A five-year wait sure feels like an eternity for the arrival of the fourth Spider-Man: Brand New Day movie, particularly after Spider-Man: No Way Home ended on a high note. And more importantly, what would it be like to see Spider-Man grounded as a street-level superhero without the advanced tech from Stark Industries? Destin Daniel Cretton, who is no stranger to directing an MCU movie after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is now in charge of spearheading the Spider-Man franchise after Jon Watts completed a trilogy.
Like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, one of Cretton’s biggest strengths is his flair for kinetic action set pieces, giving us among the best fight choreography ever staged in the MCU. This is made possible with the late Brad Allan, one of Jackie Chan’s protégés who famously fought the international martial arts superstar onscreen in Gorgeous (1999) and The Accidental Spy (2001), serving as the second-unit director while Peng Zhang handled the fight coordination.
Continuing the same tradition that made Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings an exhilarating cinematic experience — and the film that’s since led to an official Shang-Chi sequel — Cretton again works with Peng Zhang in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, who has now been elevated to the second-unit director post. With the assistance of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, Zhang embraces intricate Hong Kong-style action choreography. The kind of gravity-defying movement that you often see in Hong Kong or Chinese martial arts movies.
Given Spider-Man’s street-level mode, the choreography perfectly reflects his character’s physical strength from jumping and ducking to engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Having seen Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the practical-heavy action scenes make a significant difference compared to relying extensively on CGI and green screens to accomplish the task. This reflects Zhang’s insistence on going old-school, utilizing pulley systems and wirework to get the job done.
For instance, the spectacular moment where Spider-Man runs over the rooftop of the building and leaps into the air, with the camera impressively alternating between POV and wide shots, would have been digitally executed on a computer. And yet, in an effort to minimize computer graphics, Zhang and his crew use the nifty combination of a high-line rig and specialized rotator to simulate Spider-Man’s complex movements.
A Real Tank, Not CGI, Powers the Punisher Showdown
One sequence worth mentioning here is the tank chase, easily one of the most thrilling action moments in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The scene revolves around Spider-Man attempting to stop the speeding tank as it plows through the busy New York streets. Joining the pursuit is Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal, whose iconic character finally made his feature-length debut after spending years blazing the small screens from Netflix to Disney+’s Marvel Television era), and his presence apparently gets in the way of Spider-Man. The two disagree about how things are done, leading to them trying to stop each other.
Interestingly, the scene itself was mostly shot on location in Glasgow, Scotland, serving as a convincing stand-in for Manhattan. The tank itself isn’t a CGI creation but rather an actual military tank purposely built for the movie, and what you see on the big screen is the real impact of the vehicle in a rampaging mode. Even Tom Holland’s Spider-Man himself, going as far as performing his own extensive stunt work, is physically involved with the help of wirework to ride on top of a moving tank.
RELATED: Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review – Punisher Steals the Show
Inside the Brutal, Practical Fight Against The Hand
At one point, Spider-Man finds himself facing The Hand — the mystical red-clad ninja cult, who made their debut on television in Season 2 of Netflix’s Daredevil before subsequent appearances in Iron Fist and The Defenders. The Hand’s comeback, marking their first big-screen appearances, sees them squaring off against Spider-Man inside the maximum-security prison, showcasing the graceful staging of the martial arts moves.
The fluidity of the fight extends to the human-level acrobatics, aerial flips, and even the cool slow-motion scene of Spider-Man swiftly dodging the ninja stars (shuriken) thrown against him. The latter is also done practically, using the actual props while the camera’s higher frame rate meticulously captures the slow-motion scene without resorting to digital animation.
No doubt the prison brawl is physically taxing, reportedly requiring Holland and the stunt performers behind the masked Hand to undergo intensive months-long training. Their hard work pays off well, and it shows on the screen, with the scene in the prison taking place on location at the decommissioned and historic (and later retrofitted for the movie) HM Prison Dorchester in Dorset, England.
Even the Hulk Fight Leans Heavily Practical
Of late, Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner has been reduced to the Smart Hulk persona, making fans and audiences wonder if the green monster is going to revert to his old angry self. Thankfully, we get to see his character all raging mad in the Savage Hulk mode in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. His appearance, which sees him running amok against Spider-Man, is like a comic-book panel come to visceral life.
From smashing Spider-Man through walls and windows to executing the thunderclap that sends shockwaves across the hallway, the whole scene is seamlessly realized via CGI and practical effects. For the latter, Zhang goes the extra length to make the Spider-Man vs. Savage Hulk look visually impactful by incorporating a nitrogen-powered ram (for aggressive movements) and others such as foam blocks and plaster debris as part of the movie-magic structural damage.
RELATED: Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Hulk Fight Is Real — Merch Just Confirmed It
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into cinemas this Friday, July 31.
