Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures / www.intothespiderverse.movie
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is brought to you by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the creators behind “The Lego Movie” and “21 Jump Street,” and stars Shameik Moore as Miles Morales. This film serves as an origin story for Miles but also includes a huge voice cast of Spider-People from alternate dimensions to fight with him along the way.
There were so many things to love about this film from the soundtrack, to the cast, to the humor, that its genuinely tough to find a place to start. The most memorable thing is probably the animation style. This movie looks incredible and is animated like a comic book come to life, allowing them to do really cool things in the action sequences. Visually, there is not one frame that isn’t cool to look at and because of that, I think this one needs to be seen on the big screen.
Lots of movies are cool to look at, but it’s great characters that separate the good from the great and this movie is full of them. If you are really familiar with Spider-Man’s comic book history then you’ll be familiar with most of the characters when they arrive, but this is also a great introduction for fans who don’t know them yet. Lord and Miller’s style lends itself to meta humor and self-referential dialog and there is a ton of Spidey lore for them to play with. Hardcore fans should be scanning the entire frame for Easter eggs or references because there are plenty, but they come and go quickly.
Usually the greatest superhero movies are led by outstanding villains, but this time around, Moore’s performance as Morales and Jake Johnson’s performance as Peter Parker are what put this film over the top. This is a perfect introduction to Morales that will leave you wanting more of him and this was a perfect way to use Parker. At this point audiences are very familiar with Parker and his story so the incarnation of him we get in this film was a great way to mix it up and show us something new. The amazing thing is that you leave the theater caring more about both Morales and Parker without feeling like either was shortchanged.
In the end, there’s not a whole lot to say about this one. It’s funny, fast-paced, action-packed, well-acted, amazing to look at and even heartbreaking at times. Sony has dropped the ball with Spider-Man movies in the past but if this is the direction they’re going with the franchise for the near future, we should all be excited. Definitely check it out.
Griffin’s score: 10/10
Copyright 2018 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
