Leap of faith. As you probably know, I’m moving in two
weeks. I’m afraid, emotional, anxious and excited all at the same time. Even
though I’m only moving in with a friend, it feels like that leap of faith I
need to take in my life. I’ve slowed down on writing, I got my small degree last
year, I’ve worked on growing bit by bit on Twitch all the while I’ve been
unable to find work in a barren job market. I feel like I felt three years ago
when I decided to go back to college, stuck and scared. I’ve been here for five years now, I’ve watched countless films and I’ve changed in my views and beliefs about life in general.
I think it’s fitting that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is likely the last film I’m
seeing in theaters here. Spider-Man has been my favorite superhero since I was
a kid. He has also given the superhero genre a jolt on three separate occasions
now over the past three years with his cameo in Captain America: Civil War, his first MCU film in Spider-Man: Homecoming and this. Sony--who
just released the most bare-boned superhero origin story since Thor, in Venom--has done a 180 with this animated feature that explores
Miles Morales’ origins as the successor to Peter Parker’s Spider-Man.
Spider-Man:
Into the Spider-Verse follows the familiar story of Miles
Morales (Shameik Moore), a bright teenager living in Brooklyn, New York who gets
bitten by a radioactive spider and starts to become Spider-Man. He meets Spider-Man
(Chris Pine) as he is fighting Green Goblin while trying to stop Wilson Fisk
from starting a particle accelerator to try and access different dimensions, so
he can get his family back. During the fight, as the machine is running, Goblin
holds Spider-Man into the beam which ultimately leads to his death at the hands
of Fisk. Unbeknownst to anyone, reality was bent and a cavalcade of Spider-Men
and Women have been brought to Morales’ dimension and he must work together
with them to save his world and get them back to theirs.
I’m going to get my negatives out of the way first, because
these are only minor gripes. One, the disenfranchised kid (regardless of
ethnicity) “winning the lottery”, so to speak, to go the better place (in this
case it’s a school) is a dumb trope and doesn’t really need to be done with the
Miles Morales or Peter Parker characters. They have always been portrayed as
smart teenagers who kick their lives into high gear with the advent spider-bite.
You don’t need more of a push to these characters. Motion blur during the action
scenes was used heavily in this. Except it wasn't motion blur, it was a technique known as "smearing." I don’t mind smearing (or motion blur for that matter) for effect, but it
shouldn’t be relied upon as much as it was in this. I know they did it to
accent the comic-book style, but at times it was kind-of distracting. Finally,
the climactic scene seemed a bit rushed. In a film that was almost two hours,
there shouldn’t be a finale that feels as rushed as it did. It’s not that it
was short or unoriginal, but it should’ve stood out as the final fight it was,
at least compared to the rest of the action in the film.
While we’re talking about the action, it was sublime.
Motion smear aside, the scenes were wonderfully choreographed, and all had
purpose for the progression of the film. Even before all the Spider-people
bleed in and the fights really ramp up, the action was well-crafted and relevant
towards the story. While not as quippy as in the PS4 Spider-Man game, each
fight felt like a Spidey fight because of the signature tone and humor that is naturally
injected by it just being Spider-Man. The integration of the BAMs, THWIPs and
POWs to the background of a given fight were also great touches that added to
the comic-book flare that permeated throughout the film.
The CGI in the film was beautiful, again motion smear aside, the world, character design and overall vibe of the film. This film is a
stylized comic-book brought to life. As I mentioned above, BAMs and POWs are
all over the places. Comic-book covers are used to introduce each hero before a
brief introduction about their origins and that was perhaps my favorite touch
of the film. Comic-book panels were frequently used to explain things as well.
The unique colorized style (and in your face soundtrack to an extent) remined
me a lot of the Jet Set Radio series. It was a sensory masterpiece and you
never want to take your eyes of the screen. I would compare the animation
heavily to the incredible “real world” CGI used in Doctor Strange had a few years back. Everyone’s suits and style
looked great and stayed true to their comics designs. I also highly enjoyed the
imposing size of Fisk (Liev Schreiber) and the unique style of Doc Oc and Aunt
May (Kathryn Hahn and Lily Tomlin). Seeing Scorpion, Prowler and Tombstone was pretty great as well.
Miles and Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) were written and
voiced quite well and will satisfy fans of both main Spider-Men. Spider-Woman /
Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), was fine, but I honestly enjoyed her not being
the love interest of Miles--even though that’s what is planned for a sequel. It
was refreshing not needing a love interest because there’s so much emotion in
just the origin stories of Gwen and Miles. While the agony of both Peter Parker’s
in the film also fuels any emotional connection you would want to make. The
rest of the cast including Nicholas Cage as Spider-Noir, John Mulaney as
Spider-Ham and Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker all have a unique voice, even if
they’re relegated to supporting role. I feel like all the people in Miles’ family,
are just alright in the film and seem more generic than anything else, even
though his father and uncle are central to Miles becoming who he is.
The story isn’t anything revolutionary, it’s the story
of almost every Spider-Man movie, show, video game, ever made, but it works. I’m
not huge fan of--like I said above--handing out an upgrade to a disenfranchised
for the sake of doing it. I think it’s to make Miles more relatable, even
though he’s very relatable already. You don’t have to force the “you worked your
way to this school by winning a competition and then working hard.” Just let
him go to the school, we know Spider-Man alter egos are usually bright
teenagers, you don’t have to politicize everything. Everything else is enough of
a twist or homage to this established and beloved origin story. I’m not a fan
of the whole “we are Spider-Man” thing from the end, but I get the marketing
power behind it. I more related to the “leap of faith” element throughout the
film and think that is the aspect people should be focusing on more. I think
taking that leap of faith in your life to get to where you need to be is a much
more realistic message compared to “YOU TOO CAN BE SPIDER-MAN!” I enjoyed it
because it’s the most faithful adaptation of Spider-Man we’ve seen to date in a
film. As much as I like Tom Holland’s MCU Spider-Man, Phil Lord and Christopher
Miller have totally encapsulated the essence of a Spider-Man comic in this.
I don’t feel I need to say much more about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s
a well-crafted, visually striking film, with a competent story, great design, genuine humor, good
voice acting and engaging action sequences. If you’re a fan of Spider-Man, this
is the film for you. It has minor problems and I have some minor gripes, but this
is the most I’ve enjoyed a film so far this year and I can’t wait to give it a second
watch.
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