The theory that any movie is improved by the presence of Jon Bernthal gets a stern test in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

As grumpy, crusty, gun-crazy Frank Castle, aka “The Punisher,” reluctant sidekick to Spider-Man, Bernthal curses, sticks his nose in other superhero’s business, empties ammo clips and lands laughs.

But the movie? Two and a half hours of re-set, sentimental rehashes, re-learning web slinging, big fights and flashbacks and fan and franchise service “managed” by director Destin Daniel Cretton, “Brand New Day” may earn hundreds of millions. Yet it never rises above “content.”

Serious Spider-Man fans may wonder if they’ve actually been “serviced” at all in a messy narrative that pushes its title character aside for stretches as the rest of the Marvel Avengers/X-Men “comeback” agenda is tended to.

The ninth Spider-Man movie in 25 years, the fourth with Tom Holland in the title role, throws a few new zippy effects and hurls now-adult Peter Parker into combat with supernatural ninjas clothed in scarlet, at one point.

He’s still grappling with his late Aunt May’s (Marisa Tomei) big life lesson, “With great power comes great responsibility.” And in this latest outing, we see the personal cost of living that creed.

Peter had to hit a temporal reset to save those he loved in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” His friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) could only survive on a world worth living in if everybody forgot they ever met Spidey or knew Peter Parker.

It’s been years since this timeline change happened, and our friendly neighborhood “Spider-Man” has devolved into a loner and workaholic. He’s computer-wired into every crime as it happens, and Det. DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas) is his biggest cheerleader in a city that worships Spider-Man.

His mass media past, working for a newspaper while villified by that newspaper and much of the media, is forgotten, too. He can love MJ only from afar, composing her a letter explaining their past, one which he can’t send.

But brushes with old foes like Tombstone (Marvin Jones III) and Scorpion (Michael Mando) puts him on a collision course with a mysterious figure hunting for something that the governmental police force labeled Damage Control has. That figure can jump from body to body to body, making crimes and escapes a breeze in a crowded metropolis like New York.

Black Widow Yelena (Florence Pugh) brings Peter in for a consult — in her private sauna. Damage Control Chief Metzger (Trammell Tillman) offers Spider-Man help

Meanwhile, Peter is suffering headaches and spasms brought on by some arachnid changes to his body. He won’t need his self-engineered web-shooters for long. Peter’s becoming a spider, unless Empire State U.’s physics professor, Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) can help him find a way to suppress his supernaturalness.

The soul-jumping effect and next-generation flying footage are arresting, if not cinema-altering upgrades.

More than a few characters pass by without us hearing their Marvel superhero/supervillain names — Ramrod, Punisher, Tombstone among them. The script is more inside baseball than earlier Marvel outings. So if you don’t know who Frank Castle or Jean Grey are, you might want to google your memory.

Cretton directed “The Glass Castle” and “Just Mercy” and the tepid Marvel outing, “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” There’s not enough humanity and romance to this script to merit hiring someone with his strengths. The emotional highs are nothing of the sort. The picture — packed with characters and web-slinging exercises and fights — has no soul and nothing I’d call “joyful” or even “fun.”

That’s been a hallmark of the “Spider-Man” movies ever since horror icon Sam Raimi brought the character to the screen back in 2002. Even the most casual comic-book fans love Spidey, his love story, his trials and his internal struggles over “responsibility.” All that is here, but only in lip service form.

Spidey exclaiming “That’s so coool” when he finds himself in his first flying wirework martial arts swordfight (the oldest “effect” in the film) is an easy and rare laugh. Bernthal, saving grace grouse that he often is, makes every curse or curse cut-off mid-curse a laugh.

But even he’s doing “service” in Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers’ scripted Marvel infomercial. “The Punisher” has his own stand-alone movie comimg. So do “The Avengers” and “The X-Men.”

Who has time for acting grace notes, directors to show some flair for the material and scripts with more humanity and relevence (Damage Control is ICE?)? There’s CONTENT to be made, and as long as we lap it up, that’s all they’ll ever give us.

Rating: PG-13, lots of violence, some profanity

Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Mark Ruffalo, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Florence Pugh, Jon Bernthal and Marisa Tomei.

Credits: Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, scripted by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, based on the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko comics. A Sony/Marvel Studios release.

Running time: 2:25