Spider-Man : Into The Spider-verse is the best superhero film of the year. Without a doubt. In a year that's had Infinity War and Black Panther that's saying a lot but there you have it. The level of invention, humour and action on display here will blow you away. There's loads to enjoy for the casual viewer but if you have any bit of Spiderman knowledge you are in for a serious treat.
Miles Morales is a reluctant school goer. Ill at ease in his new prep school he acts out with petty acts of vandalism while blasting out Biggie Smalls and is an aspiring graffiti artist to boot. One trip into NYC's subway system with a couple of spray cans sees him bitten by an unusual looking spider. Strange things start to happen to him and things get even stranger when a rip in the space/time continuum above the city sends a lot of people his direction. People who have also been bitten by spiders....
Oh man, this rocked. It's an amazing piece of work. Heartfelt yet bombastic, intimate but epic, intricate but surprisingly easy to follow. Then there's the animation. The glorious animation. It looks immense, a gorgeous explosion of colour and chaos, it's genuinely as close to a comic book as you'll ever see on screen. There's stuff in here that could never be filmed, animation is the only way it could be done and TBH I'm delighted they went this route, I wish more comic book stuff was drawn as it's a perfect vehicle for superhero madness. 3 people co-directed this film (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman) and I'm amazed they managed to keep up with it. It's genuinely mindblowing in places. I loved it.
This is Miles Morales' first time in a movie. He's been in the Spidey comics for a few years but never made the jump to film until now. Unsurprisingly the colour of his skin was an issue for the more insecure and idiotic side of fandom but he's a great character, easily as likable as Peter Parker, the original Spider-man. Unlike Peter he still has his parents but his issues come from his fractured relationship with his father, a stern New York City Cop. His run in with a spider sets him buzzing and his run-in with the other spider-people give him a new found direction in life. The others are brilliant, I won't spoil anything but 1 is voiced by the most crazed actor on earth and the other is just a perfect creation that will make you snort laughing as soon as you hear his name and see him in action.
Animated movies are only as good as their voicework and here it's just sublime, every actor perfectly fitting with their animated counterpart. Shameik Moore as Miles is fantastic. Selling the fear and terror and eventually wonder to a tee. Jake Johnson is great craic as the alternate Peter Parker, a hero gone to seed but looking to find his way back to form and Liev Schreiber is suitably menacing as the villain of the piece, the hilariously shaped Kingpin. There isn't a weak link here. Hailee Steinfield as Gwen Stacy, Lily Tomlin as aunt May, Brian Tyree Henry (an actor having a hell of a year) as Miles' Da Jeff, all do their work with aplomb and ensure the film just drips with quality.
There's something here for everyone. Constant action and nonstop jokes for the kids, genuinely emotional story beats and twists & turns for the growns up and in-jokes by the dozen for the nerds (The dig at Sam Raimi's Spider-man 3 was priceless). Cameos from much loved baddies from the comics crop up all around too but not too many as they have to keep some for the inevitable sequel. It's the kind of movie that will work very well on a repeat viewing because at times there's so much going on it's quite hard to take it all in. I'm probably going to go see it again on the big screen. It's that good that it's worth paying twice for.
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