Tuesday, August 3, 2021

RageLite review - Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse

It’s the early 2000s and in an attempt to attract new readers with stories without decades of continuity, Brian Michael Bendis and a few other writers launch the Ultimate Universe, and one of the first stories to come out was Ultimate Spider-man. This Spider-man was younger, and more relatable to kids and teens, as was the original aim for Spider-man, but there came a time when this fresh start became old again, and the decision was made to kill of Peter Parker and replace him with a new Spider-man, Miles Morales. And whilst there were plenty of haters of anyone other than Peter taking up the mantle of Spider-man, Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli brought their A-game and the character was a hit with readers, so much so that when they pulled the trigger on the Ultimate Universe, he was one of maybe 2 characters spared.

Miles currently fills the void Peter once filled, whilst Peter in the comics is in his mid-late 20s, Miles is now the young Spider-man to appeal to teens. Him being bi-racial allowed him to appeal to non-white audiences who may not have seen themselves in Peter.

I have read every Miles Morales solo book, I followed him through years of Bendis, and am still following him now Bendis has moved to DC. His popularity has transcended the comics, he appeared in both Disney produced Spider-man shows, made appearances in Insomniac’s PS4 Spider-man game and got his own PS4/PS5 spinoff game. And of course, there’s Into the Spider-verse, a movie from Sony Animation Studios centred around Miles Morales.

I must admit, I was really happy to hear about a Miles Morales film coming out, but I was less ecstatic to hear that would also be a multiverse crossover with multiple spider-men and spider-women. I was concerned that with all the multiversal chaos Miles’ own story would be lost in the shuffle, but with Phil Lord and Chris Miller on board, I hoped we were in for something and, spoiler alert, we got it. This film won the Academy Award for best animated movie, and made $375m on a $90m budget, and got a pretty striking 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Is it worthy of all that praise? Well, let’s take a look

Into the Spider-verse is a story of Miles Morales, a teenager who is anxious about moving away from his digs in Harlem to start a new school in Midtown for smart teenagers like himself. He rebels by planting stickers everywhere, much to the chargin of his father Jefferson. He finds some solace with his Uncle Aaron but then came the fateful day that he was bitten by a radioactive spider.

After some hijinks he witnesses Crime Boss the Kingpin along with his ever-expanding roster of henchmen and women fight for control of a super-collider with Spider-man. Spider-man does not survive the beatdown, but the test run of the collider brings forth other versions of the character to this dimension, though they won’t survive for very long. With the collider on the verge of causing a dimensional cataclysm, can Miles prove himself and save the day?

OK, where to start here, the animation is gorgeous, the city looks vibrant and the aesthetic looks like it’s ripped straight from a comic book, something they use a lower framerate to emulate much more successfully than something like The Dragon Prince did. Add some interesting shot composition and the occasional use of narration captions and visual sound effects and you’ve got something that feels ripped from a comic book. You’d think with a lower framerate the swinging would look awkward but honestly, they pulled it off. The action is great, characters are utilised well and there are some funny visual gags. Despite coming from different dimensions, each with its own aesthetic none of the more out-there spider-folks look too out of place, which is weird considering one of them is a pig.

So, let’s run through the cast. Fist and foremost and much to my relief, this is Miles’ story. His uncertainties and insecurities are the centre of this story as he quickly has to learn to masters his spider-powers, some of which are entirely unique to him. His relationship with his dad and his Uncle Aaron are also front and centre. Aaron may seem like the cool rebellious uncle, but much like Miles he’s hiding another part of himself. Jefferson is trying to keep him on the straight and narrow but his stubbornness has him locking horns with Miles.

I honestly believe the story of Aaron and the Prowler is done better here than it was in the comics, and it seems the new writing staff at Marvel and the team at Insomniac agree as this has become the template for their relationship since Bendis stopped writing them. Miles is at a new school because that’s a pretty cliché teen problem, he’s assigned an essay to talk about himself and he gets to look deep as to who he is.

But, of course, events from being bitten by a radioactive spider, witnessing the death of this world’s Peter Parker, and later revelations around his uncle Aaron leading him constantly questioning who he is. It’s a solid arc though my main critique is him gaining control of his powers completely off-screen and in the span of like maybe 5 minutes. He’d been spending hours prior to this trying and failing to do things on command it just seemed a little strange.

Peter B Parker is an important character, his deal is that his MJ left him when he told her he didn’t want kids, and he’s been in the trope version of depression ever since, ie he’s been lying on his bed in underwear eating pizza. Whilst he’s a slightly reluctant mentor to Miles, he also does have some good advice regarding when someone knows there ready, as well as giving Miles his first swinging lesson. And we see he’s very much still Spider-man offering his own life to save the lives of the others.

Gwen Stacey aka Spider-woman got to know Miles a little earlier thanks to some time displacement. Her arc is after losing her best friend Peter, she has closed herself off and its only through this adventure she learns to let people in again. Remember when they flirted in the comics, haven’t seen that brought up in a while…

Spider-man Noir is voiced by Nicholas Cage, and is a pulp hero, and that’s about all he is, he’s intrigued by a Rubik's cube. Peni Parker aka SP//DR is the anime girl so naturally she has her own fighting mech. Supaidāman will be in the sequel, apparently. Then there’s Peter Porker, Spider-Ham who is a cartoon, so can do some cartoon things like having an anvil fall out of no-where. He’s hilarious, but there’s not much too him.

The film is packed with Spider-man villains, we see Green Goblin, a female Doctor Octopus, Tombstone and Scorpion are all there but the wise decision was made to focus primarily on 2 villains. The Prowler, who’s connection to Miles was important for his arc, and the Kingpin, a villain you sometimes forget was actually a spidey villain before he hated Daredevil.

In this reality Spider-man exposed his wrong-doings to his wife and child, and they were killed when they ran away, something he blames Peter for, his plan is to access another dimension where his wife and child lived. Kinda reminding me of Honerva’s plan in Voltron, though I think this came first. It’s conveyed in a quick flashback. Kingpin is very imposing as our main villain; you’d believe that most of these heavy hitters would work for him.

OK, minor critiques… Ganke Lee, Miles’ best friend and confident, is largely absent as the producers felt he was too similar to Ned Leeds from the MCU, they’re not wrong but Miles needs a best friend and confident. Jefferson thinking that Spider-man killed Aaron is pointless in the grand scheme of things, wish the kept some of the Green in the Prowler’s costume.

Yeah, that’s really pretty much it, what do you want, it’s a great movie.

Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse has lofty ambitions being both the first Miles Morales Story and a multiversal epic featuring multiple Spider-men and it succeeded in achieving most if not all of its lofty goals. It’s got a great animation, a solid vocal cast, a great soundtrack and a cohesive and satisfying narrative.

Rating 90/100

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