Somehow Dis Drawma Kingg was not prepared for the level of drama in Spider-Man: Brand New Day! It’s not that I have a dramatic limit, just that I had my guard down for a 22nd movie (maybe it’s more than that by now) about insect people. The feels in this movie are NO JOKE! Derived from many mediocre Marvel Cinematic Universe installments, my only expectation was: “Sure hope this is at least a fun superhero movie.” Was it fun? Yes. Was it more than fun? Yes. Was it great? Read on to FIND OUT!
Before I get into my critical points, I must talk about the prophecy of Tenacious D! There is an old live recording of Tenacious D singing about Spider-Man. It begins pretty much like the old famous Spider-Man song everyone knows, but then it goes into lyrics that kind of sound like they were just totally improvised on the spot. Jack Black may have written them out beforehand or perhaps written out some ideas that he would riff on somewhat improvisationally. I can’t confirm exactly how he came up with all of that. I’d like to think it was completely on the spot, because the song is funnier that way. Within these absurd and inappropriate lyrics, they mentioned that Spider-Man does a Matrix move! Now, many years later (SPOILER) Spider-Man absolutely does an unmistakable Matrix move in Brand New Day! What are the odds?! How did Tenacious D know that this was coming one day? Jack Black and Kyle Gass are pretty much the last two people on Earth that I would ever expect to receive any kind of divine futuresight. I will make no insensitive theological assumptions here. My assumption is that Tenacious D have a time machine and have hid it from the world for decades! SHOW US THE TIME MACHINE! Why is Robert Downey Jr. playing Dr. Doom in the next movie when there is a real-life actor that actually knows how to operate a time machine?! Well I guess hiding your technology from the world backfired on you, Jack Black. It could have been you that got the gig as Victor von Doom!
Back to more critical matters, let’s talk about cameos vs. fan service. One complaint people often have with newer MCU movies is that there aren’t enough cameos from different Marvel characters. Is that actually a good thing? If someone is just thrown in quickly, many people will complain that it is tasteless fan service. I can’t say for sure who is right and who is wrong in this general argument, but for movies based around large comic-book universes, I personally support many characters in one movie. The difference between a standalone comic book and connected universes like Marvel and DC is the fact that these characters can cross over in fun ways. Spider-Man: Brand New Day really feels like a Marvel Universe movie! As a long time comic book reader, I loved this aspect of the film! With that being said, there were two characters that I felt were not emphasized as much as they deserved. First, we obviously have Scorpion. He was teased many films ago and did not get a costumed appearance until now. Due to the long wait, Scorpion deserved to be a stronger opponent with more interesting motivations. The other character (SPOILER) was Yelena Belova/Black Widow. She kind of just shows up to have two conversations with Spider-Man. Yelena is actually one of my favorite MCU characters, so I was very happy to see her show up. Quite unfortunately, she is not integral to the plot in any way, feeling more like fan service than an appropriately written cameo. Conversely, The Punisher got completely adequate screen time, a fitting way to bring him into the movies since he originated in a Spider-Man comic. This installment becoming a bit of a Spider-Man and Punisher team-up movie was really exciting to me. I also liked the montage scene where Spider-Man fights a number of villains. I’m pretty sure one of them was Tarantula, a personal favorite who is a little more obscure than his main villains.
Did Tenacious D Prophesize This Movie?: Option 1 – Yes, if they don’t have a time machine (though I believe this would have been by total accident and not divine intervention). Option 2 – Not really if they do have such a device.
Final Thoughts: 9/10 Crowns. I almost want to rate it even higher. On a superhero movie only scale I would definitely give this movie a 10 out of 10. I was absolutely dying watching this movie, in a good way. There was friendship, loss, romance, and heartbreak. I can’t think of a single other superhero movie that made me feel this much throughout the whole experience. Spider-Man: Brand New Day probably makes it into my top 3 movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is probably my favorite Spider-Man movie ever! Now I gotta go find Jack Black to interrogate him about his time machine! Though if he really does have a time machine, he’ll always be precisely ONE step ahead of me!
DRAWMA KINGG Movie Reviews 
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