Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Review (2018)
A great spiderman film
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse had to be a part of Spider-Man lore to make it work. Although it is not part of canon or part of the MCU, I am so very glad that it got made. It covers some ground that we have seen before, where a bunch of different “Spider-People” all team-up. Let me say, it went way beyond my expectations. Don’t get me wrong, though. I had set my expectations about as low as I had them for Venom walking in. Success wasn’t going to be a hard result, but this jumped waaaaay past them. I seriously loved Into the Spider-Verse.
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018): A Quick Review…
How much did I like this movie? It might be my favorite Spider-Man film of all time. It is certainly more fun than the Sam Raimi ones. Just about anything is better than the two Amazing Spider-Man films. Venom probably doesn’t count. Spider-Man: Homecoming, though is pretty freaking solid in my opinion.
This movie is fun, and because of the large amount of source material it is covering, it gets to kind of play around in the park a bunch. It plays with in-jokes, such as repeating the Spider-Man origin story over and over again, and having a ton of references to specific comics, artists, and other similar in-jokes.
Sony is trying to do what it can to capitalize on its ownership of Spider-Man properties. Venom just came out, and it really didn’t have any connection to Spider-Man. Think about it, he didn’t even have the spider on his chest. My opinion is that it could have been called “Space Blob”, and wouldn’t have been that different.
Easter Eggs:
I can’t imagine that a scene goes by in which there isn’t at least one Easter egg or reference, and there are some really clever ones, so keep your eyes out for them. I am definitely going to have to give this one a second viewing just to see what I might have missed the first time around.
Style:
One of the things I enjoyed was the different animation styles that were used throughout the film, much of it coming across in a very Bill Sienkiewicz kind of style/color palette. Overall the animation was pretty solid, but there was one effect that they constantly kept on using that made me think, “Is this an old school 3D movie?” There were literally those red/blue hazes around everything. It was easy enough to overlook because everything else was so good, but it came up a lot.
Marvel Moments:
There are a lot of “Marvel Moments” in the action throughout the film. The team did a great job of keeping a real comic book look going throughout the film, using a large number of panels, angles, and high action to keep that flavor on screen in almost every scene.
Characters of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse:
Overall, the film really did a nice job of playing with the Spider-Man characters, and their on-screen portrayals. The interactions between the different Spider-People grew over the course of the film, and for me as a fan, it all felt “right”. There wasn’t a moment where I was like, “Spider-Man wouldn’t do that!” The swinging scenes, and Miles Morales learning how to do it, was really… Spectacular.
Unlike some of the movies, they really felt like they had the right gravity, and really were swinging, and they made it look like a hell of a lot of fun to do. The interactions between the different Spiders were pretty awesome.
Direction:
You can definitely get the feeling for what directors Lord and Miller were going for. They keep both the humor and action rolling throughout the film, and to be honest, thinking about this film, 21 Jump Street, and The Lego Movie make us wonder just what their version of Solo might have turned out to be like. They really did a fine job here, not just with the overall story, but in respecting the material and bringing a fresh face to it. The movie is seriously funny throughout. I laughed out loud quite a few times, sometimes at a fan in-joke, and others at just the general comedy going on. They also bring out a lot of good emotion and hit the right notes on a few of the “family” points that are raised throughout Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
Fan Service:
I have to say, the whole story, everything, just seriously hit me in the right spot of my fanboy heart, even Peter Porker shows up (yes, I have the original Spider-Ham comic). It was fantastic. That all being said, I seriously didn’t like the way they made Kingpin look on screen. His body shape was wrong. His head was in the middle of his shoulders, and he was about 8 feet wide. For me, this didn’t work.
Cameo and Post Credits of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse:
There are two things that really stand out about this movie, even among all of the current Marvel films. The first is that this movie contains the single best Stan Lee cameo yet, and given his recent passing what he says really comes across like a gut punch, not one that physically hurt, but one that just reminds you instantly of what he embodies within the Marvel Universe. If you don’t tear up a little during the cameo, I don’t know what to say.
The other is the post-credit sequence, and there is one. Unfortunately, it comes after what might be the longest set of credits I have ever sat through, but for me, it was more than worth it, because it fixes one of the major issues I was going to mention in this review (something important was left out in the film, but it finally shows up). It might be my favorite post-credit sequence so far, oh wait, except for those Deadpool ones.
Synopsis from Sony:
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the creative minds behind The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, bring their unique talents to a fresh vision of a different Spider-Man Universe, with a groundbreaking visual style that’s the first of its kind. Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse introduces Brooklyn teen Miles Morales, and the limitless possibilities of the Spider-Verse, where more than one can wear the mask.
Trailers: