Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) Movie Review

I'm going to keep this review fairly brief since this movie is still very recent, and I honestly want each of you to experience it for yourselves before I go extremely in-depth. But to start, let's just say that when it was announced some years ago that Sony was producing an animated Spider-Man feature film, I was one of the many skeptics/naysayers. Sony's last three forays with Webhead at the time were Spider-Man 3 (bleh), The Amazing Spider-Man (meh) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (BLEH!). Marvel Studios was also collaborating with Sony on the then upcoming live-action Spider-Man: Homecoming, which was coming off the heels of Spidey's successful introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe following the Sony/Marvel deal. Homecoming turned out great, and that only added to me questioning why on earth, aside from money, Sony needed to make a non-MCU animated Spider-Man film. The first trailer debuts, and I see that it is Miles Morales Spider-Man. Well, it's something different at least, but for me, Spider-Man had always been and always would be Peter Parker. But as more trailers air, the movie looked progressively better and more interesting to me. And then, the INSANELY good reviews for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (going to call it Spider-Verse for short after this) had me shocked and even more eager to see this movie.

As of writing this, I have seen the movie twice, although the movie is still very new to me. However (and I know I have been known to jump the gun on movie opinions when hyped, TRUST ME I know), I not only feel like Spider-Verse is my favorite Spider-Man movie (just slightly ahead of 2004's Spider-Man 2), it may also be my favorite movie of 2018 as the year nears a close. I think my reasoning is that, considering that all components of this movie (animation, voice acting, story, music, writing, characters) all mesh seamlessly, this movie SURPRISED me. Not simply in the sense that it was so much better than I thought possible, not simply in the sense that the story took very DARK turns at points (I wouldn't recommend this for extremely young viewers), but the movie elicited a real emotional response from me. Not in the crying sense (although there are moments that got me in the heartstrings), but the movie just feels so raw and honest to how it feels to be young and finding your way in life. Not only do I relate to Miles Morales' fears and struggles before and after he gains spider powers, but once he DOES fully embrace them, the movie had me gripped so tightly that it was something palpable. The way your spirits soar with Miles as he embraces his gifts are, simply put, why I love movies. I'm still thinking about particular scenes that hit me in all the right ways as a film fan, and as someone who has loved Spider-Man for most of my life. There is stuff here that is simply iconic among all superhero films.

Spider-Verse has an excellent supporting cast of characters, all of whom are well-voiced by great talent. Peter Parker has a very prominent role in this film, and a great one at that, which is refreshing considering that Miles is the main Spider-Man here, technically. Spider-Gwen (voiced by Bumblebee's Hailee Steinfeld) is simply the coolest superhero maybe ever on film (not the best, but the coolest). But this movie did something unprecedented for me. It truly made me see Miles Morales' Spider-Man on equal footing with Peter Parker's Spider-Man, something I had never ever ever thought would happen. And for that, and everything mentioned prior, Spider-Verse gets a 10/10, A+ grade from me. Well done, Sony. I won't doubt you guys so quickly next time, and I cannot wait for the inevitable Spider-Verse sequels!