Spider-Man has to be the most eye-rolling superhero for moviegoers. It's not that he's a bad, or even ineffectual superhero, and it's not an eye-rolling like say the Fantastic Four are because there are actual good Spider-Man films... there's just so damn many of them because Sony are a bunch of greedy bastards. There's the Sam Raimi trilogy with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. The Spider-Man 3 misstep sort of ended that trilogy quickly. Then... not five years later... they rebooted it with Andrew Garfield. They didn't start it up again... they rebooted it. We seriously got Peter Parker's origin story AGAIN. Those movies weren't great and after two of them... they decided to reboot Spider-Man A THIRD TIME in a decade. Spider-Man: Homecoming is arguably the best live action Spider-Man film. I think they finally got the casting of Peter Parker right by going with an actor who actually looks and sounds like a high school student. He's not obnoxious, but quirky and the whole movie felt like a John Hughes flick. So, imagine the heightened amount of eye-rolling that occurred when I first saw a trailer for yet ANOTHER incantation - the fourth one - of Spider-Man - this one not even related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and also animated. Sony obviously can't let the character go because it doesn't matter how many times it's rebooted, spun off, or re-made... people will continue to go see it. But here's the thing - maybe we shouldn't stop them from doing it because the last few, including this one... are really good.
Miles Morales lives in our universe. He's got a teenage-y relationship with his parents, he's close to his Uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali), he loves graffiti art, he's very intelligent, and he was just bitten by a radioactive spider. He starts having Spider-man-like problems and seeks help. He runs into the real Spider-Man (Chris Pine) who, at the moment, is fighting Kingpin (Liev Schrieber) and trying to stop his "machine" from ripping open a hole from another dimension. Spider-Man fails, dimensions are ripped open and the machine busts. And... not a spoiler... Spider-Man dies. Yes. Peter Parker dies. Miles is left all alone, with no one to train him, with the task of destroying the "machine" before Kingpin and his goons fix it and rips a hole big enough to end the world. That night, Miles visits Peter's grave and is visited by none other than Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) - Spider-Man from an alternate universe. Then he meets Gwen Stacey (Hailee Steinfeld), Peni Parker (Kamiko Glenn), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), and Peter Porker - an actual animated pig (John Mulaney). All of them are different Spider-people from their own universes who were sucked into Miles'. They must get back to the "machine", use it to get home, then have one of them destroy it before they're all killed in the process.
This version of Spider-Man is actually unlike any of the other films we've seen before. There's a different way of telling this origin story and presenting the characters and just an overall tone that has yet to be touched in a Spider-Man film yet. It's refreshing to watch because we've seen these movies repeat themselves over and over and over again that this film felt like actually watching something new. Honestly, it's like watching The Lego Batman movie after you're sick of all The Dark Knight films. It makes sense because the directors of The Lego Movie, Phil Miller and Chris Lord are directly involved with Into the Spider-Verse. The movie is filled with their fast-paced quirk and witty dialogue. It's a very, very funny movie with great character choices, while not parlaying the heart and earnestness of the characters in favor of laughs. It's perfectly balanced and does a great job of giving us a new origin story, one that doesn't feel like we've already seen it four or five times.
The voice actors are all perfect in their roles. Jake Johnson as the slovenly Peter B. Parker brings the most comedy to the film, but John Mulaney as an animated pig Spider-Man will have you rolling and there's nothing better in the entire movie than having Nic Cage as an old-timey 1930s wise guy Spider-Man. Every time he uttered a line in the movie, I was on the floor. But Shameik Moore (Dope) really nails Miles. And he's a great character to watch. In a new school, he's already a fish out of water. No one understands him (including his parents), so he seeks refuge with his Uncle Aaron, who lets him sneak out of school and finds him abandoned walls to put up his art. So, when he has to turn into Spider-Man, he's even more out of his depth. He doesn't just "get it" like all of the other Spider-Men we've seen in past movies. In fact, he doesn't "get it" for most of the film. He has different powers and they happen by accident. For being a cartoon, it's actually the most realistic portrayal of a superhero figuring out and dealing with their powers that we've seen. That's why it was important for the relationships to be authentic in this movie and for you genuinely care about all of them. Also, Lily Tomlin shows up as Aunt May and is funny as hell.
The animation is beyond impressive. The movie seamlessly transitions from straight up CGI-animated film to looking just like the comic book that inspired it. It's another aspect of the film that's unlike anything we've really seen before. For being the fourth iteration of a character in the last twenty years, the filmmakers did a really good job of making it feel wholly fresh and new. There were a few points where the action sequences did move a little bit too quickly and too rushed and it was difficult to tell what was happening, but it never takes you out of the film. If I wasn't so staunchly against seeing anything in 3D, I'd almost say this is the perfect movie to try and check out.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse brings a fresh eye to an exhausting franchise - and it has nothing to do with The Avengers. I know. Good luck keeping track of all this shit. But it's a welcome entry that, if you're not aware by now, Marvel will milk until it's out of juice and will reboot again four or five years after they've claimed it's "the last one". I highly recommend checking this one out on the biggest screen you can (with as few moviegoers as possible) because not only is it a fun, exciting, and great movie... it's probably the best Spider-Man movie they've made yet. And they've made a shit ton.
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