Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Review
Reviewed by: Asia
Rating: 5 out of 5 Hands
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is an amazing new take on the superhero movie. In the past, Sony has made some mistakes and questionable choices when it comes to their hold on the Spider-Man franchise, to which this movie so hilariously points out, but may have actually redeemed themselves with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
The most obviously striking difference that hits you in your face immediately during the now iconic Marvel Studio’s logo animation, is that the animation is like nothing you have ever seen before. It looks as though you are watching an actual comic book on the screen. It is not the traditional animation style we are all accustomed to. Producer’s Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, directors of The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, tasked the animation team to do something that they had never seen before. This new animation style was created through a combination of CGI, hand-drawn animation, the removal of motion blur through animation done on twos (i.e., 12 frames per second instead of 24), and going so far to replicate color offsets – a printing error in comic books that can make a panel look out of focus. This all leads to a visually stunning movie that may have made me tear up and become breathless at moments (I’m looking at you “leap-of-faith” scene) for its sheer beauty.
Now the incredible animation style does not take away from the fact that the writing and story are also impeccable. The story follows Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), an Afro-Puerto Rican teen who assumes the Spider-Man mantel after Peter Parker dies. After discovering the ever-so-powerful villain Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) is trying to open a portal to other dimensions causing five other alternate reality Spider-beings to join Morales’ timeline; they team up together to try and defeat Kingpin as well as get each other back to their correct realities.
It is a great coming of age story for Miles Morales and a new origin story for Spider-Man. Since 2001 the biggest complaint with every new Spider-Man is that his origin story is retold over and over again. We get it by now, Uncle Ben dies, Peter could have stopped it from happening, Peter is sad. “Spider-Verse” feeds into that fan complaint by retelling the origin story of all the different Spider-beings in a tongue-in-cheek “Okay, here we go again” way. Miles’ origin story falls along slightly similar lines as the traditional Spider-heroes journey goes. He is a normal teenager who gets bitten by a radioactive spider. He realizes he is now another Spider-Man but doesn’t know how to control his powers and at moments does not want them. The other Spider-beings try to show him the ropes but he doesn’t have faith in himself that he can do it, so they lose faith in him as well. Once he believes in himself and takes a leap-of-faith, he discovers his personal empowerment and strength.
The one thing that “Spider-Verse” so expertly touches upon though, is the late Stan Lee’s belief that Spider-Man and heroes in general can be anyone. In the iconic Stan Lee cameo that made everyone in the theater gasp, Lee says “The suit fits everyone eventually”. You don’t have to have superhuman strength or the ability to fly to be a hero. You can be a hero in your everyday actions, you just have to believe in yourself and be willing to take a leap of faith.
About Asia:
Asia is the Operations Manager of the 5 Wits West Nyack location. She is a lover of the arts, cats, and the outdoors. Originally from suburban Massachusetts, she now loves her new home just outside of New York City for the diversity of culture that it provides.