I’ve been conflicted about whether I want to see the new Spider-Man movie. If you had asked me a month ago, I would have said no without thinking twice.

I haven’t really connected with the last few Spider-Man movies. I didn’t think they were horrible, but I also didn’t think they were movies I found myself returning to in my brain. I would watch them, enjoy them for a couple hours, and then move on. That was about it. Mindless in a way.

Part of why I think I feel that way is because of one of my best friends. He’s always liked Spider-Man, especially the comics, and we’ve had so many chats over the years about Peter Parker and why those original stories mattered. Somewhere along the line, those chats stopped being solely his opinions, and started being part of how I looked at the movies as well. 

I wasn’t thrilled when Brand New Day was announced. It felt like just another Spider-Man movie, and I thought I’d pass on it.

Then people started talking about it, and what got me was not the action or the cameos. It was that people kept calling it a quieter film. They talked about Peter’s sadness, his loneliness, and how the novel actually lets him linger with those feelings instead of jumping into the next major conflict. I kept hearing it was more complex than the recent movies, and I realized that’s probably what I’ve been missing.

I’ve always been more interested in characters than spectacle. I don’t really need another giant battle or another universe-ending threat. Show me a character who’s trying to figure themselves out, who’s dragging around things that they don’t know how to release, and I’m likely to remember that narrative for a lot longer.

Then I also find out that Jean Grey is in this movie. She’s been one of my favorite Marvel characters for as long as I can remember, not necessarily for who she is as a person, but because her powers intrigue me. 

All of this shouldn’t feel like such a big decision. It is just a movie.

I’ve listened to someone I really respect talk about how these movies don’t seem like Spider-Man. Not that I think he’s trying to tell me what I should or shouldn’t like, he never does that, but when someone shares something they care about with you enough, with so much passion, and the friendship means that much to you, it starts to feel like a betrayal if I were to see this movie.

I’ll ask him, and if you see me write about it, then he let me watch it.