Nominated for best Animated Film for tonight's Academy Awards, Sony's Spider-Man (God, I hate hyphens!) Into the Spiderverse has garnered so much praise and acclaim since its premiere last December. But now that I have finally got a chance to see what all the fuss is about, let's find out if Spideyverse is overrated or well worth all those glowing reviews!
Into the Spiderverse centers around Miles Morales, a Black Hispanic teenager who was bitten by a radioactive spider, resulting in not only acquiring Spider-esque abilities, but can fire electrical blasts and turn invisible. While Miles is a fan of the OG Spiderman, his father, an NYPD or PDNY" Police officer, sees him as nothing more than a costume vigilante menace.
In a twist of fate, Miles, bears witness to Spiderman's attempts to stop Wilson Fisk from opening parallel universes via a super collider in order to reestablish contact with his Wife and Son who were killed in an accident many years ago. Despite his heroic efforts, against Kingpin, Green Goblin and the Prowler, Spiderman is mortally wounded, but hands the frightened Morales a thumb drive that can stop the collider from destroying New York City.
Miles tests his newfound abilities and runs into an elder and more worn out version of Peter Parker, thanks to the collider opening alternate realities. And as if that wasn't enough, alternate Gwen Stacey appears along with Spider-Man Noir, the dark and brooding version of Spiderman, the Anime influenced Peni Parker who is accompanied by a Mecha Spider that looks like one of the characters from Overwatch and longtime favorite, Spider-Ham???
Will the new Spider-Man and his alternate Amazing Friends, put an end to Fisk's selfish plans and in turn, save their respective universes? Does Miles have what it takes to pick up the torch that will bring light to the darkness? What I most admire about Into the Spiderverse, aside from its dare I say it, "Amazing" animation, is the underlying metaphor, that underneath the mask, Spider-Man can be anyone! Whether he's Black, Latino, ("Latinex" is a silly buzzword in my opinion.) Asian, Jewish or female as shown with Miles, Penni, Peter B. Parker and Gwen who each had something to contribute to the film's plotline without the need to shoehorn for inclusivity's sake.
Despite your typical hero's journey trope as far as Miles is concerned, along with the slow pacing throughout the first forty minutes, the film's self-referential humor, great use of comic captions, voice acting, and a mystery angle thrown in doesn't take much away when it comes to any setbacks.
I must give it up for Peter B. Parker who gave humor and humanity to the iconic Comic character. He was full of doubt, yet became a great mentor to Morales, these two had a dynamic chemistry together and I'm glad that they shared most of the spotlight, while Noir and the others served as extended, but well implemented cameos.
I would love to see at least a 60-minute movie based on Spider-Man Noir with Nic Cage once again reprising his role, but that depends on Sony whether they'll do it.
Shit, Amy Pascal is pimping anything that's Spider-Man related, so I wouldn't be surprised if she caved into any demands of fanboyism.
The mixed soundtrack is good for the most part, but I really hate this shitty "Nu Rap" music! It’s nowhere as good as the ol skool stuff like B.I.G. or Run DMC. At its core, Spider-man Into the Spiderverse is a trippy, humanistic movie of love, loss, what it means to be a hero, and of course, with great power comes great responsibility! Gotta love those Easter eggs!
Is it overrated? Well, that depends on one's perspective. It’s certainly not the best Spider-Man movie by any means, however it beats out plenty of Superhero movies! Will it win tonight’s Oscars? Hmm