SPIDER-MAN, Brand New Day - movie review

 SPIDER-MAN, BRAND NEW DAY

The latest Spider-man movie with Tom Holland (not the historian) directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton, written by: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers and Justin Kuritzkes, and based on the Marvel comic book originally developed by Stan Lee then Steve Ditko, is an outstanding movie for the following reasons.

Firstly, this instalment is sequentially consistent. That is, it follows sequentially on from the previous movie, Spider-Man - No Way Home, and also logically integrates the passage of time since that movie. Secondly, Peter Parker has continued to fight crime in New York City, and this is made clear by what I consider to be excellent writing of the screenplay by McKenna, Sommers, and Kuritzkes, who do not over-labor each of the details which subliminally inform the viewer. Some of the details they have incorporated into Spider-man’s new life are multi-dimensional. I do not mean “multi-verse” like the last disastrous Superman movie. What I mean by “multi-dimensional” is that they present Peter Parker not as a flat, cold, character. Rather, they present Peter Parker as a young man who is troubled by his former relationship with MJ; someone who has befriended A. I. Personal Assistant who monitors all his vitals and oversees the 3D printing of his new experimental pieces of needed technology; and, apart from his relational and emotional complexities - Peter is maturing physically which is transforming how his arachnoid DNA is increasingly interacting with his humanity. This “growth spurt”.

SUPERNATURAL THEMES

I found the movie’s supernatural themes fascinating. I would not be surprised if this movie doesn’t provoke many discussions about what demon possession might involve and whether telepathy can imitate it.

RELATIONSHIP TRANSITIONS

My wife and I appreciated how the movie dealt with Peter’s relationship with his former girlfriend, MJ. Rather than creating a predictable reunion of their relationship in a fairy-tale-like storyline, the movie presents the much likely end of their relationship, because, as MJ told Peter, after she realised her memory had been artificially tampered with, she was not prepared to merely pick up where they left off, because, as she said to Peter, “I don't know you.” Peter’s response to MJ’s rejection was still worthy of a super-hero: he acted like a chivalrous super-hero to MJ.

The movie goes for two-hours-twenty-minutes. This may upset those with a gold-fish attention span, but there was no superfluous screen time. It enabled the writers of the screen play to create a well-structured rich storyline that was even able to deepen the Punisher’s character complexity. The movie introduces the Punisher pursuing the same villain as Spider-man. The Punisher and Spider-man interact throughout the whole movie and in the process we discover why the Punisher is the way he is, and why he is a broken man who is looking for than vengeance and is now looking for redemption to cure his own brokenness. Their relationship becomes a deep friendship - something that both men have not had for years.

The end of the movie introduces a new relationship for Peter Parker which has the potential for helping Peter to process his end of any hope he had to reignite his relationship with MJ. In this way, the end of the movie is actually the reason for its title, brand new day. And this is one of the reasons why I really appreciated all the trailers that the producers released before the movie screened on July 31 - because unlike other trailers which actually give the plot and entire gist of a movie away, each of the trailers for this movie did not. 

If you see this movie, just be aware that the Punisher swears a lot, and shoots a lot. I was really impressed with this movie and found it to have a good storyline, a great twist, well shot, well written, and well acted. 

Dr. Andrew Corbett,
2nd August 2026.

#Zendaya #SadieSink #SpiderManBrandNewDay

 YOU HAVE 9-SECONDS TO DECIDE

I’m old enough to remember the 1985-89 TV-series, The Equalizer which starred Edward Woodward. I was fascinated by the idea of a former “intelligence agent”  putting an advertisement in a newspaper offering anyone who was experiencing injustice the offer of equalising. Commander Robert McCall would then set about to use his skills to bring some justice into a person’s otherwise experience of injustice. When Antoine Fuqua invited Denzel Washington to play the same character in a movie remake of the same name, I was excited. Very excited. I saw it in the cinema when it was released and then I pre-ordered it on Apple TV. There are several reasons why I loved this movie. 

Firstly, it was clever - it actually had a sophisticated storyline. Secondly, it was topical - it confronted the topic of human trafficking and sex-slavery. Thirdly, it was about a man faithful to his wife. And fourthly, it was about justice. So when it was announced that for the first time in Denzel Washington’s acting career he was going to make a sequel, I was thrilled. Here’s why...

DENZEL WASHINGTON'S CHARACTER

Unlike Edward Woodward’s portrayal of Robert McCall, Denzel Washington’s portrayal is a fuller, mysterious-yet-revealing, discreet, confident, quiet, self-assured, and with the powerful humility of a Joe Louis. In the first of the three movies, Robert McCall works as a leather-apron-wearing shop-attendant in a Home Depot. We are shown that he lives alone in a sparse apartment. Each night he takes a book and a tea bag, which he has carefully folded in a paper napkin, and goes down to café where the waiter knows that he needs a tea pot of boiled water and a cup. 

As the story unfolds we discover that his wife has died, and that he is fulfilling her goal to read Mortimer J. Adler’s list of The Great Books, and that he is up to book one hundred and ten. We then learn that before his wife died, he made a vow to her that he would leave his career and give up his line of work. We later see that McCall is torn about this vow as he spins his wedding ring on his ring-finger when confronted with rampant injustice. (He does this in all three movies.)

THE EQUALIZER’S VIOLENCE

The Equalizer Trilogy is not for everybody. It is very violent. But unlike the gratuitous violence in many other movies, this violence resembles the kind of military tactical violence described in the Bible. Many people similarly struggle with the tactical military violence described in the Bible. The Bible describes the reality of war, military conflict, assassinations - which are not all condoned - and it does narrate God’s directives for Israel to engage in tactical military conflict. These accounts are often gruesome, but never gratuitous. I regard the violence depicted in the Equalizer Trilogy in the same way. It is the exercise of tactical justice.

WHAT THE EQUALIZER PART III GETS RIGHT

Some sequels should not be made - Matrix 2 for example. But there are some sequels that complement the story being told - The Lord of the Rings for example, and this includes Equalizer II and III. Some sequels disqualify themselves because they contradict their prequel - some of Disney's newer Star Wars prequels for example. But the Equalizer trilogy gets many things right. Firstly, it is overseen by the same director Antione Fuqua. Secondly, its lead character is played by the same actor (unlike the Batman franchise). Thirdly, the storyline is consistent, progressive, and developmental. The Robert McCall character is presented as complex, mysterious, and conflicted. Is he a good man or is he a bad man? He doesn’t know. 

Each of the three Equalizer movies have redemptive themes. When McCall helps someone, their question is, “Why me?” All beneficiaries of divine redemptive grace also ask, “Why me?” Those who perpetrate gross injustice with pathological indifference against their helpless victims may deceive themselves into the delusion that their sins go unnoticed by God. But Numbers 32:23 (“...be sure your sins will find you out!”) cannot be easily ignored or mocked. God’s agents of justice -

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. (Romans 13:3-4)