Everybody knows the origin story of Peter Parker: a smart high-school teenager is bitten by a radioactive spider, develops superpowers, and becomes New York's "friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." But many mainstream audiences don't know the origin story of his successor, Miles Morales. Nor that of Gwen Stacy (that is, her alternative storyline apart from her love interest with Peter). Nor a detective version of the webslinger, or even a cartoon pig. (Yep, that's not a typo.)
In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the story and character arc of Miles Morales (Dope's Shameik Moore, simply cool) is at the center. As a teenage kid conflicted between the influences of his strict officer father, Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyler Henry), and street-artist uncle, Aaron Davis (Mahershala Ali), Miles wrestles with insecurities and choices regarding who others think he should be and who he wants to be. When Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider (yes, we all remember that, as the other Spider-People remind us), he can't seem to stop sticking to things. And then the villainous Kingpin uses a "Super Collider" to cross parallel dimensions, resulting in the aforementioned Spider-People being brought to Miles' own, including a pudgy and older Peter Parker (Jake Johnson, knocking it out of the park)--not the kind of "teacher" Miles had in mind to show him the ropes
Set in a comic book-esque world that is distinct, unprecedented and unparalleled, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (courtesy Sony Animation) is unlike any film (animated or live-action) ever made. In fact, many of the creative directions this story takes couldn't even be done in live-action. From the way it plays with depth of field, color, frame rate, and hand-drawn features on its CGI characters, co-producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller (who also helmed The Lego Movie) have intended the film to be "a living comic book". Take, for instance, the dialogue panels that echo Miles' inner thoughts when he's discovering he has superpowers. Some viewers may quibble about some of the imagery looking out of focused with or without 3D glasses, but (and this is a thought) this choice may echo Miles' own out-of-focus perspective, regarding who he should or shouldn't be and what he should or shouldn't do.
Nevertheless, this is one of the rare films that works in 3D as much as it does in 2D. The frenetic and roller-coaster action sequences are a first-rate success in sight, sound, and color. And the different Spider-People, with each of their own styles and represented genres, bring together what may be the best cosplay costumes of the year (no disrespect, Black Panther). The result is a work of art that is out of this world! Not to mention Sony's ultimate equivalent of a Marvel universe.
 |
| (l-r) Peni Parker, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, Miles Morales, Peter B. Parker, and Spider-Man Noir |
The meta humor and references to almost every form the webslinger has taken (e.g., comic books, movies, cereal, Christmas album) are on display here. In fact, just about all of them are so clever and hysterically funny, you have to stay all the way through the credits. ("How many more Spider-people are there?" "Save it for Comic-Con.")
Along with Moore, Johnson, Henry, and Ali, the voice cast is perfect. Hailee Steinfeld (as Gwen Stacy a.k.a. Spider-Gwen), Nicolas Cage (as the Bogart-esque Spider-Man Noir, my personal favorite); Kimiko Glenn (as the manga Peni Parker), John Hulaney (as the cartoonish Spider-Ham--"You got a problem with cartoons?"), Lily Tomlin (as what may be the best version of Aunt May by far), Leiv Schreiber (as the hulking and menacing Kingpin), and Kathryn Hahn (as Olivia Octavius a.k.a. Doc Ock) all bring their A-game, rounding out the most diverse cast of any movie in 2018.
But despite being a roller-coaster ride of a movie, the drama in this film is quite deep, both as an advantage to the story (i.e., the only people who best understand tragedy and misunderstanding are those that have gone through it themselves), and as a disadvantage to younger fans of Spider-Man. For one thing, there are two unexpected deaths in the film that may leave some viewers (especially kids) saddened, although not polarized a la Avengers: Infinity War. Plus, with the unexpected passing of co-creator and Marvel icon Stan Lee just before the film's worldwide premiere, the effect may or will be even more poignant. To its credit, however, Spider-Verse does deliver a worthy and bittersweet dedication to Lee and to co-creator Steve Ditko (who also passed months prior), echoing their mantra that anybody can be a hero, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, genre, or the like, simply because it's right. And when Miles has that moment of spark, it's a great cinematic moment of coming into one's own, and, in a small way, a passing of the torch onto the next generation.
The movie universe just got a whole lot bigger.
No comments:
Post a Comment