You're Watching A Movie With Silas Lindenstein

Every time a new MCU movie comes out, I have this weird fear that this is going to be the one where the magic finally runs out.

I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I’ve been following these movies for almost twenty years now, and eventually something you love has to stumble, right?

So I walked into Spider-Man: Brand New Day hoping it would be good, but preparing myself for “pretty good.”

Instead, I walked out grinning.

Tom Holland has always been an easy Spider-Man to root for, but I think this might be the first time I came away feeling like this was his best performance as Peter Parker. This movie gives him room to carry something much heavier than just saving the city. He’s dealing with loss, loneliness, and trying to figure out who Peter Parker is now that nobody remembers he exists. That’s a fascinating place to start a Spider-Man story, and the movie doesn’t waste it.

One thing I appreciated is that this really feels like a Spider-Man movie. Yes, it’s part of the MCU, but it doesn’t spend its time reminding you about seventeen other Marvel projects. If you’ve followed Peter Parker’s story, you’ll get the most out of it. If you haven’t, you’ll still be able to follow what’s happening. That’s refreshing.

There are some surprises in this movie that Marvel managed to keep under wraps; I can’t believe they pulled it off. By the time you’re reading this, you’ve probably already seen spoilers floating around online. If you haven’t, stay off social media and go see it first. It’s the sacrifice to get surprised!

The pacing surprised me too. This movie runs almost two and a half hours, but I never found myself checking my watch. That’s usually the sign for me that a movie has figured out its rhythm. It knows when to speed up, when to slow down, and when to just let the characters breathe. I heard some people say afterward that it could have been twenty minutes shorter. Personally, I wouldn’t cut anything.

As someone who’s spent way too many hours playing the PlayStation Spider-Man games, I also couldn’t stop noticing how much this movie seemed like stepping into that game. Some of the action, the movement, even the way Spider-Man fights had me thinking, “This is exactly what it feels like to play those games.” I loved that.

Are there little questions I have afterward? Sure. Every Marvel movie leaves me wondering how one thing connects to another, or whether everything lines up. But those weren’t the kinds of questions that pulled me out of the movie while I was watching it. They were the type you think about later, driving home or lying in bed that night. I’m okay with that.

More than anything, this movie showed me why I still love going to the theater. The sound, the audience gasping and laughing in synchronization, the emotional moments landing all at once—it’s an experience that’s hard to recreate at home. This is one of those movies that deserves a big screen.

When the film ended, and we waited for the post-credit scene (which there is only one at the end of the VERY end), my first thought wasn’t, “Well, that was good.”

It was, “I want to watch it again.”

That doesn’t happen very often.

If you’re a Spider-Man fan, I think you’re going to have a great time with this one. And if you’ve somehow managed to avoid spoilers so far, stop reading reviews—including mine—and go see it. Then come back, because I’m going to need people to talk to about it.