Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Florence Pugh, Tramell Tilman, Marisa Tomei, Mark Ruffalo
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 145 mins

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is the fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man series with Tom Holland as the web-slinger. Destin Daniel Cretton steps into the director’s chair, replacing Jon Watts who helmed the first three – Cretton’s no stranger to Marvel, having made the excellent Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and he was originally attached to direct the fifth Avengers film (then titled Avengers: Kang Dynasty), before Marvel rethought their strategy after the controversy surrounding Jonathan Majors, who was cast as the villain.

The film sees Tom Holland’s Peter Parker adapting to a world where people have forgotten he exists, after Doctor Strange cast his spell at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. He pines after former girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya) but chooses not to reintroduce himself to her and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) to keep them from harm. He keeps himself busy by defeating criminals on the New York streets, but soon faces a telepathic threat that tests him to his limit.

While Destin Daniel Cretton’s direction and the pivot to a more mature character-driven story are commendable, Spider-Man: Brand New Day doesn’t really reinvent the wheel and suffers badly from superhero fatigue. If it were released ten years ago, it’d be a pretty reasonable effort, but the fact it follows familiar beats without any real tension or threat lowers the stakes and entertainment value. It’s also drastically overlong at 145 minutes, and really could have done with having a half-an-hour chop for a tighter film.

Still, there’s some bright spots. This is probably Holland’s best performance as the superhero yet, a character transitioning from youth to adulthood who’s trying to find his place and the balance of being a superhero while not burning out. The best moments in the film are the most unassuming, for example where he’s connecting with MJ and Ned while they build Lego together. Sadie Sink is also very promising as a character I won’t spoil, and it’s nice to see Mark Ruffalo back as Bruce Banner / Hulk, after what’s been a five-year hiatus.

Although not as strong as his other work, this is also Michael Giacchino’s best score in the series, although it’s still lacking a memorable central theme to latch onto. The action’s also crisply shot, although I don’t think any of the set pieces are on a par with the train sequence in Spider-Man 2 or the final act in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

While by no means bad, Spider-Man: Brand New Day isn’t the web slinger’s strongest outing. In this series alone, Spider-Man: Homecoming and No Way Home stand head-and-shoulders above this, but it’s not the disaster that Spider-Man: Far From Home was. Destin Daniel Cretton tries to breathe a new lease with his more thoughtful direction and while there’s some nice teases for future outings, Spider-Man: Brand New Day suffers badly from superhero fatigue and from being plain overlong.