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...
Whether it's comic books, movies, video games, merchandises, or even so-so ice cream, "Spider-Man's" connection to the astronomical level of people is clearly obvious. He's a hero we can all relate to and inspire to be due to his moral values and willingness to never give up. "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse", directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, fully embraces the reasons why "Spider-Man" is loved with an astonishing shot of cinematic superhero adrenaline.
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Presenting two iconic interpretations of the web-slinger, the plot primarily focuses on "Miles Morales". A different kind of outsider, who's just wanting to follow his own path that's against his parents' expectations. He's then thrusted into the world of infinite Spider-people when the villainous "Kingpin" opens a portal to alternate realities.
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The film breaks down the character of "Spider-Man" without ever losing sight of delivering an entertainingly engaging story. The narrative crafts an relatable character in "Miles", someone who's torn between his desires and what's wanted from him. To contrast the pathos of "Miles'", the story introduces an interpretation of "Peter Parker" that feels honest and tragic. This "Spider-Man" feels ashamed of letting people down and in doing so, he runs away from his responsibilities of just not being "Spider-Man", but also accepting adulthood. It's from these two interpretations of "Spider-Men" where the film generates it's central theme of failure. That it's okay to fail, but that doesn't mean to just stop there. To take the leap of faith and try again. "Miles'" journey couldn't be more different than "Peter's", his choices and sacrifices are with different contexts and consequences, but it's emotional and impactful to see him grapple with it. After all, it's meant as a metaphor for the intense, frustrating, terrifying, and universal struggle to understand one's place in existence.
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The writing is super strong when supplying lively character detail without making the film over bloated with nonsense. While the rest of the team doesn't receive the same level of story devotion, each Spider-character has it's moment to shine with their unique qualities that makes each of them standout, while still keeping it's core aspects of the film's narrative. The same can't be said about the antagonists, as while "Kingpin" does successfully connect with the film's themes of failure, he's rather lackluster compared to the rest of the fantastic writing found in the other characters.
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More than just dynamic personalities, the various Spider heroes also bring their own specific animation styles into the world of "Miles Morales". With "Peni Parker" and her robot suit seeming like it came straight out of a anime, and "Peter Porker" channeling his inner 50s whimsical and looney like cartoon style. It's little details like that that deserves the highest respects, as while they're different, they seemingly blend with the core animation.
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Using that as a perfect segue, the animation looks outrageously incredible. A 3D animated world given a 2D sheen with vibrant colors and some actual thought bubbles sprinkled in for dramatic effect, it smartly uses the visual language of comic books to have it's heroes move in ways that couldn't be accomplished in a simple animated film. It's gorgeously dripping with invention and energetic action that explodes from the screen.
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"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" hits all the right marks to be an beautifully written love letter to fans of "Spider-Man", or just superheroes in general, with it's dynamic visual animation and it's skillful way of weaving it's theme into a bold, colorful world that celebrates the reason why we love "Spider-Man". That reason is that we all can see ourselves as "Spider-Man". We've felt death, and we've felt like giving up or we don't belong, but it's taking that leap of faith and keep moving forward, no matter what, that inspires us. "Spider-Man" can, as a matter of fact, be considered an idea. It doesn't matter if you're a boy, a girl, or even a pig, we are all "Spider-Man" deep down inside.
