid-generated organic web shooters instead of the mechanical ones he had created, adding to Parker’s confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides being Spider-Man, Parker is one hell of a scientist. So he\u2019s capable of addressing the arachnid threat leading him to create an inhibitor as a solution \u2014 one that can be used with The Hulk and the mutant threat as well. Without addressing all the quirks and narrative glitches to this film \u2014 and there are many \u2014 the film still succeeds as a humanistic thriller as well as an absurd costumed hero drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That aside, when the film focuses on the mysterious psychic villain who confounds Parker, he seeks out his old friends and begins to incorporate them into his life again. As this expands the film, it lends itself to the integration of a new Spider-Man \u2014 as a crime fighter and as a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, it takes some time to set up who this villain is other than a mysterious \u201csomeone\u201d capable of switching bodies and taking over minds. Once revealed as Jean Grey, the X-Men mutant whose psychic powers rival Professor X\u2019s, Sadie Sink\u2019s character\u2019s identity may be the worst kept secret in MCU history. Nonetheless, it adds a whole new dimension as to where the Spider-Man saga sits in the larger Marvel universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this \u2014 Parker\u2019s existential struggle, a rigorous crime-fighting persona and a more fully evolved emotional identity \u2014 makes \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day\u201d an inspired take on a superhero film. It demands a lot more acting from Holland to make it feel convincing. And with a rich cast of supporting characters, it offers a wealth of personalities for him to bounce these identity crises off of.<\/p>\n

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