Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse review

My opinion right after watching the movie

My opinion right after watching the film is that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sony made a risky choice of not making another Peter Parker adaption, and I think it was a worthy risk. While I do not think the characters are the absolute best, I liked how they interacted with one another, the story was action-packed, and well-detailed. There is a lot of heart in the film, which I never thought I would say for a Sony animated film.

Production

After the November 2014 Sony Entertainment hack, it was revealed that Sony was planning to rejuvenate the Spider-man universe, which was then confirmed in the 2015 Cinemacon. What was stated during that time that it would co-exist with the live-action Spider Man films, but then changed it to state that it would exist outside of the other Spider Man films. Sometime in early 2017, it was revealed that the movie would star the Miles Morales version of Spider Man, instead of Peter Parker, since there has been no film that featured the former, and the story needed to be told.

The film was made as an animated film, because they wanted the story to feel like we were in a comic book, which a live-action film could never do.  Regarding the CGI animation, it was combined with “line work and painting and dots and all sorts of comic book techniques” to make it look like “a living painting”, with adding 2D rendered framed above the CGI in a revolutionary manner that I will never fully comprehend.

Story

The movie starts with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) going to a new elite boarding school for the first day, and quickly becomes overwhelmed with it. Apparently he is supposed to try it out for 2 weeks, and intentionally does poorly, so he can be kicked out. A girl named “Gwanda” (Hailee Steinfeld) is in one of his classes, and finds him funny to laugh at, which causes him to have a crush on her.

He then ends up visiting his uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali)’s house to talk about having a crush on Gwen, and they end up going to do some grafitti. Apparently his father Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry) would do it with his uncle, but became a cop, and whatever. While this takes place, some weird spider ends up biting him on his hand, which causes the transition to become the Spider Man. He is acting very weird in many different ways, and doesn’t really realize what is taking place until he reads a Spider man comic.

He is unable to contact any of his relatives, and goes back to the station to try and long story short, he meets Spider Man (Chris Pine) after the latter fights the Green Goblin and Prowler. Some sort of accelerator goes off, which causes a bunch of stuff to go down that I can’t really keep track of. Spider Man gives him a USB drive to destroy it, since the accelerator can destroy the city if it’s turned on again. The villain Fisk (Liev Schreiber) kills Spider Man, and they oversee Miles, so they are determined to kill him, but he ends up escaping. Miles rushes back home for comfort, and does not get assurance form his father about Spider Man, whose death starts to make it through the news.

While going to Spider Man’s grave to reject what he was told, Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) approaches him, and was apparently transported into another world, which is the one that the film is currently in.  He takes Peter to his house, who pretty much runs off, and wants to turn on the accelerator to go home. This Peter divorced from Mary-Jane, had Aunt May pass recently, is jaded, and gluttonous. Of course what ends up happening, happens regarding the training.

So they sneak into Fisk’s lair, and they overhear that multiple dimensions are colliding together. Long story short from Olivia Octavious/Dr. Octopus (Kathryn Hahn), Peter will deteriorate and eventually die the longer he is on their Earth, which is why he glitches. A chase ensues, and Miles has to be in tune with his powers to grab the computer containing the information, and to become Spider Man. Gwen ends up saving the day, and reveals her story as Spider Woman, who was thrown into the universe last week after failing to save Peter in her world.

They go to Aunt May (Lily Tomlin)’s home, and it’s revealed that she has been hiding several of the other Spiders from alternate dimensions, who are also deteriorating. Miles still cannot do anything on command, and everyone beats on him to try and get him prepared. Ultimately, they do not believe in him, and he ends up leaving, only to be bombarded by calls from his family. He goes to his uncle’s house for some advice, but soon realizes that his uncle is Prowler once he enters his home.

He goes back to May’s house in the morning to tell them that his uncle is Prowler who tried to kill him. All of the villains show up soon after, and IT. PAWPS. AWF. Prowler soon realizes that he is about to kill his nephew, but before anything can really be done, he is killed, but not before another sappy final words. Miles’ father shows up to see that his brother is murdered, and believes that Spider Man killed him.

All of the other Spiders show up at his house to tell him goodbye, and Peter ties him up for his own safety, since they all are going to take off, and take the key. His father soon shows up, and tells him about his uncle’s death, wile also telling his son that he has this spark, and it’s why he pushes him so hard. Of course this is the time where Miles is ready to be Spider Man.

As many of yall can tell, the final battle is always a bore and a chore for me to recap, since a lot of it is so redundant. Miles joins the others in destroying the villains, finally in control of his powers. After a sequence of battles to build suspense, Miles is able to activate the drive, which sends all of them to go back to their dimensions, though Peter wants to fight Fisk off first. With Miles on his own, he takes on Fisk, but the encouragement of his father causes him to excel and defeat him and the accelerator, unshockingly. Miles embraces his role as the new Spider Man, while the other Spiders find their own happiness, in their own way.

It is really nice to see Sony take a risk, and step out of their comfort zone, which is something I have yet to see them do before this point. Every studio shooed make risks creatively, and really try to grow, which this film did. Even amongst this super-hero frenzy, this movie took more risks than several of the other films, and it will stand out a lot more due to it.

Characters

There are only two main characters in the movie, being Miles and Peter Parker. Miles is the typical teenager who wants to know his purpose, has some family issues, and I struggling with going to a new boarding school. They don’t focus on that too much, as they focus more on him becoming the new Spiderman, which is a fine enough plotline I guess. Peter Parker in this film is older, more out of shape, and a lot less optimistic, but it slowly starts to go away, and the relationship between him and Miles is really endearing. It seems like they were trying to set Gwen up to be the pseudo-love interest of Miles, which was really weird. Miles’ father being the ‘Spiderman hater”, only to fix his relationship with his son is typical, but still done well. Everyone else is fine enough, though not memorable enough for me to mention.

Animation

I am……. bewildered, and astounded with the animation in this film. Them adding traditional animation over the CGI is nothing new whatsoever, but the way they did it makes it really stand out. Wanting to be a still-painting is a concept that several films have attempted to do, but it never really works. Watching this movie is literally like watching a cartoon coming to life, even with all of the obnoxious crashes, subtitles, thought bubbles, and all of that stuff.  Brilliant colour scheme, and I love how the movement is like a comic,with it being somewhat choppy kind of. Great character designs as well. I just think the animation is pretty perfect.

Music

I’m not going to lie; I did not notice much of anything from the score. There are no songs for me to judge, so I only have to go off the score, and it was just relatively okay. What you will expect from a superhero, and an action film, you will get it here.

Reception at Release

When the film as released on December 14th, it has (as of December 21st) made $53 million domestically, and $20.5 million in other territories, adding up to a worldwide amount of $73.5 million against a $90 million budget.

Score

Story: 9/10

Characters: 7/10

Animation: 10/10

Music: 7/10

33/40 = 83%

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