By Amani Salahudeen
Staff Writer
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” takes audiences on a journey to a multidimensional universe where they meet the original Peter Parker, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham and other heroes with spider abilities from their own animated universes.
Originally co-written by Stan Lee in 1962, the “Spider-Man” comics have remained a long-loved classic.
I thought this was an outstanding movie. The acting was phenomenal, and if you haven’t seen the movie already, I definitely recommend it while it’s still in theaters. It’s cool to watch the different forms of animation, such as a black and white world and an anime world, all come together.
One of the Spider-Men, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), differs from the other film depictions of Parker, who were all played by white men. Morales is half-black and half-Puerto Rican and he and his mom speak both English and Spanish throughout the movie. As an Asian-American myself, I thought this was a nice acknowledgement of racial diversity.
Morales and his father get along, and his father becomes a source of motivation for the young hero.
“I see this spark in you. It’s amazing. Whatever you choose to do with it, you’ll be great,” he tells Morales. This fatherly advice shapes him while he grows up.
All the spider heroes have come together for one big mission. The film’s main villain, the Kingpin, accidentally warps all of the Spider-Men in one universe through an evil portal while he is trying to save his own family. The heroes have to travel back to their original homes through that same portal before it collapses.
Peter Parker (Chris Pine), Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), and Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) have to also defeat other villains, such as Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin.
The animation style is very reflective of a comic book. The writers used onomatopoeia to make the action scenes come to life with words like “pow” and “bam” lighting up the screen with every punch.
Each protagonist, while essentially the same Spider-Man in their own respective universes, still brought a distinct aspect of the character to the movie, which eliminated any chance of redundancy and allowed fans to view the story from new perspectives.
It’s not necessary to see the other Spider-Man movies in order to experience the ride that is “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” though it is more enjoyable if you do. As a film, it is one of my all time favorites and I genuinely think any comic book or superhero fan will adore this. The vibrant characters and story brought a fresh perspective to an already fan-favorite classic, giving us a new spin on the Spider-Man we all know and love.
