Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse – Review
Recently, on the knockout episode “Jeremy Bearimy” of NBC’s “The Good Place,” lead character Eleanor Shellstrop makes a list of rules concerning how life should be governed. “Rule number one: I get to do whatever I want, and you all just have to deal with it. Rule two: no more Spider-Man movies! There’s way too many Spider-Man movies! Too many dorky, little, twerpy Spider-Men.” Good thing she doesn’t make the rules; otherwise, the world would have missed out on one of the finest Spider-Man films in existence.
Honestly, when it was first announced, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sounded like too much of an obvious cash-in on Spidey’s current popularity. Truth be told, it’s a popularity which has been surging since Sam Raimi brought the character back to movie audiences in 2002, culminating in the character’s recent placement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yet, once you get to your theater seats and the lights go down, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse takes you into an endlessly vibrant and intricate origin story of the newest web-slinger.
The film’s major advantage lies in its computer-animated realm, capable of showing us the infinitely impossible. Any random frame of this film could be cut out and put up on a wall, or it could be stuck into a panel in a comic book. Make no mistake; this is high art, innovative and imaginative. Characters fly high and defy any kind of earthbound logic, which the film’s animators handle with grace, precision, and audacity. The trio of directors – Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman (who also co-wrote the screenplay) – guide us into spaces where no cameras could go and show us what no mere mortal could do.
Cities, underground lairs, even simple homes are given gorgeously-exaggerated life and detail. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse immerses the viewer completely into this colorful version of New York City, punctuated by graffiti and teeming masses all scurrying to their next destination. Each object and person has been drawn and realized in a classic comic-book style, immediately suspending disbelief and sinking you into the film’s embellished milieu.
Filling out the animation is a wonderful voice cast, picked perfectly for their attributes and attitudes. It starts with our hero and narrator, Miles Morales, played sweetly by Shameik Moore. Miles is a kid from a poor neighborhood being sent to an upscale, mostly-white prep school on the other side of town, further cementing his feeling of being out of place. Especially when he’s driven to school and playfully embarrassed by his policeman father Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry); it’s one of those “I’m just gonna go crawl into a hole and die” moments for Miles. And wouldn’t you know it – a lovely girl named Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) just happens to have seen the whole episode.
Miles also has a little rebellious streak, nurtured and channeled by his ne’er-do-well Uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali), who shows him a place where Miles can flex his artistic muscles. Of course, this location happens to be in an abandoned part of the New York subway system, inhabited by – you guessed it – a radioactive spider which takes a chunk out of his hand. Before you know it, Miles is suddenly growing tall and sticking to walls, wondering how the hell his life could get any weirder.
(p.s. Don’t be surprised if you find your eyes unexpectedly leaking somewhere around the first thirty minutes. The computer screen’s getting hard to see while writing this warning.)
Grade: 4.5 out of 5 stars
MPAA Rating: PG for frenetic sequences of animated action violence, thematic elements, and mild language.
Stay through the credits.
Running time: 117 minutes.
Released by Sony Pictures Releasing.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Stars
4.5
Powered by a multi-talented, multicultural cast, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is an excellent entry into the Spider-Man canon, going toe-to-toe with its larger-profiled brethren and coming away an absolute winner.