Really Late Move Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Date: 13 June 2019

I finally got around to seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Hence, this really late movie review. Spider-Verse was a lot of fun.

The basic premise is that in a slightly different world, Miles Morales gets caught up in the evil plans of Kingpin. Oh, yeah, and he gets bitten by a radioactive spider and watches Peter Parker die. On top of that, Kingpin’s plan pulls Spider-people from five different dimensions into Miles' New York.

The different spider people from an old, out-of-shape Peter B. Parker to Spider-Gwen to Spider-Ham make for a lot of fun. One of the things I really enjoyed was the subtle use of super cartoony sounds whenever Spider-Ham did something. It’s totally in keeping with the character and a great nod to the other-worldly aspect of a talking pig in a spider mask. Heck, you get cute “Boing!” sounds when he jumps. 😄

The inevitable final battle that has the five Spider-people (plus Miles) fighting the forces of evil was a great showcase of what makes each character different. I practically cheered when Spider-Ham showed up with a cartoon mallet to beat back the forces of evil. You get to see Spider-Gwen’s grace and gymnastic ability, Peni Parker’s awesome (and super cute) Spider-mech, and Spider-Man Noir’s toughness. It was the little things that made the group work so well.

The animation style was amazing. The way they used comic book tropes like thought balloons, narration boxes, and the like added that little extra bit of charm. It was also a great way for them to introduce the other Spider-people. Gwen Stacy’s intro as Spider-Woman was great and led to a really touching moment later in the movie between her and Peter B. Parker.

One of the things that took me out of the movie is that I’m not steeped in Spider-lore. For example, I had no idea who the gray Frankenstein looking guy was that was always hanging out with Fisk. (For the record, it was Tombstone.) The movie drops you in ten years after Peter Parker became Spider-Man and just expects you to go with it. You can get lost in it a bit but you don’t miss any of the story because of it.

Overall, Spider-verse is an amazing movie. I can’t wait to watch it again and again (and again).