The Leap of Faith of "Into the Spider-Verse"

Warning: This review contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse". 

Being a major fan of the Spider-Man universe and Marvel in general, of course I resonated incredibly well to this film, it should come as no surprise. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Versetells the story of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) who gets bit by a radioactive spider while hanging out with his uncle, Aaron Davis (Mahershala Ali). After trying to find the spider that caused the bite, he sees Peter Parker (Chris Pine), fighting Green Goblin (Jorma Taccone), who works for Wilson Fisk (Liev Schreiber). Fisk is trying to open a portal called "The Collider", to resurrect 🅱️anessa (Lake Bell), after she and his son died in a car accident, whom Fisk blames was caused by Parker. Fisk kills Parker, but the collider opened a portal where multiple Spider-People from multiple universes teleported to Miles's world: Peter B. Parker AKA The Amazing Spider-Man (Jake Johnson), Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Man Noir (impeccable Nicolas Cage), Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) and SP//dr (Kimiko Glenn). Miles must transport the spider-people back to their respective universe, while also destroying the Collider and stopping Fisk at all costs, while also being mentored into becoming Spider-Man himself from none other than "The Amazing" Spider-Man and soulful words of wisdom from "Stan The Man".

I honestly didn't expect Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to be packed with this much heart and soul that it honestly surprised the hell out of me. I already knew that the animation was going to be amazing from the looks of it (and is literally a true feast for the eyes & ears in IMAX 3D, but the back & forth between different styles of animation can be a bit jarring and felt like Sony really wanted to assault you with so many styles of animation that the exercise became quickly exhausting. However, the animation style is never boring and always fresh & creative), but I didn't know that the directors would opt for a story with heart. Of course, Stan Lee's first posthumous cameo had to be the most emotional one, delivering a fantastic line, when Miles says that he'll bring back the Spidey suit if it doesn't fit. Lee replies "It always fits...eventually". At the time, the filmmakers didn't know that Lee would pass away, but the cameo is so damn beautiful when you realize that it was released posthumously...it felt like a proper send-off and it's a shame that a legend like Stan The Man is no longer with us, but this is Stan Lee's greatest cameo he has ever done. Much respect to you Stan and excelsior.

Beyond that, the movie also explores the theme of family, first with the tumultuous relationship with Miles's dad (Bryan Tyree Henry), but where the theme really shines Aaron Davis's arc as the Prowler, who is a "mercenary" of sorts by doing Fisk's dirty work. When he realizes, after a confrontation with multiple villains in Aunt May (Lily Tomlin)'s house, that the Spider-Man he is about to kill is Miles, he refuses to do the task, which ultimately leads in his death, but the realization that he has made mistake after mistake and has never been a good role model for Miles is the most emotional gut punch of the year. Of course, you can say, "Ugh, why does it always have to be the uncle that passes away in a Spider-Man film?", but instead of a clichéd death, we get a death that has meaning, not only for the fact that Davis has redeemed himself as a human being in his final moments, but as motivation for Miles to go after Fisk and not going down the same path Davis did. Mahershala Ali voices Davis to perfection and brings some emotional strings that were very much needed in a franchise that, for some people, is growing tired.

But when you have an inventive and incredibly kinetic film like this, how can it grow tired? Sure, Marvel movies have a villain problem, and it's still a major problem here with Wilson Fisk. Of course, if you've seen Daredevil, you know Fisks's backstory, but this is a different Fisk (though with the same 🅱️anessa obsession) and I'd hoped to see a different take on the character, but he was barely in it, and his cartoonesque stature just made him incredibly unmenacing and surprisingly quite easy to beat at the end. The backstory on how Vanessa & his son died is told literally in a flash (there's no time for a proper villain to develop and grow on screen), his lines are clichéd at best and forgettable at worst that you can't help but compare him to Vincent D'Onofrio's brilliant portrayal of the man in Daredevil. Fisk has barely anything to do here, and it's a shame to waste such a good villain like that. The same goes with Olivia Octavius (Kathryn Hahn), who's "there", but doesn't advance the plot or bring anything to the movie. Both villains are typically clichéd in traditionnal "animated movie bad guy" tropes and it's a shame, because there could've been something more with them and actually do something different like with Zach Galifaniakis's fantastic portrayal of The Joker in The LEGO Batman Movie.

Nevertheless, Into the Spider-Verse is a remarkable achievement in technicality and scale for animated movies: the animation is insanely creative and pops out soul-stirring colors that made my jaw drop in IMAX 3D. It's a fast-paced, fun and incredibly kinetic superhero action/animated-film that's great entertainment for both kids & adults.

4.5/5