Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

I’m A Spidey, You’re A Spidey….

My knowledge  of the Miles Morales version of Spider-Man begins and ends with my son.  He loves the character and the whole multi-verse angle that has been part of every Spider-Man’s world for a long time.  My son has informed me on characters such as Spider-Man 2099, the Iron Spider, and a multitude of other Spider related characters.  When I was a kid, Peter Parker’s Spider-Man was the only one that mattered to me.  After seeing Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, though, I’m a lot more interested in uncovering the tales of some of the other Spiders out there.

It’s no secret that Marvel has seriously lagged behind DC and Warner Brothers when it comes to animated films.  Spider-Verse has definitely helped them get back on track.  The funny thing is that Sony, who almost always screws up their Marvel property films, produced and distributed this film and it takes place in a world completely separated from the MCU, which means that Marvel still can’t make great animated films on their own just yet.

Mild spoilers ahead!

The film’s plot is centered around Miles Morales and his relationship with his parents and his uncle.  He loves his parents, but he feels that his father is overbearing and too protective.  He loves his uncle just as much or more than his parents and he has a special bond with him in a sort of big brother/little brother way.

Miles and his uncle sneak into an abandoned subway station one evening to work on Miles’ graffiti skills.  While in the subway, Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider that gives him spider abilities (including a few that Peter Parker’s Spider-Man lacks).  He begins to struggle with his new abilities and seeks the counsel of his uncle.  When he can’t find him, he goes back to the subway station to clear his mind and stumbles upon a battle between Peter Parker’s Spidey and villains that will remain nameless.  Spider-Man is attempting to stop a major villain from activating a particle accelerator.  He manages to temporarily stop the accelerator but dies in the battle.  He manages to give Miles a thumb drive that can permanently stop the accelerator and makes Miles promise to do all he can to stop the villain.

What Miles doesn’t know is that the accelerator managed to open up other universes and other versions of Spider-Man came into Miles’ version of the world.  The first one that he encounters is Peter B. Parker, an older, down-and-out version of Spider-Man who has  lost pretty much everyone that matters to him.  Miles convinces him to teach him how to control his powers and Peter B. begrudgingly agrees.  The pair grow to respect one another and become friends.  Eventually they uncover the reasons why the particle accelerator was built and also run into other Spideys that agree to help them.

As the story continues, it is learned that the other Spider-Men have to return to their own timelines or they will die.  They also learn that the accelerator will destroy Miles’ world if it isn’t stopped.  More villains attack the group as they attempt to destroy the accelerator and one in particular takes a heavy interest in Miles.  You’ll have to watch the film in order to see what happens!

Pros:

Villains – Unlike most of the MCU villains (aside from Vulture and the Winter Soldier), the primary villains were interesting and had legitimate reasons to do what they were doing.  Without giving away too much, Prowler was one of the most surprising parts of this film.

Origin Story – This was definitely the most emotional and tragic origin story featuring a Marvel character in a long time.  No, Miles didn’t lose his parents in a tragic accident, but he witnesses two violent and cold deaths that completely rock his world.  I actually felt for Miles and other characters when bad things happened to them.  I cheered them on as they overcame obstacles.  I haven’t gotten this emotional over a superhero’s origin story in a long time.

Animation – I’ll preface this by saying that I didn’t initially like the animation.  It took my eyes a bit of time to adjust to it but once I adapted to the style, I fell in love with it.  Animated by the same guys that brought you the LEGO Movie and the LEGO Batman Movie, expect to see bright colors and potentially epileptic seizure inducing (I’m not joking) sequences of lights flashing and fast movement.  The style mimics comic book pages all the way down to speech bubbles and thwips to describe the action.  What I loved even more was how the Spider-men from the other universes were drawn just slightly different than the rest of the characters in the film.

Spider-Men – Yes, there are quite a few Spider peeps in this movie.  My favorite one was Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), who spoke with a gruff voice and stuck to the shadows.  Gwanda/Spider-Woman was voiced by Hailee Steinfeld.  She was a tough version of Spidey that had a quick wit.  Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) was depressed, ready to give up at a moments notice, but eventually became Miles’ champion  when the rest of the Spideys were ready to give up on him.  Spider-Ham was voiced by comedian John Mulaney.  Although his role was smaller than the other Spiders, he was a nice and much-needed injection of humor in the film.  Kimiko Glen voiced Peni Parker, a young girl with a telepathic connection to her radioactive spider that does battle in a special robotic suit.  Miles Morales is voiced by Shameik Moore.  He does an excellent job as the awkward but generally well-meaning Miles.

Music – I’m not talking about the soundtrack (although it’s not too bad itself).  I’m talking about the film’s score by Daniel Pemberton.  Pemberton pulls at the viewer’s emotions throughout this film and created a great theme for Prowler.

Cast – The cast was brilliant.  All of them did great jobs.  Mahershala Ali did one of the best jobs in the bunch as Uncle Aaron.  He’s quickly become one of my favorite actors over the last couple of years.  Miles’ parents are portrayed by Luna Lauren Velez and Brian Tyree Henry.  I’ll list a few (but not all) of the other voice actors, but don’t want to name their characters in order to avoid spoilers.  Liev Schreiber, Zoe Kravitz, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kathryn Hahn, and Oscar Isaac, among others, did great jobs in their respective roles.

Cons – I wouldn’t necessarily consider this a con, but more of a warning.  This film features a couple of violent deaths.  One of them (although not shown, but heard) is brutally violent, and Miles witnesses it.  There are a lot of bad things that happen in this film that come across much more adult than anything from the MCU.

Other than that, this film is brilliant.  I highly recommend it.  It’s already won a Golden Globe and I’m sure that more award are coming its way.  It’s the best Marvel film of 2018 in my opinion, and one of the best movies of the year as well.

As always, thanks for reading.  Be on the lookout for more posts in the near future.