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"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is the fourth outing for Tom Holland's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, but this time they are working with a new director. Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed previous Marvel outing "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," takes the helm from Jon Watts, who was behind the camera for Holland's first three outings as Peter Parker. Cretton keeps the same energy and tone alive, while putting his own stamp on the film and marking a - ahem - new day for this iteration of Spider-Man.

When "Spider-Man: Homecoming" was released in 2017 it was a breath of fresh air in the world of Marvel. Holland actually passed for a high school student, and Watts' film was best described as "John Hughes meets Marvel." The 2019 sequel "Spider-Man: Far From Home" was a fun follow-up, but a noticeable step down from "Homecoming." In 2021, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" brought life back to the multiplexes with fan service done right and a genuine emotional undercurrent flowing through the movie (and it was a rare Marvel film that made my personal Top 10 List of that year).

Under Cretton, "Brand New Day" keeps the same heartbeat as the previous three films, largely thanks to Holland's performance. The new film takes place in the aftermath of "No Way Home," where a spell had to be cast for everyone to forget that Peter is Spider-Man; this means he had to say goodbye to his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and the love of his life MJ (Zendaya). As "Brand New Day" opens, Peter is living his own life without much interaction around him, while Ned and MJ attend MIT and eventually live together post-college in New York City. Peter keeps an eye on Ned and MJ, which likely makes him feel as bad as it does good.

Any plot worth describing seems to be kept under wraps, so let's say that Spider-Man essentially just spends his time doing Spider-Man things. Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner/The Hulk shows up, which feels entirely superfluous to the plot; Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle/Punisher is always willing to help Spider-Man as much as he is ready to give him a hard time; and Michael Mando has a small part as Mac Gargan/Scorpion (also fairly superfluous to the larger plot). Liza Colón-Zayas, Sadie Sink, and Tramell Tillman co-star as well.

Everything surrounding Spider-Man plays like a standard superhero plot, but "Brand New Day" continues the precedent set by the first three films by giving Peter just as much weight and depth this time around, if not more. Holland is a formidable Spider-Man, but he can't seem to persuade the Toby Maguire generation (raises hand!) that he is the best Spider-Man to ever be on the screen. Maguire has baked-in nostalgia on his side for some moviegoers, but Holland brings great care to his performance as Peter (while Andrew Garfrield remains an unfairly dismissed and ridiculed Spider-Man - he was very good in the role).

"Brand New Day" does feel like a separate entity from Holland's first films, and it's the weakest. That's not to say there aren't many pleasures to be had, including a few strong action sequences (though the film's effects are starting to feel been-there, done-that) and Holland's performance and chemistry with Batalon and Zendaya. It also is the first of the Holland films to struggle with pacing: some sections feel tacked on or dragged out, and others feel rushed.

The new "Spider-Man" films have always achieved the impossible in the superhero genre by making the costumed central figure feel like a human being. When someone takes on the superhero role, it's hard to not let the character overshadow everything and everyone. Holland's central performance continues to prove that the human being is as important to the story as the masked crusader.