Miles Morales is juggling his life between being a high school student and being Spider-Man. However, when Wilson "Kingpin" Fisk uses a super collider, another Spider-Man from another dimension, Pe...
Before we start,I just need to point out that the best Spider-Man Movie (and best Comic-Book movie of 2018) is made by the same animated studio that delivered movies with fart and poop jokes as their trend. Onto the review.
Let’s talk about the ‘Set-Up’ Movie. A ‘Set-Up’ Movie is a term that I often use to point out some cinematic garbage that milks money out of its production value just for the sake of setting up a big Cinematic Universe (that started all the way back in 2008 with Marvel Studios,precisely with Iron Man). Sony started this 4 Years Ago with The Amazing Spider-Man 2,a movie with some decency in its runtime,but still ruined by the likes of Alex Kurtzman’s “JJ Abrams Mystery Box” style writing,but it was later taken to a new level by Universal Pictures (Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom or The Mummy with their 3rd Acts).
Now Sony is still trying to start their own Universe as of 2018 with movies like Venom (“When I get out of here...And I will...There’s gonna be Carnage”) and now Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse,a movie that may be the best movie out of all these Set-Up Movies for the reasons it’s not supposed to work (but somehow,it does).
Literally everything about this movie is flawless. Yeah,sure,there are some jokes that didn’t land as much as the previous one...Yeah,the Animation was interchangeable at times and yes,it has a soundtrack with classic hits (aside from Sunflower and What’s Up Danger?) that feels perfect for a dumb YA Movie,but who cares? There’s a real Entertainment value behind this movie,and it shows all its hard work put into this. It may also be the most Personal movie I’ve ever seen,considering the fact that Miles Morales (the main character of the movie,played by Shameik Moore) is me,but black and Spider-Man.
Difficult relationship with his dad? Check.
Being in the wrong school because of the dad’s reasons? Also Check.
Always trying to save/help somebody out? Umm,hell yeah.
This is my favourite Screenplay of the year for all these reasons and so much more,but also because it manages to combine all the previous Spider-Man outings (for example,the Raimi trilogy for its Origin story,the character getting beaten to the ground morally and….maybe too many villains?) and still trying to be a movie of its own,with new characters,frenetic action scenes (some of them brutal for a kids movie,where even Japanese media ain’t got nothing,even if that means whatever the hell that was in Akira),brilliant character development (we get to care about a living pork,for Pete’s sake) that is all accompained by fantastic animation. Sometimes it’s a living comic-book,sometimes it’s a Borderlands game,and sometimes a PS2 game (mainly for character animation),which keep in mind,makes sense for the world we’re watching.
Th screenplay also manages to get excited for its future Cinematic Universe (with a sequel and an all-female spin-off already in development). When’s the last time you’ve seen a non-MCU Movie that got you excited for its universe of future movies?
As I said before,the Screenplay also manages to get brutal at times,with a punch by a big buff dude like Kingpin that feels like the Apocalypse and a gunshot that kills a character. Again,when’s the last time you’ve seen a brutal non-Pixar animated movie?
It also doesn’t stop to reference something classic for laughs and be Deadpool or LEGO Batman for a second,no no no,because the references are actually in favor of the story,whether it’s a character introduction or a post-credit sequence.
Oh,and the 3D is so good,it’s honestly the best use of 3D since Avatar. Not even a second to be on screen and the colors pop out the screen on purpose,making this movie the best acid trip since 2001 A Space Odyssey. The Comic-Book effects leap as if we’re seeing a literal comic-book,and the image sometimes feels worthy of a Best Cinematography award.
Overall,there’s really nothing to complain about in here. After walking out of the theater,I said to myself “Man,this one will be hard to write because everything about it is really good”,but no. I really had fun doing this. This is also the kind of guts a typical movie critic has. Usually,we enjoy talking TNTs about a bad movie,but sometimes,a good movie can feel like a new quest,a new journey in a movie critic’s life,and I didn’t think a Spider-Man movie would accomplish that (But again,this was a year where an Action Movie made me scream at an IMAX). I will come back at a new Sony Spider-Man movie full of hope,and luckily,with pure excitement. Please,go see this movie.
