Green Goblin Reviews Spider-man: Into The Spider-Verse
“Amazing!!!”, “Spectacular!!”, “The Ultimate Spider-man Experience!!!” These are just some of the routine praises that most critics toss up when it’s time to write a Spider-man review, because we think it’s cute to reference the titles of the comics to use as a cheap pop. Here’s hoping you don’t recognize my calling out of said cheap pop is really just an attempt to stand out, while simultaneously using it shows that I’m nothing more than a hypocritical smartass, trying to fill for time in my intro to this review. But here comes the unexpected straight jab, when I tell you that Spider-man: Into The Spider-verse really is Amazing and Spectacular and Friendly Neighborhood!!! Yes, that’s right folks; believe the hype. This is a winner!!
This animated film is so full of joy and emotion and battles and spectacular imagery, that it’s right up there with the best of Raimi and makes you pray to God that Sony ditches that “Michael Morbius” nonsense and focuses on a Spider-man Cinematic Universe that actually makes sense and is surprisingly appeasing to young and old fans alike, with a unique, energetic, ever-changing artstyle and a nice simple plot about multiverse theory that the whole family can follow. Oddly enough, I think this is the first real foray into superhero multiverses to ever hit the big screen in a massive release (not counting those limited DCAU theatrical releases), and they manage to do a pretty bang-up job, by basically jettisoning the entire plot of the Spider-verse comic and simply taking Miles Morales’ origin story and taking a few of the more recognizable Spider-men/women/pigs and making their appearance the main catalyst that kick-starts the whole adventure.
Miles Morales (Portrayed by Shameik Moore) is and Afro-Latino teenager, living in Brooklyn with his cop father Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree Henry), nurse mother Rio Morales (Luna Lauren Valez), and bad influence uncle Aaron Davis (Childish Gamb-….I mean Mahershala Ali). One day, when practicing his graffiti art in an abandoned metro tunnel, he’s bitten by an odd, reality-twitching spider. The next day, the same familiar powers we know and love are making his life at school pretty nerve-wracking, so he ventures back into the subway to locate the spider in question, only to inadvertently stumble into the final pages of any given Spider-man comic, complete with a supervillain boss fight, a mad scientist’s lair and a multi-verse-flavored doomsday machine. The ensuing battle leaves a recognizeable crack in the reality of time and space around Miles’ Brooklyn, but also summons different Spider-beings from multiple realities, including a mangaverse D.Va-style Spider-girl, a black-and-white Noir detective Spider-man (Nicholas Cage), a Spidered-up Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) from a universe that was much kinder to her than 616, and a straight-outta-Toontown anthropomorphic pig named the Spectacular Spider-Ham. With the threat of reality breaking and the Spider-beings from multiple worlds all dying, it’s up to Miles and his Web Warriors (the cheapest of pops!!) to seal the crack and undo the damage.
First things first, genuine praise has to go out for this fantastic cast of voice actors from diverse backgrounds actually bringing a sense of authenticity to these characters that could have so easily been half-assed in a lesser film. When the cast includes recent Oscar winners, Emmy-winning television stars and the lead star from the motion picture “Dope”, you know the people in charge have their heads screwed on right. Voice acting often requires you to emote and carry your gestures and movements with just sound, which is trickier to do than people tend to give credit for and the acting is so strong in this film, that I made a mental note to make sure to put it in the review. They’re also aided with a very strong script, filled with legit peril, surprise twists that will sneak up on even the dorkiest of Spider-man fanboys and a genuine sense of heart that caught me very offguard. I find myself actually tearing up for a second time to a Spider-man story, here in 2018 (No, not “Venom”; the PS4 game). It truly does set Morales’ origin story in stone for mainstream audiences and puts him right up there with Peter Parker proper.
The artstyle is stunning as well, with Miles’s world being signified by a sort of cell coloring disalignment happening with objects that are out of focus. And each Spider-man character is created and operates on an artstyle and set of physics, unique to their own reality (with Noir Spider-man literally unable to comprehend colors and Spider-ham summoning the all-powerful Toon-Force to basically operate like a more violent Bugs Bunny). The fight choreography is both chaotic and surreal, while still being pretty damn easy to follow. Something about well-choreographed fight animation that’s just hard to describe.
If it sounds like I’m being too overtly positive, I gotta tell ya, it’s hard to come up with anything here I didn’t like. It’s a fresh take on familiar and well-performed characters with high stakes and beautiful animation. What’s not to like, honestly? I can’t really think of anyone to NOT recommend this to. If you’ve heard the Spider-man origin story too many times, this film is still something I’d recommend to you. It’s honestly the best animated film I’ve seen all year and one of the best interpretations of my favorite characters and franchise ever. Go see it immediately!!
10/10: What’re ya waiting for? Go now!!