Back in the mid-80's, when Marvel Comics was in dire financial trouble, they sold their flagship character's exclusive film rights to Sony for a mere song and dance. Then, after years of development hell, everyone's favorite web-head finally appeared on the big screen in 2002. Thanks to a solid script by David Koepp, the distinctive and sure-handed direction of Sam Raimi and some excellent casting, the movie was a solid, if flawed, effort. By some minor miracle, the 2004 sequel was even better.
But that cinematic saga didn't have a happy ending. After Sam Raimi got sick of corporate interference, resulting in the tonally-schizophrenic and messily-plotted Spider-Man 3, the veteran film-maker walked away from a proposed fourth entry in the series. The concept was resurrected six years later, not-coincidentally around the same time when Marvel's remaining assets were blossoming from a string of vaguely connected hits into a bonafide cinematic universe.
Thinking they could piggy-back on Marvel's success, Sony rebooted Spider-Man in 2012. Unfortunately, despite the solid casting and hiring a promising young director, the resulting film featured a barely-recognizable Peter Parker, a superfluous parental mystery plot and a boring, one-dimensional villain. Worse still, Harry Osbourne's OsCorp was used to set up Spidey's legendary rogues gallery of villains in the scripting equivalent of throwing down an expandable pup tent.
Sadly, this lumpen mess was followed by a downright embarrassing sequel two years later. In fact, Amazing Spider-Man 2 was such a rampant dumpster fire that Sony was forced to accept joint custody of Spidey with Mama Marvel in order to produce Spider-Man: Homecoming. And while that movie felt more John Hughes than J.M DeMatteis, it was still a perfectly acceptable romp.
Note to Kevin Feige: please, please, please ditch that friggin' OP Stark Spidey-suit, already. Our boi was never about tech, he's all about inner fortitude.
*A-hem*...sorry. I digress.
Anyway, when an animated Sony Spider-Man movie was announced it was barely a blip on my radar. Especially considering that the main character appeared to be Miles Morales, someone I had snobbily written off as an alternate reality version of our beloved web-head at best or fan fiction at worst.
Well, shiver my webs when Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse turned out to be not only one of the best Spider-Man properties ever released, but also one of the finest animated movies in recent memory.
The premise, like so many other super hero flicks, is no great shakes. After The Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) loses his family in a car accident, he attempts to use a dangerous particle accelerator to pluck facsimiles of them out of another dimension. When the unwitting Miles (Shameik Moore) and a dogged Spider-Man (Chris Pine) intervene, the machine is temporarily disabled, Spidey is killed and Miles is forced to become the hero he needs to be.
Much of the film's charm comes from the pretense that the malfunctioning accelerator is creating a rift between dimensions, pulling Spider-people in from multiple realities. This results in Miles sharing copious screen time with a crusty, jaded, middle-aged Peter Parker (Jake Johnson), who acts like a barely-competent and nominally-engaged Mr. Miyagi. The scenes with Peter begrudgingly showing Miles the (web) ropes are among some of the best in the film.
This sci-fi MacGuffin also gives screenwriters Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman a chance to spin some deep cuts from Spidey's colorful history, ranging from the popular to the downright obscure. Hailee Steinfeld charmingly inhabits the dual role of Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman, stealing her fair share of scenes in the process. For a welcome dash of Anime flair, Kimiko Glenn plays Peni Parker, a Japanese American teenager who co-pilots a Gundam-style robot (!) with a sentient radioactive spider (!!). By the time Nic Cage shows up as the hard-boiled Spider-Man Noir and John Mulaney bombs in as Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham, fans will be firmly be on-board the crazy train.
Comic book nerds will also enjoy a plethora of established Spider-lore. Not only do we get the coolest incarnation of Aunt May ever thanks to a spirited vocal turn by Lily Tomlin, we also get a wildly-successful, gender-swapped version of Spidey's arch nemesis Doc Ock. Kathryn Hahn brings a fun, sprightly and cheerily-psychotic quality to this role, making it all her own. Add in welcome appearances by Tombstone (played by L.A rapper Krondon), Scorpion (Joaquín Cosío) and Zoë Kravitz as Mary Jane Watson and Spider-philes will be in seventh heaven.
Thankfully the movie has plenty of heart to validate all of this fan service. Central to this is the relationship between Miles and his family. His Dad, Jefferson, distinctively voiced by Brian Tyree Henry, is a world-weary cop who's relentlessly driving his son towards a better life. This is tempered somewhat by his sympathetic mom Rio, played Luna Lauren Velez. Despite her best efforts, the relentless pressure forces Miles to seek solace in the company the black sheep of the family, his edgy uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali). This dynamic plays out in unexpected and gratifying ways, putting many live-action non-genre films to shame.
Even this crusty ol' geek felt his withered heart thaw incrementally at times. Beyond the producers using an archived audio clip from the 2002 Raimi film of the late Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben, the movie employs a powerful one-two punch of New Yorkers reacting to Spidey's demise and Stan Lee's posthumous cameo. Back to back, this threatened to reduce me into an emotional wreck.
With the bedrock of good plotting and characterization established, the film's wholly original visual style feels complimentary and not overwhelming. The animation is like nothing I've ever experienced; it's like an Alex Ross painting come to glorious life. I'd go so far as to say that this is the most "comic booky" film I've even seen, right down to written sound effects appearing on screen. The film's audio palette is just as immersive. Beyond the ambitious sound design, the musical score is absolutely incredible. Witness the distinctive, spine-jangling cue that accompanies the appearance of new Spider-foe The Prowler whenever he pops up.
One admitted negative is in the depiction of The Kingpin. Liev Schreiber does a fantastic job, but I've never really viewed Wilson Fisk as a Tony Saprano-style mob boss. After Vincent D'Onofrio gave us the definitive final word on the character in the Netflix Daredevil show, I suppose the writers wanted to do something in contrast. That's all well and good, but we spend so little time with Fisk that this version doesn't hold a candle to D'Onofrio's.
Sure, the wonky particle accelerator is an easy way to dismiss the script's many vagaries, but who cares? Besides being tightly-plotted and well-voiced, the film's revolutionary visual flair never threatens to eclipse Miles or the other characters because they're so well defined. I urge you to see this one on the big screen, or at the very least, consider upgrading your home theaters so you can fully appreciate the spectacle in 4K.
Tilt: up.
