I’ve watched this film around when it came out but decided to rewatch it again recently just because of the new Spider-Man: Miles Morales game. The premise of the movie is simply “Bitten by a radioactive spider in the subway, Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales suddenly develops mysterious powers that transform him into the one and only Spider-Man. When he meets Peter Parker, he soon realizes that many others share his special, high-flying talents. Miles must now use his newfound skills to battle the evil Kingpin, a hulking madman who can open portals to other universes and pull different versions of Spider-Man into our world”. I absolutely adored it when it came out but do I still feel that way after rewatching it?
Firstly, the animation style and 3D models are
absolutely amazing! While I do love the Pixar style of animation, this
comic book style of animation was such a breath of fresh air in the
animated film department. I also appreciate a lot of the aesthetic
choices such as having this shaky movement instead of fluid which
further makes it feel like a comic book come to life. The action scenes
are also animated really well and are an absolute blast to watch as
well. Clearly, a lot of thought went into this and it clearly shows in
the movie.
Miles
Morales (Shameik Moore) is a great main lead. He isn’t perfect and is
actually very flawed with them making a fair amount of what would be
frustrating mistakes. However, the directors succeed in still making us
root for him as we can see how much he really wants to pull through for
the team. Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) is another great Spiderman in
this movie who is a mentor figure for Miles. He is a person who has been
doing this spiderman business for over 20 years and has a lot of
problems with his Peter Parker life such as his divorce with Mary Jane.
Due to this, he is quite neglectful of Miles but he goes through his own
character arc that is done very well. His chemistry with Miles is one
of the things that really shine in this movie. Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman
(Hailee Steinfeld) is the third Spider character that appears in the
movie and is mostly there to be the competent and supportive one in the
group for Miles. The other three Spider characters Spider-Man Noir
(Nicolas Cage), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and Peter Porker (John
Mulaney) are also all very distinct and different in personality which
is perfectly converted despite small screentime.
The
cast is also phenomenal, everyone does a great job, especially Shameik
Moore and Jake Johnson. There is also some other stellar casting like
Brian Tyree Henry as Mile’s dad, Mahershala Ali as Mile’s Uncle Aaron,
Chris Pine as Peter Parker of Mile’s universe, Zoë Kravitz as Mary Jane,
Kathryn Hahn as Doc Octopus, Liev Schreiber as Kingpin and even Oscar
Issac for a mysterious role that I won’t spoil. It’s an all-star cast
and even though some have small roles, Sony still went through with
casting big known actors. They all do a great job. The excellent
soundtrack further elevates this movie. Every time the Prowler is in the
movie there is this horn in the soundtrack that makes him seem more
threatening. Additionally, there are some pop, R&B, rap songs within
the movie that all fit really well and gives more identity to the movie
and characters.
The
story is simple yet intriguing enough to keep the audience engaged. It
introduced the complex multiverse idea but doesn’t overcomplicate it to
make it distracting. There are multiple villains but the director makes
sure the main focus of villains is Kingpin which is a good idea as
multiple focus villains will make the plot feel convoluted. There is
also excellent dialogue which is thanks to Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman.
The jokes all land and the serious moments are heart-warming and the
banter enjoyable. It’s good dialogue and none feel wasted.
If I have to give the movie a flaw then I would say it is kind of the Spiderman group dynamic. Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker and Peter Porker don’t interact much with Miles apart from being extremely harsh on him. It makes the last moments with these Spider characters not as strong. Miles also just become an extremely adept Spiderman because the plot needs him to be. It doesn’t completely feel justified since it doesn’t feel like he was provided with enough training to be that good. However, it doesn’t break the movie and the sacrifices are understandable to keep this origin story in just under 2 hours.
Overall, Spider-Man into the Spider-verse is still one of the best-animated movies to come out in a long time. I still loved it after rewatching it. It’s a fresh take on Spider-Man that we haven’t seen before in a movie. If you haven’t watched this movie yet then you must absolutely watch this movie. I can’t wait for the sequel!
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