Tag: spider-man

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)

  • Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
  • Screenplay: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers
  • Producer: Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Avi Arad, Rachel O’Connor
  • Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Mando, Florence Pugh
  • Cinematography: Brett Pawlak
  • Editing: Nat Sanders, Gina Sansom, Harry Yoon
  • Score: Michael Giacchino
  • Genre: Superhero
  • Runtime: 145 minutes

It’s a brand new day in the neighbourhood.

The fictional universe might’ve forgotten Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is Spider-Man but we haven’t.

After a five year absence, he comes swinging back onto screens with an added sense of maturity. We’ve watched Holland grow up in front of our eyes over the last decade, and his performance in this and a recent role in ‘The Odyssey‘ show he can really hold his own. Peter Parker no longer requires a mentor figure; no Tony Stark or Nick Fury showing him the ropes.

Parker is a changed man and not entirely for the better. He’s altered by solitude, living in a world without Aunt May and where the love of his life, MJ (Zendaya), and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) know of his heroic exploits as Spider-Man but not the identity of the young man underneath the mask.

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is a crowd-pleaser. It’s got tons of heart and awesome action sequences. Fan favourites appear in supporting roles along the way: the Punisher (forging a brotherly relationship with Parker), the Hulk and the New Avengers’ Yelena Belova.

As for the big bad, well, I won’t impart anything crucial here. The actor has been bound by an NDA for many months though if you really want an explicit answer, an interview at the premiere with musician Steve Lacy and his loose lips revealed all. He won’t be invited to any Marvel red carpets ever again. Even the notorious plot spoiler Tom Holland kept his trap shut on this occasion.

The mystery foe’s inclusion heralds the introduction of a roster of characters which could be of great significance for the next saga of the MCU. Guessed who they are yet?

My rating: 8 / 10

Kraven the Hunter (2024)

  • Director: J.C. Chandor
  • Screenplay: Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Richard Wenk
  • Story: Richard Wenk
  • Producer: Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, David Householter
  • Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, Russell Crowe
  • Cinematography: Ben Davis
  • Editing: Chris Lebenzon
  • Score: Benjamin Wallfisch, Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine
  • Genre: Superhero
  • Runtime: 127 minutes

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (the SSU for short) has paled in comparison to Marvel’s MCU and even DC’s DCEU (which had its fair share of duds). With only six films in its catalog, ‘Kraven the Hunter‘ is the final nail in the coffin, following on from the disastrous ‘Madame Web‘ earlier this year, which left the SSU on life support, and while the ‘Venom‘ series was popular, each entry was noticeably weaker than the previous.

‘Kraven‘ was actually filmed in 2022, and now released after multiple delays. There’s an air of doom hanging over this movie; as if it’s an imperilled afterthought – the makers didn’t really care about it to put any actual effort in. And it shows; a half-baked plot, underdeveloped characters and underutilised superpowers (the ability to slow down time, chameleon-like mimicry).

Our titular hero (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the son of a Russian gangster (Russell Crowe, playing the epitome of toxic masculinity), learns of his mother’s suicide in his teenagehood. His way of grieving: running away from home and spending 16 years in the Siberian wilderness, seemingly able to fend for himself. Another inexplicable thing to happen to him: he was mauled by a lion and resurrected with voodoo. Okay then. In the present day, he spends his days hunting poachers and other threats to nature, he’s something of an animal lover. He has a list of targets – the one way to get off it…is death.

Mr. Taylor-Johnson (a future James Bond?) has rarely taken the lead in the latter half of his career, not since his ‘Kick-Ass‘ era; he’s more of a supporting actor in films (‘Tenet‘, ‘Bullet Train‘, ‘The Fall Guy‘). This being his moment to shine in a leading capacity – and he’s wasted. I’m sure he was ‘kraven’ a project worth his energy.

Once the big bad has inevitably been dispatched, there’s a little bit at the end setting up a sequel…which is obviously not going ahead. Just a squandering of resources from everyone involved. Usually with these superhero blockbusters, there’s a post-credits scene to decipher. With ‘Kraven‘, none exist, probably because the writers thought nobody would stick around long enough to find out.

My rating: 4 / 10