“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” key art.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Tom Holland and Zendaya’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day is opening this weekend and Rotten Tomatoes critics are largely impressed with the latest chapter of the webslinger’s film saga.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which plays in Thursday preview screenings and opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, is set about four years after the events of the 2021 blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home. At the conclusion of the No Way Home, Peter Parker (Holland) has Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) erase the world’s memories of him to protect the multiverse.
In Brand New Day, Peter resumes his duties as a friendly neighborhood superhero in New York City, but also remains dejected over how MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) are moving on with their lives with no memory of his love and friendship. Meanwhile, a dangerous new threat has emerged in the city, and Peter is baffled over how to stop it.
Directed by Deston Daniel Cretin (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Spider-Man: Brand New Day also stars Jon Bernthal, Sadie Sink, Tramell Tillman, Liza Colón-Zayas, Michael Mando and Mark Ruffalo.
The review embargo for Spider-Man: Brand New Day lifted on Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT and in early reviews Rotten Tomatoes critics have given the film a 90% “fresh” critics’ score on the site’s Tomatometer based on 61 reviews.
RT’s Critics Consensus, Audience Summary and Popcornmeter score based on verified user ratings are still pending.
Note: This article will be updated with RT’s critics’ score and more review summaries as more reviews are posted.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’?
William Bibbiani of The Wrap is among the top critics on RT who give Spider-Man: Brand New Day a “fresh” score, writing, “We don’t get many great MCU movies anymore. That this is one of the highlights of the whole franchise feels amazing. And spectacular. And sensational.”
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter also deems the film “fresh” on RT, writing, “Directed with adrenaline and feeling if not always an ideal grasp of pacing by Destin Daniel Cretton … the entertaining new entry has the good sense to stop banging on about the damn multiverse.”
Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence is also a fan of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, writing in her RT review summary that it is “a remarkably coherent, often joyful film, dedicated to giving the character some growth and grace.”
In his “fresh” review on RT, USA Today’s Brian Truitt writes, “While Brand New Day might not be the most rambunctious or exciting of Holland’s Spider-flicks, it aims to be a little deeper than the average MCU installment while trapping you in its gratifying web.”
Jake Cole of Slant Magazine also gives Spider-Man: Brand New Day a “fresh” score, writing on RT, “For the first time in his current screen iteration, Spider-Man seems like what he is in the comics: the beating heart of Marvel and its most compelling figure.”
David Ehrlich of IndieWire is the only top critic on the site so far who gives Spider-Man: Brand New Day a “rotten” score. Rooney writes on RT, “Damage Control is still the name of the game, and this movie causes more problems than it cures. Spider-Man can’t do it all by himself. At this rate, someone will need to come along and save him. too.”
Rated PG-13, Spider-Man: Brand New Day plays in Thursday previews before opening in theaters nationwide on Friday.