Review: Cretton’s ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is Spidey at His Best

by Alex Billington
July 31, 2026

Another year, another Spider-Man movie. Everyone is back out in theaters watching the web slinger sling his webs again, Spider-Man is still one of the most beloved characters worldwide, it’ll be a massive hit – as always. Thankfully it’s also a massively good movie. How many Spidey movies are we at now? Officially this is the 10th Spider-Man movie so far, but that’s only counting the movies specifically about Spidey created by Sony Pictures – not all of his MCU appearances or anything else. It’s the 4th one starring Tom Holland and the first to not include “Home” in the title after the original trilogy made by director Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019, Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021). Spider-Man: Brand New Day is directed by filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, his second big Marvel movie after directing Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in 2021, and he aced this. I’m relieved to say this is actually one of the best Spider-Man movies yet, up there with Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. When you let a really wonderful filmmaker like Destin Daniel Cretton make a movie you get something really wonderful. I keep saying it & once again must repeat: Destin is the real deal.

This new Spidey movie is once again another Marvel Studios + Sony Pictures collaboration, still under the control of Sony but with Marvel’s input making sure it connects into their universe and brand. There are still MCU aspects and one important crossover storyline, but it mostly feels like a standalone Spider-Man movie through & through. Brand New Day is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton from a screenplay written by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. I’ve been following Cretton’s career ever since his feature directorial debut I Am Not a Hipster back in 2012 (my original review from 14 years ago) and it’s been exciting to watch him grow from a little indie filmmaker to Marvel’s greatest director. I’m especially impressed by how big budgets and making big movies hasn’t changed his heart and soul, hasn’t changed what matters to him as a filmmaker telling these stories, it’s all still there and still so lovely. All this really does matter even if it’s not visible on screen (though it is if you look closely). The best part of this new movie is the emotional core, which it seems Destin & Tom really bonded over, because Holland’s performance is just as strong as those emotions. It’s the best new “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” Spider-Man movie of this current era. This classic Stan Lee formula still works wonders. There’s no need to try and entirely rethink & reboot Spidey when what still works is a movie about a young mutant New Yorker just trying to take care of his city and struggle to pay his rent, too.

McKenna & Sommers’ screenplay (they also worked on the previous three movies) takes Peter Parker back to his roots, so to say, with a movie that is just about Spider-Man being an overworked youngster trying his best to save people and live his life at the same time; it ain’t easy. For sure. He still loves MJ (played again by Zendaya) but doesn’t know what to do about it. He misses his friends. He misses Aunt May and brings her flowers. It is refreshing to see how much they reined this in after all the expansive craziness of his big crossover adventures. Above all, the emotions and grounding and heartfelt storytelling is what stands out – not really the fights or villains or anything else. While it may not be as perfect as Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, it’s as close as any other SM movie has been since then. Cretton and the production were clearly inspired by all the most recent Spider-Man offerings: mainly the video game series made by Insomniac Games (Marvel’s Spider-Man in 2018 and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 in 2023) and the two animated Spider-Verse movies (so far). Brand New Day is a combination of all the goodness from those creations along with the heart & soul of Raimi’s Spider-Man 1 & 2. There is an MCU secret character storyline that is bothering some people, but it didn’t take away from everything else I enjoy about the rest of the movie and why it’s so wholesome. Who knew a movie about Peter Parker having Spidey burnout would be this enjoyable and this uplifting to watch?

Cretton was the best person to reinvigorate this series and resuscitate its emotional core – which is what it had been lacking in the other sequels. This one really succeeds thanks to Tom Holland’s deeply complex and intimate performance as a very worn down Peter. He’s even better in this than he is in The Odyssey (& he’s very good in that). Holland fully understands the Peter / Spidey character by now but also understands the journey he has been on over these past four movies. It’s quite exhilarating to watch him, especially when he really lets out his true feelings for Zendaya so many times – their real life couple magic pours right into this film. The movie works best as a remarkably fascinating superhero film about burnout and work-life balance (for real) and friendship and compromise and what happens when you grow up. The other side of it with the MCU elements don’t work as well. However, the balance is just right and it’s engaging throughout leading right to a strong finale. I came out of this film feeling quite happy and relieved Spider-Man movies are as great as the Raimi series all over again. This is what is possible when you let the right kind-hearted director handle these beloved characters. By now they don’t need to rehash Spider-Man’s origin story or try anything radical. Just like in the Spider-Verse movies, letting Spidey be Spidey in New York City is what works best.

Alex’s Rating: 9 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing

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