Yeah, I admit this one is long overdue. Tina is still giving me grief for having not seen it before. It's not that I didn't want to, honestly. It's just that things kept popping up and getting in the way of giving this a proper viewing and review. Now, three years late, I'll attempt to set right what once went wrong. Maybe, kind of, a bit.
I've mentioned Spider-Man and my love of the character a couple of times here on the blog. Spider-Man was a comic I read as a kid almost as soon as I was able to read comics, one of my first fandoms and one that has more or less stayed with me through my whole life. Then, Joe Quesada decided that a deal with the devil made more sense than a divorce and it's been fourteen years since.
. . .no, that's not even getting into that Superior Spider-Man crap that should have seen Dan Slott more fired than a California forest.
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| "Whacha thinkin' about?" "How this is gonna become a meme..." |
But we aren't here to talk about a bad Spider-Man product, but a good one. A very good one. This is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
We begin with the story of Peter Parker (Chris Pine), a beloved and revered superhero that makes many a reference to previous Spider-Man properties and various tongue-in-cheek jokes concerning everyone's favorite webhead. However, we are soon introduced to our actual protagonist - Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a brilliant but lazy young man who is irritated by the expectations of his parents and identifies more with his uncle Aaron Davis (Mahershala Ali) than with them.
As the script gods have it in for him, however, he is bitten by a radioactive spider and begins to manifest abilities similar to the original 616 wallcrawler...and some that he doesn't have. On the villain end of things, the Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) is having a particle accelerator built in order to bring a version of his wife and son from elsewhere in the multiverse to replace the ones he lost due to his criminal activities leading to their deaths.
However, shock of shocks...Peter Parker actually gets killed fairly early on. That's right, Peter Parker actually dies. With only a USB dive, it seems that Miles has super powers and no earthly way of moving the plot when Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) comes into his life...and Miles promptly kills him with his venom blast.
. . .okay, that doesn't happen, but it does begin an epic adventure where a bunch of Spiders from across the multiverse are brought to Miles' world...and hijinks ensue.
We get Peter Parker of the Noir Universe (Nicolas Cage), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), Peter Porker Spider-Man (John Mulaney), and Gwen Stacy, Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld).
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| "Avengers, assem-" "DUDE! COPYRIGHT LAW!" |
It is through those characters that we get a lot of the film's comedic bits. While it does have a good and consistent narrative for a superhero movie, it isn't afraid to point and laugh at both itself and at the Spider-Man mythos as a whole. Even from the beginning with the original Peter Parker, we get appearances of things like the infamous dancing scene from Spider-Man 3 to deeper pulls like the Spider-Mobile. What's clear almost from the get go is that the minds behind this movie dug deep into the lore of Spider-Man, and the references are woven in well enough to work.
And those that aren't woven make for very amusing sight gags and little rewarding Easter eggs for the long time fans. Rather like Marvel's Spider-Man, they did their homework and it shows.
While each character has their own distinct personality and story of their own (to the point where their similarities in their opening monologues become a joke), the focus here is squarely on Miles and to a lesser degree Peter B., the latter of the two having quite an awful time of it on his own world in comparison to the first Peter we are introduced to (a deliberate choice on the part of the creators). Peter's life has essentially fallen apart after the death of Aunt May and his divorce from Mary Jane Watson. The latter of the two being over some issues with having kids, with Peter B. isn't too fond of the idea of...something he has to work on.
Miles, on the other hand, has the aforementioned problems of dealing with his school and parents. The writing really does justice to him as a conflicted teenager, drawn by his own selfish desires but also clearly someone who wants to do good and lacks confidence. This is something he has to work on, acknowledging the truth that anyone can wear the mask: just wearing the mask isn't what makes you Spider-Man, but the confidence and drive to do good that comes with it.
Apart from the two of them, the only character that gets any real development is Gwen...and I have and have always had mixed feelings about the Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman. A lot of them come from Robbi Rodriguez having a generally shitty attitude toward others about her - in particular when Frank Cho did some parody covers and they angrily defended their "baby"...ignoring that Gwen Stacy in a Spider-Man suit is something that fanfiction writers have been doing for ages, and just because they happened to make an official version of the concept does not make the concept itself inherently new or interesting.
The whole thing leaves a pretty bad taste in my mouth.
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| I guess she's better than 616 Gwen. Ish. Kind of. |
That all said, I don't dislike Gwanda. She makes a good balance to Peter B.'s more over the top attitude and Miles' more neurotic one. We're still not 100% clear on how she was sent a week back in time along with the dimensional transfer when everyone else seemed to have been dropped off at around the same time.
While he doesn't get to really do much, Nicolas Cage is an absolute delight as Spider-Man Noir. Every single scene that he's in is gut-busting hilarity, rather like his role in the Kick-Ass movies but without the added pathos to the role - not that that is really a problem here given the overall lighter tone of this film as compared to that one.
There's also John Mulaney as Spider-Ham...and Spider-Ham continues to be a concept that confuses me, but I've come to accept that it just isn't something made for me and I just have to live with it. He is funny, though, and is the punchline of what is probably the funniest joke in the entire movie where he potentially breaks copyright laws.
. . .no, really.
Peni...exists. She does tech things in one scene. I really wish I had more to say about a woman who shares a psychic link with a spider in a robot suit, but I honestly have nothing and the film doesn't really give us anything, either.
Also, besides just Kingpin, we get a few appearances from Spidey villain staples such as the Green Goblin (sort of), Tombstone, and the Prowler, among others that you probably already know if you actually saw this film before now.
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| "And I disintegrated Sparky, too." [evil laughter] |
It's a pretty enjoyable 117 minutes, whether you're a Spider-Man fan or not. I'm a little irritated at the "perfect" Spider-Man being a blonde and not being Ben Reilly...but maybe we'll finally get to see the Scarlet Spider debut in SpiderVerse 2. That's really my only complaint about it beyond some of the bigger villains (in particular the Green Goblin) being nothing more than henchmen to the Kingpin. But hey, it's the multiverse.
Now that I have watched it, I agree that I should have gotten to it before. Are you happy, Tina?
ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, UNIVERSE?! GAAAAAAAAAAWD!
. . .seriously, it's a good movie. Go and watch it.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is now available from Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, and Marvel Entertainment.
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