Review: 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' freshens up the Marvel formula, with Sadie Sink as [REDACTED] stealing the show

The title “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” gives a hint that Kevin Feige and his Marvel Studios minions understand that the Marvel Cinematic Universe needs a refresh — and Peter Parker, the kid who became one of Marvel Comics’ biggest heroes, is the web-slinger who can do it.

In the seven years since the biggest culmination of Marvel’s heroes, the mega-successful 2019 mash-up “Avengers: Endgame,” the MCU has had its ups and downs.

•  The group efforts that audiences didn’t connect with, like “Eternals” and the criminally undervalued “The Marvels.” 

• New characters plugged into old superhero roles, such as Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson in “Captain America: Brave New World” and Letitia Wright’s Shuri in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” (Both Mackie and Wright were better than the movies they were in.) 

• The attempts, some better than others, of expanding the multiverse, which had the unfortunate effect of lowering the stakes — because why should we care about a beloved character dying if they just pop up again from another plane of existence (especially when it’s played for laughs, as in “Deadpool & Wolverine”)? 

• The stretching of the MCU into TV series, some of which felt like homework between movies.

• And the intervention of real life into the effort to crown a new mega-villain in Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer, which turned out to be one of several reasons not to watch “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” more than once.

What does the latest “Spider-Man” have to offer to counter all that bad karma? A surprising amount, as director Destin Daniel Cretton (who also helmed “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”) and writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (who wrote the last three “Spider-Man” movies) smartly combine what we like about the character with material that lets us re-imagine some classic Marvel names in new ways.

The new movie reminds us that it’s been five years since the last time Tom Holland suited up as Peter and his red-and-blue superhero identity. Back then, in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” Peter had to save the universe by asking Dr. Strange to cast a spell to make everyone forget Peter — and everyone included his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and his best pal, Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon). 

Since then, Peter has been fighting crime around New York, getting tips from Det. Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas), the one NYPD cop who has him on speed-dial, and dodging a rival crime-fighter, the vigilante Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), aka Punisher. Peter also helps out Bill Metzger (Trammel Tillman), who runs the Department of Damage Control, the agency tasked with cleaning up the messes left behind by building-breaking superheroes. 

Peter has lived a solitary life these five years, keeping track of MJ and Ned college and post-collegiate lives on social media. His only other activity that doesn’t involve fighting crime is regularly bringing flowers to the grave of his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei, seen in flashbacks). Oh, and he’s noticed that his body is changing, including gaining organic web shooters (which Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man had, but Andrew Garfield’s didn’t).

The plot kicks in when Spidey tries to stop an armored military vehicle making a beeline for Damage Control’s Manhattan headquarters — and discovering that whoever’s driving the tank is not what they appear to be. That’s about all I can tell you without divulging spoilers, something Marvel quite insistently asked critics not to do — and I wouldn’t want to anyway, because I hope moviegoers can enjoy the surprises the same way I did.

Without giving away anything significant, I’ll say that Cretton and his writers approach the array of Marvel characters cleverly. Some, like Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo, as seen in the trailers) and another character seen early on, are used as callbacks to past Marvel movies. One key character, though, has appeared in past movies played by other actors — and here, “Stranger Things” star Saide Sink, this movie’s third-billed performer, brings a powerful new take on the role.

Sink factors prominently in the movie’s two biggest action set pieces — one in the middle that feels like a predictable jumble of CGI effects and falling rubble, and a more successful finale that trusts the audience to react to the characters’ emotions more than the web shooters. (The finale also involves ninjas, which are definitely cool.) 

Holland and Zendaya (just seen along with Bernthal in “The Odyssey”) have some solid scenes together, providing a thoughtful update on Peter and MJ’s relationship. It’s Sink’s powerhouse performance, though, that audiences will be remembering most fondly when the credits roll. 

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‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, July 31, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for sequences of action/violence and some language. Running time: 145 minutes.