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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Movie Review

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a 2018 animated superhero film directed by Peter Ramsey and starring Shameik Moore and Jake Johnson. It’s a refreshing, fun flick.

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“Do animals talk in this dimension?

‘Cause I don’t wanna freak him out“

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The plot isn’t as complicated as I expected it to be, but it’s still very much not for children, but for adults and more suitable for geeks due to all the references to the previous Spider-Man movies. Although not complicated and not as complex that some wouldn’t understand it besides the kids, the movie still has too much going on in it in terms of the plot and action leading to a somewhat chaotic product.

I still really liked the story, but I didn’t love it. I have never been a fan of alternate realities in storytelling and thankfully the multiverse aspect was well pulled off here to the point of it being very well crafted and enjoyable instead of too convoluted. I really liked the origin story in the beginning and how it wasn’t overly extended, but I did still find that third act too messy in a typically chaotic action-oriented superhero genre fashion. But the middle parts are great thanks to evident emotional investment and many really memorable plot points.

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Let’s talk about the characters which are important here having in mind that they are abundant in number and coming from many multiverses. Miles Morales is a great new Spider-Man and I really liked his journey toward competence and acceptance. His relationships with his father, uncle, Gwen and Peter drive this movie. Speaking of Peter, he’s excellent and the highlight for me in terms of the characters. Watching him as a failed, older, more desperate man provided a very interesting, different arc than usual and the relationship between the two is terrific.

Gwen Stacy is pretty good, albeit underdeveloped. Their growing relationship was very well established for sure. Prowler is absolutely terrific as one very competent, complex villain and that arc is the deepest and most beautiful in the film. His action sequences are the best and his design and movements are quite menacing. Aunt May is more different and proactive whereas Miles’ mother is underdeveloped, but the father is superb and their father-son relationship is beautifully developed and the heart of the movie.

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Now, the Spider People are very problematic. Yes, they are fun as a group with great dynamic, but awfully underutilized and underdeveloped owing to overly short screen time for each of them. This is where the chaos of the movie and the team superhero movie sensibilities really hurt this movie. Spider-Ham in particular is unnecessary and not because he was too cartoony, but because he simply did not fit the style of this film. But he is fun and funny, though criminally underused.

The same goes for Peni Parker who is an anime stereotype, a fun, but unnecessary one. Spider-Man Noir is the best of the bunch owing to an amusing Nicolas Cage voice performance and some killer one-liners. Kingpin is a solid villain, but Doctor Octopus was unnecessarily gender-bended.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse features amazing animation which is the best, most refreshing and unique animation that I’ve seen in years from the US. The movie beautifully mixes computer animation with 2D one and the fact that it looks more hand-drawn led to a much more pleasing experience. I particularly adored its comic-book touches and sensibilities including the split-screens and those fun sound effects and dialogue boxes. The set design is great, the editing is deft and the animation is very polished, constantly cool and with a terrific color palette to. It’s easily the best reason to see this movie.

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Spider-Verse is well directed, but terribly paced owing to its rushed feel even for its very long runtime for an American animated film. The score is also quite cool and fitting in the use of hip-hop music. The action is excessive, but it’s so well executed that I mostly didn’t mind it. Some action sequences are brilliantly conceived and thrilling to behold. The dialogue is also very good and the emotion is felt throughout the movie whereas the humor is pretty solid with a couple of very funny scenes and lines. Overall, the movie is very good, just not as amazing as everyone said it is.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse isn’t as great as most stated owing to its chaotic, rushed outcome and too many underdeveloped characters with the Spider People being very underutilized. But it’s still a very good movie thanks to its evident emotional investment, strong dialogue, pretty solid humor with a couple of funny lines and a strong protagonist. His relationship with his uncle, father and Peter Parker are the highlights of the film. The action is also very well executed and quite cool, but the standout aspect is easily its animation which is the most refreshing I’ve seen in years from the US due to its terrific mix of 2D and 3D, many terrific sets and many fantastic, wonderful comic-book touches from the use of speech balloons to the split screens.

My Rating – 4