Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse review

I have been missing going to the movies lately. There has just been nothing this holiday season that has interested me.

Being bored after finishing X-mas shopping yesterday, I popped into see Spider Man into the Spiderverse.

I have to say it was pretty damn enjoyable.

PLOT

Here we are introduced to Miles Morales your typical New York teenager. Well I guess typical since I never lived there as a teen, but you know how it is with films. We get a look into his daily life at home and at school.

We also jump over to Spider Man, who gives us a quick look through flashbacks at his origin and life as Spider Man.

Then...jump back to Miles and his family life and see his relationship with his uncle Aaron, who he is much closer with than his folks. They pal around and do a little graffiti montage beneath the city where Miles is bit by the always present radioactive spider. Miles then starts to get powers and freak out like one does when being a teen with new spider powers. He puts two and two together and realizes he has Spider Man powers, so…. He back tracks back to the underground graffiti montage area to find said arachnid.


Once there he gets involved in a battle between Spider Man and the Green Goblin. This spills into a giant particle collider under the city being operated by The Kingpin (flanked by the Prowler and Tombstone) and his science goons. because why not right? Here the Kingpin is up to some shenanigans and Spider Man tries to stop him. While doing so he is tossed into the crazy particle stream. Clue small explosion and Spider Man being killed by Kingpin. Of course before all this goes down Miles and Spider man meet. Miles also sees Spider Man die and has to run for his life from the Prowler.


Spider Man funeral and sad times is next. Miles is lost and has nobody to help him with whatever spider powers he has….until…..he meets Spider Man again. Well a Spider Man from another reality, and surprisingly he isn’t the first one either. Miles and other Spider Man check into Alchemax where the creepy spider that bit Miles was created. This leads to….the gist of the plot by Kingpin, another villain reveal that surprised even me, Miles learning that his uncle Aaron is the Prowler (and the culmination of Mile Morales origin story), introduction to Spider Man Noir, Spider Gwen, Spider Ham and Penny Parker and her spider powered robot.

This all leads to the inevitable showdown with Kingpin and his cronies. A bit of the old Spider Man has a tragedy story bit. Spider Man/ Spider Woman, robot and pig saving the day. We all learn a lesson about life. Miles gets a promotion to Spider Man in this reality. Roll credits.

WHY GOOD?

First off the animation for this movie is just great stuff! I looks and feels like comic book pages and not the new computer stuff, but the “old” books. It isn’t dot matrix printer stuff, but it has a real great comic book feel. Even shots intersected by other panels. There are occasional word and thought bubbles. The yellow script blocks for internal monologues. There are big scenes that look like big splash pages. It was so much fun to watch just for the animation and nostalgia factor.

The story is pretty tight. It gives you a Miles Morlaes origin without being so heavy on typical origin story. The alternate universe stuff plays really well here too without having non-nerds go crossed eyed at the idea of alternate reality stuff.

The comedy hits are small, but they work well. John Mulaney as Spider Ham is great stuff. Nick Cage as Spider Man Noir is super fun. His combat banter is just amazing stuff!

Spider Gwen’s suit is still one of the better Spider Man looks since the Black suit and the 2099 suit too because of the spider and skull image. I imagine she will get her own movie and if not I’ll be really surprised.

The nods to other Spider Man stuff is fun for long time fans. You have the Alchemax corporation from the Spider Man 2099 comics. The nods to Tobey Maguire/ Sam Rami Spider Man films. The Spider Buggy! The room full of Spider Man variant costumes. Nods to writers artists are sprinkled around through phone contacts, restaurant names etc. It might be a reach but….blonde Peter Parker…….a nod to Ben Riley/ Scarlet Spider/ Spider Clone nonsense….or was he just blonde for giggles? A quick graph of the Marvel Multiverse showing Earth 616, 1610, 65 and….then it was gone. I’m assuming the other listed Earth’s were for Spider Man Noir, Peni Parker/Spider Robot and Spider Ham. Hell, the movie even starts with a seal of approval from the Comics Code Authority. This stupid thing was on everything until the late 90’s-early 2000’s. There are probably a lot more that I missed too. 

My spider sense says...this movie is pretty damn sweet

WHY BAD?

Ummmm……..I’ve got nothing? I mean was Miles’s dad supposed to be voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, because they sure did a good job making him look a lot like him.

Kingpin looks a little silly with his head almost in his chest?

The post credit scene is 50% garbage, but 50% awesome?

Yeah I got nothing really for why this is or should be a bad film.

A great comic book story with a comic book look. It is bright, fun and at times just a visually gorgeous. It does the mixed media really well. The look and music play so well together. The story is origin without being typical Spider Man exhaustive origin. It is just a damn fine and fun animated Spider Man movie. It is the best Spider Man movie that Sony has put together to date! I’ll stand by that and I really really liked the recent Spider Man: Homecoming, the 1^st Tobey Maguire film and the first Andrew Garfield Spider Man movies too.

Oh yeah, the Stan Lee cameo does a bit of the heart string pull a bit. Especially what he says and with his recent passing it really tries to hit you in the feels. The same for the dedication at the end of the film. Well it did for me anyway.