Ever since Miles Morales, the Ultimate continuity version of Marvel’s Spider-Man, debuted in comic pages in 2011, the creation of artist Sara Pichelli and Brian Michael Bendis has garnered enough popularity for comic fans to demand a Spider-Man film with him in a starring role. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse decides not to simply stop at merely introducing just Miles (voiced with heart and charm by Shameik Moore) to a larger audience, but a variety of incarnations of the titular web-slinger.
Directed by Rodney Rothman, Bob Perichetti and Peter Ramsey, this animated feature- similar to Homecoming last year- walks a tightrope between its humor, action, and drama. All while capturing the coming-of-age aspect core to the character that’s such a familiar element in Spider-Man’s stories, in the best manner I’ve seen since Sam Raimi’s second Spider-film.
In what often resembles an actual comic book with its use of word bubbles and cuts designed to resemble page flips, Morales is having trouble fitting in at his new boarding school. It’s where his police officer father Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry, in a more heroic turn from his political mobster in Widows) hopes he’ll avoid the influence of his uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali).
But Miles, a budding artist, has a passion for grafitti tagging, and he unfortunately becomes even more of a misfit when a radioactive spider bites him during a night of spray-painting. He develops Spidey-Sense, can’t keep his body from sticking to everything around him- including his crush Gwen Stacey (Hailee Steinfeld), and gains physical abilities similar to Spider-Man (Chris Pine), who Jefferson sees as a dangerous vigilante.
When Miles tries to discover where this weird spider came from, he stumbles on the master plan of the hulking criminal Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk (Liev Schreiber), and Spider Man’s effort to stop him from opening portals to parallel universes in search of his lost family. Spider-Man gives Miles a valuable USB drive before Kingpin defeats him, and it’s up to Miles and his newfound powers to stop Kingpin from ripping everyone’s worlds apart.
Helping him in his quest are Aunt May (Lily Tomlin) who operates a Spider-cave, hosting alternate versions of Marvel’s flagship hero- a down-and-out Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) who wants to win his Mary Jane Watson back, the cartoony and zany Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), the two-fisted and tough-talking monochrome Spider-Man Noir (a hilarious Nicholas Cage), Gwen’s alter-ego Spider-Woman, and the cute manga-influenced Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) who pilots a charming spider-robot.
Between how well-executed the story and character development is, the particularly notable Stan Lee cameo, and some gut-wrenching moments, it’s hard not to feel for Miles and the rest of the heroes in Spider-Verse. Helped with some good character animation, Moore’s voice work as Morales goes a long way in getting the audience behind him, and hands himself nicely in both dramatic and comedic moments.
Johnson’s Peter B. Parker is an enjoyably snarky mentor who helps Miles develop into his world’s Spider-Man, teaching him how to swing web vines as they dodge lasers from Dr. Octopus (Kathryn Hahn) and her henchmen, while Steinfeld’s Spider-Gwen is sassy, badass and affectionate all at once.
Heck, even Kingpin’s motivations are surprisingly affecting, as sinister as his character is. Thanks to a strong performance by Schreiber and a character design that’s heavily drawn from Bill Seinkiewicz’s work, he’s a memorable presence.
As much as this movie is a treat for the eyes, the soundtrack also helps a lot in generating an exciting atmosphere for this movie. The score provided by Daniel Pemberton is quite good, and the hip-hop oriented soundtrack (featuring songs from Vince Staples, Post Malone and Duckwrth) serves as a representation of Miles’s tastes- the more modern direction for the franchise within a film that also has a lot of loving tributes to Spider-Man’s history.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the ninth appearance of the friendly neighborhood crime-fighter in a major motion picture and his seventh as the lead hero. So thankfully, this film is as different as it can possibly be from its previous incarnations. It feels incredibly fresh not just by the standards of the character and superhero films, but animated features in general.
The style and effort put into these visuals, though they could possibly be too overwhelming for sensitive audiences, are ideal for a 3D viewing, and the subtle details of the expressions in the characters add a lot of nuance to the character moments in-between the action- which can sometimes get a bit convoluted.
Still, there’s a great adventure story here that makes up for that minor flaw, anchored by a new version of Spider-Man who is sure to become even more renown. Easily recommended, and as always, if you’d had the chance to swing by a theater and see it, let us know what you thought of it at Official_FAN on Twitter!