After he is bitten by a radioactive spider, teenager Miles Morales (Shamiek Moore) finds himself with amazing abilities he can barely comprehend.
When a villain’s scheme opens a rift to other dimensions that could destroy all reality, Miles is introduced to a variety of other Spider-people.
Suddenly, Miles finds himself in a race against time to save reality - and figure out exactly what kind of Spider-Man he wants to be…
God, I love this movie so much.
Growing up, I was a big Spider-Man fan. Mostly because (aside from Batman) he had the best rogues gallery. For some reason past Spider-Man movies have left me cold. The Raimi movies were dramatically solid, but I have always found his vision underwhelming. And the Marc Webb reboots are just mush.
Homecoming was fun, but I pretty much forgot about it a few months after watching it.
Into The Spider-Verse though - this movie clicked.
It is really funny while also resonating on a dramatic level. I had no knowledge of Miles Morales before watching the movie, and it did not matter.
There is a flatness to the aesthetic of contemporary superhero movies, particularly the Marvel variety, that has become off-putting to me. Not to mention the stories, which feel like never-ending middle acts.
Telling the story of Miles Morales, this movie takes a multiverse story, and finds a way to make it fun. Really fun.
This movie is one of the most purely enjoyable movies I have seen in recent years.
And one of the things I love about it is its brevity - no scene feels too long; exposition is delivered with economy, imagination and wit.
The movie manages to feel earnest without ignoring the goofier, more cartoonish possibilities of the source material.
The film features plenty of physical comedy: Miles figuring out which building to leap off of; Miles and Peter B’s escape from the police under the elevated train; the scene with the pigeons.
The movie has a fantastically weird sense of humour (even Stan Lee's cameo is barbed).
While very funny, alt-Peter's (Jake Johnson) backstory never loses a sense of pathos (the contrast between his narration of his life with the tragic reality).
I was surprised with how emotionally mature and visceral the movie is.
One has become used to the easy sarcasm of the Marvel movies. Their sense of comedy is often self-puncturing, as if the filmmakers are embarrassed of the fact that they are comic book movies.
The humour in this movie never feels like it is making fun of the character, or negating the stakes of the story.
It is light on tone, yet profound in the way it presents the various Spider-people's perspectives on heroism, responsibility and faith.
Miles’ relationships with his parents, and with his uncle, are affecting - the scene where Miles’ father tries to break the news about his uncle’s death, while Miles has been benched by the Spider-gang, is one of the most elegantly written and performed sequences I have seen in a long time.
The cast are great. Dope's Shamiek Moore is a great Miles. Jake Johnson grounds Peter in a sense of sadness. Liev Schreiber is an imposing and tragic Kingpin. Lily Tomlin's casting as Aunt May is inspired, and Nic Cage is perfect as noir-Spider-Man.
This movie is so much fun. In the early draft of this review, I wrote that Tom Holland has some serious competition, but on reflection it is no contest. Into the Spiderverse is a one-of-a-kind great movie.
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