Up until the surprise success of Venom, it appeared as though Sony Pictures had completely squandered the rights to the Spider-Man license within the past few years. The good but uninspired Andrew Garfield entries were successful in the foreign market but failed to cash in on the domestic box office. Desperate for answers, the deal they cut with Marvel Studios in order to make Homecoming was a sign of weakness and seriously crippled Sony’s ability to tell a Spidey story…or so it seemed at the time. However, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse brilliantly reinvented the character and created a whole new world of possibilities.
To bring this project to life, it took a trio of directors. Peter Ramsey brought the most substantial experience in that department having directed Rise of the Guardians while Bob Persichetti and Rodney Rothman both took to the director’s chair for the first time on this movie. Due to the nature of the story, there is a whole bunch going on and it makes sense that it would take a tribunal to keep it all in line.
While there are a lot of strengths here, it all started with an excellent script. Rothman wrote the screenplay with Phil Lord (The Lego Movie) who created the story and the two of them wrote a wonderfully complicated story, both emotionally and technically. The long awaited story follows high-school student (and eventual Spider-Man) Miles Morales as he witnesses a reality-bending event that sets off a chain reaction which threatens to destroy more than just his world. Starting with Miles, Lord and Rothman wrote some beautifully unique characters that convey a wide range of emotional depth. In comparison to other Wall-Crawler films, Spider-Verse has a much more authentic nature to it thanks to some excellent dialogue and situational awareness…despite the obvious fantasy elements. Reinventing Peter Parker, for the big screen, was long overdue but rethinking the supporting cast and the significance each of them has played a crucial role in making this all work. As a long-time Spidey fan, this was the best story we’ve seen brought to the screen for him so far and it was refreshing to see the writers thinking outside the box.
The strength of the screenplay was reflected in the voice performances from the cast, starting with Shameik Moore playing Morales. He worked well playing off Jake Johnson’s Peter B. Parker…an older, fatter, generally more depressed Spider-Man who serves as a mentor. The tow of them had a very natural chemistry that played as a kind of brotherly affection. Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy, or Spider-Gwen, played well with Moore and it’s really easy to cheer them on. She brought a natural charisma to the character that could certainly justify a standalone project. Nicolas Cage also lent his greatness to the cast as Spider-Man Noir, a black-and-white version of the character who’s a private detective in the 1930s. Oscar winner Mahershala Ali voices Miles’ Uncle Aaron and plays the most important character in clearly defining Morales as the new hero.
One of the primary benefits of telling this story in an animated environment was the visual effects. The aesthetic style is a cross between cell-shading and the fully rendered animation we see in basically every other animated film these days. It has a naturally 3D look due to the color scheme and is one of maybe a handful of movies that may be worth seeing in 3D. When merging dimensions, there’s a lot of weird shit going on but it feels much more at home in an animated film. Trying to incorporate those elements into a live action film would be both costly and time-consuming, and it probably wouldn’t age very well either. This was a case where the story was exponentially enhanced by the animated format and digital art style. From Justin Thompson’s production design to the art direction of Patrick O’Keefe and Dean Gordon, there is a bold and unique visual footprint that won’t soon be forgotten.
When Chemical Calisthenics by Blackalicious started playing during one of the early scenes, I sort of geeked out a little bit. The duo has made some great hip-hop over the years but rarely do they get recognition, let alone a featured scene in a big-time studio film. Unfortunately, that song isn’t on the soundtrack but a bunch of other original hip-hop music is. It’s a collaborative project featuring the likes of Lil Wayne, Nikki Minaj, and Post Malone and, while the music may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it served as an important narrative tool. Miles’ character isn’t defined by the music but his identity is more clearly defined by it and it’s an important element of building the character his own legacy.
This movie completely exceeded my expectations. I had heard only good things and, even as a longtime Web-Slinger fan, was still blown away by how awesome this was. While Homecoming was made to reset the table for a new franchise effort, Spider-verse pushed the envelope forward across the board and delivered the best Spider-Man movie to date. For fans of the Peter Parker Spidey we’ve known and loved for all these years, you get that. For people who are tired of Sony’s other Web-Head offerings, this is a phenomenal story and you get a variety of heroes to choose from. Beyond it’s Golden Globe nom for Best Animated Feature (which it should win), I would be hard pressed to keep this out of the conversation for Best Picture overall because it’s easily one of the best and most creative films of the year. It’s just so much fun, I would see definitely watch it again.
Recommendation: Give yourself a Christmas present and go see this movie. For Marvel and Spider-Man fans, this is an absolute must see. It’s very family friendly but doesn’t come across as childish, so older fans shouldn’t fear the PG rating. Seriously, this movie was so damn good.