Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man is one of my favorite superheroes. Despite that, I can admit media inundated their audience with the character over the past 16 years. Since 2002 we’ve been subjected to six Spider-Man movies with three different actors wearing the infamous suit. The most recent incarnation of Spider-Man made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War before helming his own movie last year. With all of this exposure, you could assume that Sony’s seventh outing of the character, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse with its glut of web-slinging heroes would be unnecessary at best.
However, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a refreshing take on a story that we have familiarized ourselves with over the decades, throughout every form of available media. The focus of the movie isn’t on Peter Parker (despite an introduction at the beginning summarizing his ten-year history being the one and only Spider-Man, complete with pivotal callbacks to the Tobey Maguire films), but on Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), the kid who takes up the mantle after the Peter of his universe is taken out of action.
Created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, Miles Morales first appeared in 2011 as part of Marvel Comics Ultimate line. As a Afro-Latino teenager from Brooklyn he injected some much-needed diversity into their superhero universe. In this film, we’re introduced to Miles, a regular teenager with a love street art and a dislike of the fancy private school he’s forced to attend by his parents. To this movie’s benefit, it doesn’t shy away from his Latino heritage, emphasizing that he lives in a bilingual household. Afro-Latino representation is lacking in media and this movie not only focuses on an Afro-Latino teenager, it shows him being a superhero.
Miles’s story follows Peter Parker’s in that he is also bitten by a radioactive spider. While trying to figure out his new powers he gets embroiled in a scheme by Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) to use a collider to tear through multiple dimensions. It has the unexpected effect of bringing a much older and weary Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Spider-Woman a.k.a Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) , Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) into Miles’ reality. Together they have to stop Kingpin from destroying Miles’ world while getting everyone else back home. In between figuring out how to do this, Peter grudgingly teaches Miles how to be Spider-Man.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a superhero coming of age story with a stable of Spider characters, each interesting in their own right and each there to support Miles as he grows into being the new friendly neighborhood hero. The relationships are a strength in this film. Miles’ father Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry) manages to ground him during a pivotal moment in the film. Miles’ Uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali) is a source of security and understanding. The relationship between Miles and Peter helps both of them grow throughout the process.
The animation in this film is gorgeously brilliant, adding a whole new life to what could have been an old story. Some of the Spider characters are drawn in specific animation styles to mimic the universes where they originated. It all culminates in a spectacularly rendered last battle sequence. The film takes you on an action packed ride filled with a surprising amount of laughs. This may be the seventh Spider-Man film, but it feels just as exciting as the first one thanks to a strong cast, an intriguing screenplay by Phil Lord and the work of directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman. Miles is an amazing character and a worthy successor to Peter Parker.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is in theaters now. Go see it twice.
