Bringing Miles Morales into the Spider-man fold

By JASON GUYER
iRATE
Swinging into theaters last weekend was “Spider-man Into the Spider Verse.” When Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales is suddenly bitten by a radioactive spider in the subway, he develops mysterious powers that transform him into a version Spider-Man. 

When Miles meets Peter Parker, he soon realizes what his new found powers mean and offer. Parker, who dies fighting Kingpin, requests the help of Miles to stop Kingpin when Miles witnesses Parker’s death at the hands of Kingpin. Kingpin , who is a hulking leader of a crime syndicate and a madman, is trying to open portals to other universes to bring back his deceased family. When Kingpin accomplishes part of the feat and opens portals, he accidentally pulls different versions of Spider-Man into the world. One version coming out of the portal is another Peter Parker who trains and introduces the newly annointed Spider-man (Miles Morales) to the Spider-man fold.

“Spider-man Into the Spider Verse” is a cinematic masterpiece. In every way “Spider-man into the Spider Verse” exceeds expectations. Animation films, especially those of the comic book ilk, are not often this good and not just good as an animation film but good as a film.

“Spider-man Into the Spider Verse” is everything “The Killing Joke” professed to be and wasn’t. Miles Morales is the perfect version of Spider-man to carry what has become a defunct and tired Spider-man franchise into the future.

No offense to Tom Holland, whose version of Peter Parker has brought life back into an overdone franchise, but the excitement and life Holland did bring back is not enough. Miles Morales does what I thought impossible, he makes Spider-man interesting again.

The Morales version of the Spider-man origin story is more interesting on every level than that of Peter Parker, especially upon the third iteration Parker’s in film. The Parker versions of Spider-man in “Spider-man Into the Spider Verse” are also a better representation of the true Spider-man. “Spider-man into the Spider Verse” is one of the best adaptation of Stan Lee and Stan Ditko’s Spider-man I have ever seen.

One of the film’s best aspects is its story. Stories are often what hinders these style animation films. Far too many of the comic-style animation films are oversimplified for their audience base, children. Obviously this is not 100-percent percent true, and as the years have progressed the industry has tried and has gotten a lot better at this but its base was and is children so it obviously panders to that base.

Even when writing for a certain fan base though, you do not always have to write to just that base. “Spider-man into the Spider Verse” does not concentrate on one base, it is written and made to be more that. Children will love this film, adults will like “Spider-man into the Spider Verse,” and even comic book fans will be happy with this movie. This in itself is a major feat as comic fans are not the easiest bunch to please.

“Spider-man into the Spider Verse” is a pleasure from beginning to end. The biggest pleasure comes from the iterations of Spider-man from other universes. “Spider-man Into the Spider Verse” includes Peter Parker’s Spider-man, Peni Parker’s SP//dr, Spider-Ham, Spider-Noir, and Gwen Stacy’s Spider-Gwen. Spider-Gwen is a personal favorite and one of the best comic book characters to be introduced into the comic book world in the last 10 years.

What “Spider-man into the Spider Verse” perfects about each character and the group as a whole is how the group interacts with each other. The individual aspects of each version that make each version feel different and individualized in “Spider-man into the Spider Verse” is masterful. The group dynamic as a whole would make the Justice League jealous, and probably does since DC can’t get anything right.

Chris Pine and Jake Johnson each voice a version of Spider-man. Hailee Steinfeld, who is about to crush it in the film “Bumblebee,” voices Spider-Gwen. Kimiko Glenn, John Mulaney, and Nicolas Cage voice Peni Parker, Spider-Ham, and Spider-Noir and all do a wonderful job and another favorite is Nicolas Cage who just seems to fit as Spider-Noir.

The eclectic group of voices just seem to blend and compliment each other at every turn in the film. “Spider-man into the Spider Verse” and it’s characters bring humor when necessary as well. 

There are many humorous moments in “Spider-man into the Spider Verse” that will keep both adult and child entertained. The downsides are small and meaningless compared to the film as a whole but there are a couple.

None of the downsides have to do with any of the characters, they both are in the animation department. The biggest and hardest to deal with is that in standard definition many of the background characters and scenes are blurry and you can even see the lines for the 3-D version. This was a little disorienting, but it is mostly just background animation that does this, although not just background.

The most nitpicky downside is the fight scenes that take place in the portal to other worlds. They are muddled and hard to follow. They reminded me of fight scenes in the “Transformers” films, fight scenes that often looked like a bunch of scrap metal and garbage rolling down the highway or wherever they were fighting. “Spider-man into the Spider Verse” has this effect in the fight scenes in the portal. Again though, it is often just the background that is hard to establish and each character is well defined in the mess.

These downsides are a stretch and just reaching for something as a downside but they are there and may annoy some and be fine to others. Getting past them is easy though. “Spider-man into the Spider Verse” is just that good, so good you don’t even think on its flaws and may not even seem them. So good you just walk out after “Spider-man into the Spider Verse” thinking I need to see that again.

Miles Morales and his spider verse friends will swing in and carry you away into one of the best Spider-man stories to date. In “Spider-man Into the Spider Verse” Peter Parker says to Miles, “Remember, what makes you different is what makes you Spider-Man.”

Miles Morales may be a different version of Spider-man but “Spider-man Into the Spider Verse” is so good you may just leave the theater wanting more and you might even think of Miles Morales as the Spider-man.

 

IRATE SCORE: 4.5/5

 

Jason Guyer is an avid moviegoer and works in the graphics department at the Eagle Times. For questions or comments he can be emailed at [email protected]