Movie Review

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

By JOHN PANNOZZI
Posted 12/19/18

Movie Review By JOHN PANNOZZI Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse **** out of five stars Multiple versions of Marvel's famous webslinger must come together to save the multiverse in the first-ever animated Spider-Man movie released on the big screen. Miles

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Movie Review

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Posted

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

**** out of five stars

Multiple versions of Marvel’s famous webslinger must come together to save the multiverse in the first-ever animated Spider-Man movie released on the big screen.

Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), a teenaged boy from Brooklyn, is smart but feels considerable pressure to live up to the expectations of his parents. Making this relationship a touch more awkward is the fact that Miles looks up to local superhero Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Chris Pine), while his father, police officer Jefferson Davis-Morales (Brian Tyree Henry) considers the webhead to be a public menace. While spray-painting graffiti with his not-so-straight-edged uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali), Miles is bitten by a genetically modified spider and starts to develop the same powers as Spider-Man.

Shortly thereafter, Miles discovers a secret laboratory where the crimelord Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (voiced by Liev Schreiber) has a particle accelerator to tap into parallel universes. Miles is then thrown into the middle of a battle between Spider-Man and Fisk. Spider-Man ultimately perishes but gives Miles a device that can disable the accelerator. Unexpectedly, Miles then runs into Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), an older and more jaded version of Spider-Man from a parallel universe. It turns out that Fisk’s accelerator has not only brought this alternate Peter to Miles’ universe but also brought Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfield), who posed as a student in Miles’ class, as well as several other counterparts to Spider-Man. The Spider-Men unite to find a way to not only destroy the accelerator but also use it to get home beforehand, as the universal displacement could eventually kill them.

Not only are the webcrawlers aided by this universe’s Aunt May Parker (Lily Tomlin) and her arsenal of Spidey tech, but Miles is directly tutored by the alternate Peter to become the best that he can be. The clock, however, is ticking, and some unexpected twists and turns may tangle Miles-and-company’s web.

Into the Spider-Verse is quite a special film, especially as it is the first animated Spider-Man movie. While Marvel’s chief competitor DC Comics has had long-lasting success with direct-to-video animated films and recently achieved theatrical success with The Lego Batman Movie, the House that Stan Lee Built pales in comparison. There have been a good handful of animated direct-to-video Marvel movies over the years, but few have ever reached the heights of their Distinguished Competition. And it may be telling that the only theatrical animated Marvel movies come from other studios – 2014’s Big Hero 6 was produced by Marvel corporate sibling, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Spider-Verse comes to us from Sony Pictures Animation.

The film is also unique conceptually. Superhero comic books have continuously told stories involving parallel universes featuring different dimensional counterparts of established characters for over 50 years. But high-profile superhero movies seldom use the multiverse as a plot point. One assumes that showbiz executives would fret that having several different versions of popular characters in the same medium would confuse audiences. So, in a sense, Spider-Verse can be considered a film that takes chances.

Into the Spider-Verse takes its name, basic scenario, and a few other concepts from the 2014-15 multi-title Marvel Comics story arc Spider-Verse. As is typical in comic book movies, many deviations from the source material are made due to the complexities of comic book backstories and the limited film runtime. But at least two characters introduced in the comic book storyline are retained in the movie adaptation – the Spider-Woman version of Gwen Stacy (better known colloquially as “Spider-Gwen”) and the anime-inspired Peni Parker (voiced by Kimiko Glenn). Spider-Gwen comes from a world where the roles of Spider-Man’s greatest tragedy are reversed (in her world, Gwen gets the mutant spider powers, while Peter Parker is killed) and is the most developed Spider-Person in the film save for Miles and the two versions of Peter. Fans of Spider-Gwen’s comic book adventures should be pleased with her first big-screen appearance.

Peni Parker, however, is more of a comic relief character. She is a schoolgirl of Japanese descent who has a psychic link to a radioactive spider that pilots the SP//dr robot. Essentially, she is a lighthearted homage to the famous anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion that some claim inspired the Pacific Rim films. Although not given much character development, Peni stills proves to be a cute and charming figure.

Also along for the ride are two more alternate Spider-Men from the pages of Marvel history. The Peter Parker/Spider-Man of the Marvel Noir universe (voiced by Nicolas Cage) is a humorous compilation of clichés from the hardboiled crime movies of the 1930s and 1940s. And then there’s Peter Porker/Spider-Ham (voiced by John Mulaney), who comes from a world of Looney Tunes-esque funny animals and is bizarrely a spider who was bitten by a radioactive pig.

But Miles and the alternate Peter are the focus of the movie. The film follows Miles’ original comic origin story as he takes up the mantle of Spider-Man when the Peter Parker of his universe (in the comics, Marvel’s more streamlined Ultimate Universe) is killed. The idea of Miles meeting the Peter of another universe can be traced back to the 2012 limited series Spider-Men (written and drawn by Miles’s creators, Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli). These two characters follow in the tradition of eager young heroes and their older, sometimes cynical mentors (think of Rey and Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi for a recent example).

The alternate Peter Parker is unlike any other version of the character previously seen on film. He is not only middle-aged but also deals with the baggage of having had a failed marriage to Mary Jane Watson. The tragedies of both versions of Peter Parker seen in this film, as well as some personal issues that Miles faces, keeps with the bittersweet nature of the Spider-Man franchise. Ever since Peter Parker failed to save his Uncle Ben in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15, we have seen many different versions of the webcrawlers and their respective alter egos endure losses in the line of their heroic duty. I can’t help but find irony in that Spider-Verse, an animated family film filled with an abundant amount of comedy, shows a more serious side to Spidey than his appearances in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe films aimed at older audiences have shown.

Into the Spider-Verse gives Spider-Man the same humorous but loving tribute that last year’s The Lego Batman Movie gave the Dark Knight. On top of everything, the look of the film captures a four-color pop art aesthetic wonderfully (although occasional blurring background effects and a somewhat choppy character animation frame rate may or may not prove distracting). Perhaps the most heartwarming moment comes from Stan Lee’s first posthumous movie cameo. This film is the perfect tribute to the hero created by Lee and the also-recently-deceased Steve Ditko.

So, if you like Spidey, sling on over to the local theater and check it out. And please stick around through and after the credits.Note: I started writing my "Spider-Man" review when John sent me his in-depth review, which  goes further into the genre than  I ever could. I liked the movie and its unique approach to film-making, and learned much from John's incredible insight. 

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