I Finally Related to Tom Holland's Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day

After nearly five years away from the big screen, I finally got to see my favourite wall crawler return as Spider-Man swung back into theatres in the fourth installment of the Tom Holland-led franchise in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day."

This won't be a full-on movie review, but as you may have seen if you follow me on Instagram, when I first saw the movie and logged it on Letterboxd, I gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. I called it "peak Spidey hoops" because I genuinely think it's a perfect Spider-Man story.

After "Spider-Man: No Way Home," we left Tom Holland's Peter Parker completely alone after Doctor Strange's spell made everyone forget who he was. While it took us a long time to get there, through three solo Spider-Man movies and multiple appearances in the Avengers films, we've finally reached the Peter Parker that so many people know from the comics.

He's all alone. He's solely focused on the task at hand, which for him is being Spider-Man. He understands that this great power he has comes with great responsibility, and he's carrying the weight of that on his shoulders.

I loved where we found Peter at this point in his life, and as you can probably tell from the title of this post, this was the first time I personally felt like I could truly connect with Tom Holland's version of the character.

Now let me clarify something. I don't mean that I have some great power or responsibility to live up to. I don't mean that I'm completely alone with no friends or that nobody remembers who I am.

What I mean is that, as I've gotten older, I've become more comfortable being on my own.

As I've gotten older, I've realized that I'm going to have to spend more time alone than I ever thought I would. Over the years, I've become more introverted (way more than I'd like, to be fair) and have come to realize that you can't always depend on other people to pull you out of whatever you're feeling.

That's why this version of Peter Parker resonated with me so much.

Throughout the movie, you can tell he's dealing with depression, which makes complete sense considering everything he's lost. He's all alone, and he throws himself into being Spider-Man because it keeps him distracted from his own personal problems.

He's always looking for the next thing to do so he doesn't have to sit with his thoughts, which is why, for the majority of the movie, he's inside the suit.

I don't know if I'm doing the best job describing it, but I guess I'm saying I feel that way because there are a lot of times where I feel lonely too.

I still have friends, obviously, but as you get older, you don't get to see them nearly as often.

In Peter Parker's case, he doesn't get to see them at all except through social media.

For me, as my friends move away, build new relationships, and start new jobs, we don't get to see each other as often anymore. Sometimes the only way I get to stay connected with them is by watching their journeys, seeing their success, or simply seeing whatever they're going through on social media.

That's what I mean when I say I relate to this version of Peter Parker.

For so long, Tom Holland's Peter Parker was the happy-go-lucky kid who always had someone there to help him. Now, as he's getting older, he has to distance himself.

He's alone.

He's not as social as he wishes he could be, or maybe he just doesn't know how to be anymore.

I feel like I've been going through that for a long time as well.

I'm comfortable being alone, but I still wish I were more outgoing. I wish I could feel comfortable just going up to people at a bar and make new friends.

I don't know why, but I just don't feel comfortable doing that.

Like Peter in this movie, sometimes you don't know how. Sometimes you don't know if you should.

You don't know whether it will create more problems or how it might affect people around you.

You're just in a constant state of "I don't know."

That's why I connect with this version of the character more than ever before.

I also think the message at the end of the movie is incredibly important.

When Peter realizes he can no longer do this alone, I don't think he's just talking about himself.

I think he's speaking for a lot of people.

It's okay to ask for help, and it's okay to open up.

We need to become more comfortable in our own skin. We need to tell people what we want to do and what we want to achieve and let the people we care about know that we care about what they're going through too.

Sometimes, simply being there for someone and supporting them through difficult times can make all the difference.