Since 2002, we’ve seen three men play Peter Parker in a total of eight live-action films. The most recent is Tom Holland, who in his last installment brought all of the other spider-men and their iconic villains back together. It was a huge moment, and one that changed our latest Peter’s life forever. He had to choose to let everyone forget him in order to save the world.

That film was a big piece of the post-Avengers Marvel Cinematic Universe. And it left one of the most popular stars seemingly isolated. With Holland returning for a fourth film—something no other Spider-Man has done—the question was how do we move forward?

This is also the first of the Holland films without Jon Watts in the director’s chair. But is this Brand New Day worth checking out? The answer is a resounding yes.

The film finds Peter in the immediate aftermath of where he was left in his last film. He’s alone, no one remembers him, but Spider-Man is still the savior of the city. He finds a place to set up a home base and continues to watch MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) on Social Media. And he keeps fighting crime.

Flash-forward four years, and Ned and MJ have graduated from MIT. Peter is still fighting crime, living life as mostly a loner. He’s crossed paths with Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) and NYPD detective DeWolf (Liza Colon-Zayas), neither of whom know who he actually is. While he still monitors his friends and their lives, he maintains a distance, afraid to let them see him.

When he encounters a strange new woman (Sadie Sink), with mysterious powers and a grudge against Damage Control, he springs into action. At the same time, the stress of years of solitude begins to spark a deeper change. Can Spider-Man get through it and remain the same?

This new film comes from director Daniel Destin Cretton, who was the force behind Shang-Chi and the Wonder Man series earlier this year. He’s used to dealing with heroes who are complicated and whose relationship to the world around them is complicated. And that’s what we get here with Peter Parker.

He’s lost a little of the spark he had in the previous films because he doesn’t have that connection to the world to keep him grounded. That struggle against isolation and missing his friends desperately is a crucial piece of the film, and one that works well. The flashback sequences with Aunt May (Marissa Tomei) are, at times, gutting in the best way.

This is also a more action-packed film, and it works well. I liked the cameos, too. We get Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/Hulk, and a small dose of Florence Pugh as the new Black Widow. It’s fun seeing the film piece together the larger world, while Tramell Tillman is solid as the nefarious head of Damage Control. You get some big time Severance vibes, and it works well.

But this comes down to Sink, who plays a pivotal role in the film and the future of the MCU. I won’t spoil her character, but I thought her sequences with Holland were good and some of the most emotional sequences of the film as they work through their shared trauma.

This is a different kind of Spider-Man film. It doesn’t reach the heights of No Way Home for me, but it comes awfully close. The quartet of Spider-Man films have been the most consistently strong in the MCU, and this film is no exception. It’s a heck of a ride that makes me hope Holland plays the character in a few more outings.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now playing nationwide.

Matthew Fox is a graduate of the Radio, Television and Film program at Biola University, and a giant nerd. He spends his free time watching movies, TV, and obsessing about football. He is a member of the FSWA. You can find him @knighthawk7734 on Twitter and as co-host of the Fantasy Football Roundtable Podcast.