By Joe Viglione
Every summer I would look forward to Marvel Comics giant 25 cent Annuals. Sixty years later, at the age of 72, these summer movies have replaced that fun, simply don’t have time to read the comics anymore. Let me play Johnny Carson’s psychic character, Carnac the Magnificent and say I think Brand New Day will hit 2 billion dollars worldwide in revenue.
2017, 2019, 2021 – every two years we got a new Sony Pictures Spiderman with this third series or 2nd reboot and with 5 years in between it is kind of hard to remember that Dr. Strange pulled his Mr. Spock routine from the Original Star Trek series to make Captain Kirk forget. So if you haven’t watched Spiderman: No Way Home over and over again, and I have not – though I’ve watched all of these once upon a time, well you get pulled into a story-line where some of the main characters do not know who Peter Parker is. But there’s no real mentioning this on the screen – you have to be adept at all things Spidey. Since Disney/Marvel via Sony (strange bedfellows) is brash enough to think it doesn’t matter – the details are so cryptic on Dr. Strange’s spell, so be it, the starting point for this movie is the massive fan base, everyone else figure it out while the story unfolds.
It’s ok, the film is a fantastic action saga that will satisfy the world’s need for a superhero movie theater fix after the debacle of that horrifying Supergirl thing last month.
To recap: Spider-Man: Homecoming – 2017 – made 880.9 million on a budget of 175 million!! Spider-Man: Far From Home – 2019 – grossed 1.113 billion on 160 million investment. Spider-Man: No Way Home -1.921 billion even better on a budget of 200 million- is from 2021 and here we are today. Brand New Day, making us wait 5 years for the third sequel.
Almost 2 billion dollars and five years from No Way Home, the annoying version of Ned Leeds is the script’s worst move. We get it, they want children seeing this PG movie too but why oh why do filmmakers deviate from the original construct in the comic books? Create a new character, OK, not some abrasive version of Peter Parker’s friend. Jacob Batalon’s nerd-type detracts from Brand New Day, the last vestiges of the worst parts of the first of four comic book tales on the silver screen now, 2017’s Homecoming being the most lugubrious in this department.
Wikipedia notes: Following Dr. Stephen Strange’s spell at the end of the film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), the world has forgotten that Peter Parker exists. Four years later, Parker anonymously protects New York City as the hero Spider-Man and investigates a powerful new threat while his superpowers undergo a surprising and potentially dangerous evolution.
If a story’s excellence must be held to a great villain…think how fantastic Heath Ledger was as the Joker in Batman compared to Tom Hardy (Spiderman’s counterpart in his excellent Venom series) as Bane in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises? You just cannot compare Hardy, who – again – is great as Marvel Comics’ Venom, but with the empty performance of D.C. Comics Bane –, well – he is no Darth Vader or Dr Doom or Frankenstein or Norman Bates, the kind of villain, or villainess as is the case here, which brings a dark verve, an anti-brio to keep you guessing. I will not reveal who the antagonist is as the surprise is mind-blowing.
That Disney/Marvel (via Sony Pictures, strange bedfellows) doesn’t want us releasing spoilers is enough to keep this sort of short and sweet. AMC Theaters, however, deserve a spanking for taking all the water coolers out of the huge complex. Shame on them. Attempting to force the audience to spend so much on cola is just plain wrong. Glad I brought my Market Basket cinnamon mints. Elders with handicaps can’t walk the long mile for a Coca Cola. Sony giving us two hours and twenty-five minutes to watch should have given us free water and/or soft drinks, but I digress….. On Joe Viglione’s Substack here: https://joeviglione.substack.com/p/brand-new-day-spiderman-the-4th-installment