MASSIVE WARNING! THE FOLLOWING BODY OF TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE! IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FILM YET AND WISH TO NOT HAVE THE MOVIE SPOILED, DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING TEXT! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
(*Listening to “Sunflower” on repeat while writing the review*)
“Oooooh oooooooh....some things you just can’t refuse...she wanna ride me like a...”
Oh, sorry guys. Got a bit wrapped up in the music.
In a year where Infinity war, Black Panther, and Ant Man and The Wasp all came out and cleaned up quite nicely, Spiderverse was the odd man out it seemed. Not to mention the competition with Aquaman and Bumblebee hindering some of the profits quite possibly.
When I heard this movie was coming out, I was hyped, but also skeptical. I love Spider-Man a ton, I think he’s probably my favorite marvel hero of all time. But Miles Morales Spider-Man? Ehhh...I like him, but I wasn’t sure people would dig him. Especially after all the backlash that the new iron man created. I know miles had his fans, myself included, but I was worried Sony wouldn’t do a good job. I mean look at it this way, they created the amazing Spider-Man movies and Venom, movies that range from “A dumb fun movie” to “just plain bad”. my hopes were not high going into this. I didn’t think it would be fantastic. That it would be nothing more than another dumb Sony movie for kids.
Then the outstanding reviews came out...being the best reviewed animated film of the year by Rotten Tomatoes...
I was exited to see it with my buddy opening weekend, but I was still skeptical. A lot of movies nowadays get bad reviews despite being very good, or vice versa. I was worried for sure.
So what’s the deal? Did I like it? Was it crap? Well, I can tell you how I felt....
IT WAS MY FAVORITE MOVIE OF THE YEAR!
In all fairness, take it with a grain of salt or two. I didn’t see the big horror movies like “a quiet place”, and I didn’t see dramas like “A quiet place”. But that’s honestly because I had no interest in seeing them. The trailers just didn’t get me excited. But this movie was legit incredible. It made Incredibles 2 look kinda wimpy in comparison.
And why listen to me? As of yesterday, I’ve seen the film 3 times. 3 TIMES! And seeing how my dad hasn’t seen it yet, I think I’ll see it a 4th time before it’s out of theaters. So trust me, I know what I’m talking about when I say I love this movie.
Let’s start with the bad....
Eh, I can’t think of any glaring flaws. I know people had some problems with Spider-Ham and Peni Parker, but I found them just as fun as the others. Honesty, the movie is so much fun it’s flaws seem negligible for the most part. Now onto the movie itself as a whole!
Starting off with the three main spider people: Miles Morales, Peter B Parker and Gwen Stacy. Oh my god...I loved all three of them. Obviously the movie was about Miles, but they could have made him a boring protagonist very easily. But instead, they made a hero I can get behind. He’s a normal kid who was bitten by the same spider Peter Parker was bitten by. It could have been anyone who got bit. But it was him. And you see him grapple with his new responsibilities throughout the film in a very interesting way. Miles is no Peter Parker, he’s not confident with his powers and he’s not ready to embrace being a hero. Not to mention all the burdens that are thrown on his shoulders throughout the movie. Peter Parker dies, kingpin is out to kill him, the other spider people are pushing him to become as good as they are despite only getting his powers a day or two ago, his parents want him to do well in a brand new school...this list goes on and on.He goes through a lot, and you really get emotionally invested with him. DC could learn a thing or two from Sony when it comes to crafting a hero we can get invested in (cough! Aquaman! cough!)
Oh my god...Jake Johnson as our main Peter Parker...he was probably my favorite part of the movie. It would have been easy for Sony to give is the Chris Pine Peter Parker, who’s damn near perfect all the time. It was much more interesting to give us one who’s basically defied being Spider-Man after years and years of saving NYC. Aunt May is dead, MJ and him are divorced, he’s basically broke...it’s all not what you’d expect with Peter Parker. Not to mention he’s basically reluctant on teaching Miles. You see that throughout the film and it’s fantastic. I loved seeing a not-so-perfect Spider-Man as our mentor, it made the character fun and his relationship with Miles all the more interesting. Jake Johnson, I tip my hat off to you man.
Hailee Steinfeld turned me into a Spider-Gwen fanboy for sure (hence why I’ve morphed her above, and included her as a main character in my story series). I knew enough about her before going into the film, but I really got a sense of her in the film. Her relationship with Miles was the mots entertaining part, especially with them being 15 months apart in terms of age (though Einstein said “time is all relative”...yes, I love that line in the film). The close age means that they both understand the stress of the situations they are in, and it’s fun seeing miles and Peter opening up the many layers of her personality. And Hailee does a wonderful job voicing her. Trust me, I wouldn’t add Gwen as a main character if I didn’t find her very engaging.
The villains are a highlight as well. Kingpin was a threat on both a physical and emotional level, ready to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. And the best part? Spiderverse doesn’t paint him as a black and white bad guy. They show hints of his motivations, and that’s all they need to do if you ask me. They show you why he’s doing what he’s doing, and why you shouldn’t be opposed to feeling bad for him. Liev Schriber does a fantastic portrayal of this classic villain, and I really think he sells the “crimeboss supervillan” idea.
And the prowler? Man...what a guy. First off, I was terrified every time his music came on. It was loud, grating, whinny...and straight up scary. The guy didn’t stop no matter what, even if he lost track of his target for a moment. He would hunt down Miles RELENTLESSLY, adding to the tension that Miles was always being watched. Not to mention his complex relationship with Miles...but we will talk about that later...
The visuals were something that shocked me. They were honestly so unique compared to a lot of other animated movies, especially with all the colors and exaggerated forms. It was visually stunning from start to finish, making a eye Candi experience that was unlike much I had ever seen before. It was honestly amazing.
The story was what sold this movie though. As said before, Sony could have just half assed this whole movie and still made quite a bit of money. But they didn’t. They made a story that was fantastic, emotionally investing, and something completely unique for the genera. Well yeah, it’s a hero movie, but it’s animated and it’s a kids film made for all audiences. And trust me, when many animated films apart from Disney kinda suck year after year, you get surprised. And unlike the last Jedi, the plot twists are actually fantastic and make sense. Especially the plot twist revealing Miles’ Uncle Aron to be the cape wearing Villain The Prowler, the same villain that’s been hunting down Miles for a majority of the film. The plot twist makes sense looking through the film a second time, but it is still shocking as shit. My friend and I looked at each other with wide eyes when Aron tore of his mask for the first time, and trust me a lot of plot twists do not incite that type of reaction from me.
Sony made On hell of a origin story for Miles, and I honest to god hope that all of you get your asses out there and see it. Especially given that Aquaman is getting “raving reviews as well”, and in my own opinion, it’s only fantastic when it comes to visuals. Seriously, if your on the fence about seeing either Spiderverse or Aquaman, GO FUCKING SEE SPIDERVERSE! Aquaman doesn’t look very good when you compare the two as stories. Mostly because Spiderverse creates a really investing story with fantastic characters....while Aquaman just does the same boring origin film, with characters that are flat as shit.
My final verdict is this: I CAN’T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS FILM! If you haven’t seen it, please do! It’s honestly deserves the reviews it’s gotten. I’d say I even like it more than infinity war, and it’s definitely either my first or second favorite Spider-Man movie of all time. No...definitely the best Spider-Man film. Go see it!
You agree with me? Think I should go jump off a cliff because I’m staring at the film with special “Rose colored Spider-Glasses”? Please let me know, I’d love to get a discussion going! Thanks for viewing and I will see you all later!
-Drew
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