SPIDERMAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE REVIEW: The revival of Spider-man

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse is an example of how incredible a superhero movie can be given the right writing and visuals. This movie demolished expectations and created a new standard for its genre. *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

THE PROS

1. The Animation

The animation in this movie is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Every frame is so colorful and vivid,  It’s like being inside a comic book. And I’m not kidding when I say that, the animators actually animated this entire movie using techniques that are usually only used for comic books. You have to appreciate how painstaking and arduous it must’ve been to use these dated techniques for a fresh style animation, especially when they could’ve just mailed it and done the same thing as every mediocre blockbuster. But Spiderverse isn’t like other films, because in every aspect of this film, animation included, the creators went the extra mile to make it extraordinary.

Every frame is a masterpiece

2. The Characters

Every character in this movie is interesting and written well. They all feel like real people because they’re fleshed out and have actual motivations for all of their actions. I could talk forever about these characters but for right now I’ll focus on two: Miles Morales and Kingpin. 

Seeing Miles Morales as Spider-Man after is like breathing a breath of fresh air after nearly drowning. After seeing Peter Parker so many times, it was amazing to finally see another character taking on the mask (well, multiple characters but I’ll get to that later). I’m so glad as well that they made Miles into his own character rather than just making him a black copy of Peter Parker. He more self-assured and artistic than Peter, but he still has the insecurities of a regular kid like embarrassing parents or fitting in at school. He’s written realistically and that makes him relatable. Finally, I love the theme of great expectations that Miles carries from his school life to his journey to becoming Spiderman.

When your merch doesn't fit

The main villain in Spiderverse is Kingpin. With all of the forgettable villains constantly being churned out in recent cash grabs, it would’ve been so easy to make Kingpin some bland, one-dimensional villain, but instead they gave him a story. The reason he was making the collider was to get his wife and child back, who were killed in an accident after running away from his violence against Spiderman. They give him real character motivations for the crimes he’s committing and that makes him so much more interesting. Just another example of the makers doing something extra to make this movie something special.

Shoulder game strong

3. The Music

The majority of this movie’s music was completely on the money. I like that they chose more hip-hop-inspired stuff to reflect Miles’ taste in music. Although my favorite track was “Sunflower”, I have to say that what made this soundtrack memorable was the Prowler’s theme. It starts with these ominous horns and then suddenly becomes extremely intense and actually makes you afraid of the villain. I have to hand it to Daniel Pemberton for making the Prowler so chilling.

Me when Sunflower comes on vs Me when the prowler theme comes on

4. The Voice Acting

The voice acting in this movie is not only excellent, but way more entertaining than it has any right to be. Miles sounds like a kid,  (Shamiek Moore), Peter B sounds a washed up forty-year-old (Jake Johnson), Halie Steinfeld is an authentic Gwen, and Peni Parker’s voice has a lot of character (Kimiko Glenn). However, the most fun characters voices are Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Ham. Nicholas Cage has the perfect voice to be such an old-fashioned character and John Mulaney’s voice is comical in literally every sense of the word. Finally, Liev Schreiber gives Kingpin a super intimidating voice which is the reason he’s able to deliver so many iconic lines.

The whole cast is super. Get it?

5. The Writing and Humour

This movie is really, really funny. It was originally supposed to be a comedy film and it shows. So many times during the movie I found myself laughing out loud at its jokes. The reason for this is good writing. When a movie is badly written, you can tell. Attempts at humor feel forced or worse, out of touch. Never while watching did I cringe, knowing that the people writing these jokes were completely removed from pop culture or their audience's tastes. Just like with the characters, the writing makes everything feel genuine.

I love how the gif makes it look like he's shocked right after Gwen say she's leaving

6. Rejuvenating Spiderman

 For so long, we’ve been immersed in this sea of similar content, specifically around Peter Parker’s Spiderman. Three movie series (one still going), eleven TV series and a whole plethora of other content. We’ve mostly seen the same villains and same stories recycled over and over and over again. The movie even makes fun of how ridiculously marketed Spiderman is. We’ve been so inundated with such similar content that the hero we love so much has gotten stale.

What I love about Spiderverse is that it revitalizes Spiderman by giving him a fresh take. There are many concepts in this movie that are just so creative and completely new to the big screen. Obviously, there’s Miles, but there’s others like Spider Gwen, for example. Who would’ve thought we would see a female Spiderman within the next ten years? Another favorite is Doc Ock, who’s character has gone through some welcome changes. Instead of being the same Doc we’ve seen forever, in this universe the Doc is a quirky female scientist who makes science videos for children. I’m so much more interested in the character now that it’s been reinvigorated in a fun but sensible way. Plus, it was a twist that I did not see coming.

The twist was wild while watching in theatre

Nevertheless, the crown jewel of fresh takes for me was Peter B Parker. The idea of having an older, washed-up version of Spiderman is genius. He’s the opposite of the perfect form of Peter Parker that we see at the beginning of the movie and that we’ve come to expect from all of our Spiderman content. He’s older and potbellied, he wears sweatpants and makes bad money decisions and he divorced MJ because he was scared of having kids! He’s realistic and actually has flaws and fears and everything that makes a character complex. This spin on Peter Parker is very clever and interesting which is why he's my favourite character in the movie.

I hate to end it on a sad note, but can you imagine this frame in any other Spiderman movie? Never

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse is movie an outstanding movie. It has revived Spiderman with its incredible characters, stellar writing and astonishingly good animation. Its quality on all levels puts it in a class of its own and has made it one of my all-time favorite movies.