Spider-Man: Brand New Day" (Vietnamese title: "Spider-Man: New Beginning") marks Tom Holland's fourth time starring in a separate film about Spider-Man. The work is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, directly following the events in "Spider-Man: No Way Home".
After the spell that made the world forget Peter Parker's existence, the young man has to live alone, without family or close friends by his side. Peter spends most of his time on Spider-Man's mission, silently dealing with crime on the streets of New York.
The most notable change of the new film is that Peter no longer relies on the technology left by Iron Man. The suit, fighting style and choices of the character are more personal. This brings Spider-Man back to the true image of a street hero, close to the lives of people instead of being constantly drawn into multi-space wars.
The film has a duration of 145 minutes, equivalent to 2 hours and 25 minutes. This is not the number 2 hours and 40 minutes as some articles on the internet mention, but it is still long enough to test the patience of viewers.
The first half of the film has a relatively good narrative rhythm. The scenes of Peter living in a small room, sewing clothes himself and resolving normal cases create a feeling of closeness. The film also clearly shows the price that the character has to pay after accepting to let people forget him.
Tom Holland continues to be the fulcrum of the work. The actor portrays a Peter Parker who is less talkative, tired and lonelier than before. He no longer has the innocence of a student who just joined the Avengers team, instead is the image of a young person who must take responsibility for each decision.
The scenes where Peter stands in front of MJ but cannot return to the old relationship create noteworthy emotions. Zendaya does not appear just to maintain the emotional line. The character MJ contributes to highlighting Peter's struggle between the desire to find the past and the fear of continuing to push his loved one into danger.
The action part is staged in a close combat direction, reducing the feeling of dependence on special effects. The appearance of Punisher and Hulk helps increase the scale of the conflict, while creating some heavy confrontations.
However, the biggest weakness of the film lies in the narrative rhythm. After the exciting fighting scenes, the work often moves to lengthy dialogues about loss, responsibility and choice. The content is necessary for Peter's growth process, but is repeated many times, thus reducing tension.
The storyline about the Damage Control Bureau is not attractive enough to become the central conflict. Some characters appear mainly to pave the way for subsequent projects, making "Spider-Man: New Beginning" sometimes more like a transition chapter rather than an independent story.
Peter's DNA details are unbalanced, leading to changes in abilities, bringing a new color to the film. Body horror elements make the character unpredictable, but the explanation is simple, easily creating the feeling that the screenwriter is looking for reasons to upgrade Spider-Man's power.
The final part continues to make prolonged mistakes. The film wants to simultaneously resolve the external war, Peter's psychological crisis and introduce a new character line. This ambition causes the climax to be fragmented, lacking a moment strong enough to close a journey of more than two hours.
Despite limitations, "Spider-Man: New Beginning" is not a step back in the series. The work scores points by limiting the multiverse element, bringing Peter Parker out of the shadow of Iron Man and focusing back on the adult story.
The film is currently showing in Vietnamese cinemas. For fans of Tom Holland's Spider-Man, this is still a worthwhile work to watch thanks to the acting, action scenes and new development direction of the character.
