As a kid in the late 80s, I would dream that someday there would be a Spider-Man movie, having a good feeling that someday my dream would be realized. But 30 years later I sit here writing about the 7thSpider-Man movie, and my mind is blown. Marvel or Marvel/Sony, I don’t care about all that, what I do care about is film companies making worthy Spider-Man movies. Some have been great (Spider-Man 2, Homecoming), others, not so much (Spider-Man 3, Amazing Spider-Man 2) but with this newest installment, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, comes an amazing new way to tell a Spider-Man story. Hands down this is one of the best and most creative Spider-Man movies to date.
In this new world we meet Miles Morales, a teenager who admires Spider-Man. Miles is struggling at his new school: making friends, girl problems, and not wanting to let his parents down. While hanging with his uncle one night he is bitten by radioactive spider and develops spider-like abilities. Returning to where he was bitten by the spider, he stumbles across Wilson Fisk, the villainous Kingpin, who has a secret laboratory where he has built a particle accelerator to access parallel universes. Miles is witness to Fisk battling Spider-Man, who makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the city.
Inspired by Spider-Man, Miles attempts to master his new powers. But due to the particle accelerator accessing other universes, an older, jaded Peter Parker has been brought into Miles’ universe. Together they seek out Aunt May, who has already been sought out by other individuals with spider powers: Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker and Spider-Ham. All are lost in Miles’ world and seek a way home. They band together to stop The Kingpin, destroy his machine, and find their way home.
This is a perfect comic book flick. From the start this is a new and creative way to tell a Spider-Man movie. We’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s just brilliant. The animation design is simply amazing: urban street art mixed with simplicity with lots of flash. The animation seems to come alive and move on its own. Without the creative look and style, I don’t know if this would have worked so well. It’s pure beauty in the best comic book style and form that animation could have given us.
The voice cast is perfect: Shameik Moore is wonderful in the role of Miles. He gives you all the feels and strength that Miles deserves in one simple line reading, so much more than we got in two full movies with Andrew Garfield. Moore understood the character of Miles and took it two steps more. He’s paired with our older Peter Parker played by Jake Johnson. Johnson has a great way of delivering the sarcastic wit and laziness that his Spider-Man calls for. And the two have a nice chemistry on screen.
The whole cast is amazing and really add something to each of their characters: Hailee Steinfeld as Spider-Gwen, John Mulaney as Spider-Ham, Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker, Lily Tomlin as Aunt May, Zoe Kravitz as Mary-Jane Parker, Chris Pine as Miles world’s Spider-Man, and in an amazing voiceover Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir. And not to be left out would be Liev Schreiber as the Kingpin giving you all the evil he could give. Each is awesome and brings something to their characters.
What makes this a special Spider-Man movie is that for the first time the whole world gets to meet Miles Morales. Other than comic fans, the world can now know and see just how cool the other Spider-Man is. And like all good Spider-Man stories the filmmakers focus on Miles first and Spider-Man second. Unlike Batman, where Bruce Wayne is the mask, Spider-Man is for sure the mask that Peter or Miles wears. It’s the person under the mask that makes the story great. And Into the Spider-Verse is wonderful in showing that growth and character development with Miles.
One of the best aspects of the movie is the focus given to Miles and his father. His father is a cop who doesn’t really care for Spider-Man and his vigilantism. Miles admires Spider-Man and his dad doesn’t understand him for it. His dad pushes him to be more, knowing his son can be more. But of course, teenagers don’t get that and Miles and his father clash. Just one of the better parts of the movie.
This is a great movie and probably the most comic-accurate Spider-Man to date. Great cast, music, and one of the best looking movies of 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse is a great addition to the Spider-Man franchise and one everyone should see.
