Spider-Man: Brand New Day
I’m amazed by how smitten I am with the latest installment of the Spider-man series, Brand New Day. I first saw it on a date in Corona. It took 2 hours to get there with traffic, my right eye had an allergic reaction to something and was stinging or closed the entire movie, and the date ended up being a bust. But I fell in love with the movie anyways. I went to see it a second time in theaters to make up for my eye being shut the last time. I liked it so much that I seriously considered watching it in theaters a third time. Thankfully, I opted to watch it on my tablet instead. By the end, I was just as enchanted as I was the first time I saw it. So I wondered: what exactly is it that makes this movie so good? The first thing that came to mind is how the city of New York is portrayed in the movie. Brand New Day is a love letter to New York. There are so many Black people in this film that it makes the representation of New York feel real. Seemingly every minor character Peter comes across is Black. Plus, the shots of Peter swinging through the city lends it a familiarity, even if you’ve never been there. I loved the storyline of remembering Peter, his friendship, and love.
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In the lead up to watching Brand New Day for the third time, I rewatched the previous three films in the series: Homecoming, Far From Home, and No Way Home. I realized that I saw every single one of them in theaters. Watching Tom Holland go from a cute kid to an attractive man in Brand New Day was emotional for me. It feels like I grew up with the actors through the years. Holland keeps his adorable, child-like joy in Brand New Day: it’s hard not to find him endearing. You can tell that he is in touch with his feminine side. Through all of the action and fight sequences, the heart of the film is Peter struggling to hold on to his humanity and identity, including his love for Ned and MJ. We return many times to a memory Peter has of May. She tells him, “You’re special, and I know that feels really good. But sometimes, it won’t, because it can be really lonely.” Uh yeah, to the tune of Peter losing May (the only guardian he’s ever known) and losing his best friends, MJ and Ned. Because “being Spider-man means doing the right thing, even if it breaks Peter’s heart.” I mean, as awesome as it must feel to be Spider-man, it truly sucks that he didn’t get to attend his dream school, MIT. Or to attend college at all, while Ned and MJ were without him. Which begs the question: how exactly is Peter making a living if he spends all of his time fighting crime? Did Iron man leave him his money? That’s the only explanation. As expected from any Hollywood film, Brand New Day contains propaganda, as detailed in this blog post (“just a lovable guy, his NYPD bestie, AI chatbot, and trusty flock cameras”).
My favorite scenes in the movie are: the scene where Peter “meets” MJ and Ned, Peter kisses MJ (who is being controlled by Jean Gray), and the last scene where Peter and Ned do their secret handshake and Ned starts to remember Peter. The movie showed Peter making friends with Ned and MJ again and hinted that they will be friends again in the next one. It’s really something that Peter’s high school friends are still his universe four years later. And the fact that he is still in love with MJ after all that time, even though she doesn’t remember him. It’s rare: unsurprisingly, most high school relationships and friendships end. But Peter, MJ, and Ned’s connection is part of what makes this Spider-Man universe magical. It looks like they are going to make it, as we all hope Tom and Zendaya will in real life. However, I thank God that my own high school friendships ended. This movie reminded me that they were once my whole world, my first loves. Now, I can look back on those memories, the fun times, the lessons, and appreciate them for what they are. A moment in time. In fact, I remember watching the first Spider-man film, Homecoming, in theaters with one of these friends. That stage of my life is over. I am already past it, and ready for my next loves to begin. Thanks for the memories, Spider-man.
