Slightly Off the Mark: Movie Review: Spider-Man: Brand New Day

It's a Brand New Day for Spider-Man, thus the name. And for Peter Parker, a new day always means new problems. Seriously, I'd just give it up and go to work as a dishwasher ... but then he'd get attacked by some kind of soap-sud monster.

Thanks to an ill-advised spell in the last movie, Peter is literally forgotten, by pretty much everybody. Now he's living alone, trying to be a superhero full time (which never works), and his only friend is a police detective who tells him it won't work.

The film opens with a slam-bang chase scene that really doesn't fit with the new Big Bad's methods, but it's oh, so much fun--especially when Spider-Man runs into (literally) Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher. They have a fundamental difference in how hijacked armored cars should be dealt with, as anyone who's seen The Punisher TV show will know.

Meanwhile, Peter keeps running into his old life: specifically his girlfriend and best friend, who awkwardly have no memory of him. But his old life and new collide when they become targets of a mysterious enemy with the power to take over the minds of other people, then jump from one to another to stay one step ahead.

All that emotional stress causes the spider part of Peter's body to get more, um, spiderish. After injuring a cop, he seeks help to control the transformation from a famous scientist: Bruce Banner, who's using tech he invented to keep from turning into the Hulk.

Then, in keeping with any good Spider-Man story, things get worse.

And who does newcomer Sadie Sink play?

Darn good question. Anyone who cares probably knows, but I'll keep this spoiler-free as a tribute to how much fun she had hiding it from the press. Although I haven't watched her in Stranger Things (somebody send me a Netflix gift subscription!), Sink was remarkable here, and hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the MCU.

The movie's filled with remarkable performances, from the regulars and newcomers. Tom Holland is, as always, a treat as the hapless Peter Parker. Stories with this many moving pieces are hard to put together, but they managed it here. They also keep the humor while pouring on the drama, a difficult balance.

So. This is a great movie. Not just a great superhero movie: a great movie, period, with flaws few are far between. We even feel a bit of sympathy for the main villain, once motives are revealed. If the same movie could somehow be made without the costumes and superpowers, we'd be looking at an Oscar nominee. Any buzz you hear is justified.

My ratings:

Entertainment value: 5 out of 4 M&Ms, the good brown ones. My scoring system, my rules.

Oscar potential: 3 1/2 out of 4 M&Ms. Mind you, it probably won't get a lot of nominations (because, hey, superhero movie) ... but it should.