Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse Review

Peter Parker is the most famous version of everybody’s favourite webslinger. But he is not the only person to don the mask with Miles Molaris getting his cinematic debut in a film that showcases various iterations of the superhero.

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is an intelligent middle-school student who has to face typical teenage issues. He has to attend a new school and has an overbearing father (Brian Tyree Henry). But this is nothing after he gets bitten by a mutated spider, giving him superpowers and he ends up in a plot involving the Kingpin (Liev Schreiber), the multi-verse and different versions of Spider-Man. Miles meets an older and jaded version of Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) and convince the middle-aged schlub to be his mentor.

When it comes adaptations of Spider-Man the 2004 film Spider-Man 2 surpasses all the other films and most of the cartoons. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse is right up there, being a great reinterpretation of the character. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse offers pretty fans services, humour and action and mixes it with a strong story, drama and character arcs.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse were able to form a great creative team behind it. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, best known for the Jump Street films and The LEGO Movie produced the Spider-Man film and Lord co-wrote the screenplay with Rodney Rothman, the writer of 22 Jump Street. Rothman co-directed the film with Peter Ramsey, best known for directing Dreamworks’ Rise of the Guardians and Bob Persichetti, who makes his directional debut.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse has a unique art-style which makes it stand out compared to other animated films. The animators pretty much brought life to the comic book pages – the art style looking like it comes from the Marvel’s Ultimate imprint. The easiest comparison would be with Telltale’s Walking Dead games where the characters looked like they would fit in the comics – although the animation in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse was more fluid.

The animators go full in with the comic-book style. There were text boxes to show Miles’ inner thoughts and some sound effects appear as text on the screen. When other Spider-Men (and Women) show up they have an appearance to match their world – i.e. Peni Parker was drawn in an anime style and Spider-Ham looked like a Looney Toon.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse could have been compared to The Batman LEGO Movie due to the animation median and the involvement of Lord and Miller. And some comparisons are apt because both films are comedic, focus on a key relationship and use their alternative universes to revaluate the mythos. However, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse is a more serious story that could have worked as a live-action film. There were more dramatic moments in the Spider-Man film, all the Spider-Men and even one of the villains are driven by tragedy and the stakes are reality breaking.

The use of the multi-verse setting allows for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse to reinterpret and reimage some fan favourites without it being sacrilege. There is a great twist involving the reveal of one character and this universe has the most bad-ass version of Aunt May. Johnson’s jaded and experienced version of Spider-Man allows the film to point out clichés in the superhero genre and lampshades them.

The heart of the film is the Miles relationships, particularly with the alternative version of Peter Parker. Both are reluctant heroes – Miles just gains superpowers and given an enormous task to stop the Kingpin and Johnson’s Peter is a hero out of obligation. Yet the middle-aged Peter still knows he has to do the right thing and develops a bond with Miles. Miles also has to deal with his relationship with his dad and uncle which helps give the film an emotional centre.

Miles and Johnson’s Peter allows the film to show Spider-Man at different points of his superhero career. Miles is the teenager who just developed his powers, the Peter Parker in Miles’ world is peck-Spider-Man and Johnson’s Peter is more akin is a more humorous take on aging superheroes. The multi-verse setting is a great way to show all these different versions of Spider-Man within the same film.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse has the best cinematic portrayal of a teenage Spider-Man. Miles’ trials at school felt more real than in the other films because Miles was a normal teenager, he was awkward and got embarrassed but he was not a stereotypical nerd like Tobey Maguire or a dick like Andrew Garfield’s version. Nor does the school and students seem as exaggerated as they were in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse is also a love-letter to previous Spider-Man media. The Sam Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy was referenced, so was the ’60s cartoon, and edge-eyed viewers may notice the name of a famous comic-book writer.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse is a terrific superhero film, one of the best to feature Spider-Man. It is a great mix a traditional Spider-Man story and a reinterpretation.