Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse ★★★★☆ | Movie Review

Synopsis


Bitten by a radioactive spider Miles Morales suddenly develops mysterious powers that transform him. In the midst of Wilson Fisk's plan a portal between dimensions opens and suddenly Miles isn't the only Spider-Man in town.


Review


I refrained from doing my review until I'd seen both of the preview screenings on at Cineworld. I had some serious issues with the visuals, and it turns out I wasn't the only one.

I want to talk about the positives first because there really are a lot of things to appreciate. The fact that they've linked the action so directly to the comic book format is wonderful. Having both the storyboard transitions, the lettering and the actual comic books involved brought everything together. Even the "little" things like Spidey-sense and the dot work overlay.

All of that took a back seat to the bizarre background elements at times. In the 2D showing in particular it looked like they were showing a 3D version of the film. The most distracting moments contained areas blurring into double vision, when it wasn't the blurring it just looked like some of it was unfinished.

Spider-Verse had some very good promos in the run up to the film. You see some amazing bits during all of that but luckily they held plenty back for the rest of it. We've already seen the "I love you dad" scene in the trailer, but the extended version is so much better.

Miles' story makes for a great centre piece. Every step of him trying to learn about his new found abilities is done in a humorous and well thought out way and give him a great opportunity to mingle with his spider-friends.

... And those spider-friends... you can't help but love them just a little bit. Noir is probably my favourite, he's taken a leaf out of Pocahontas' book in Ralph Breaks The Internet and has his own personal wind machine, and a confusing relationship with colours that make him a perfectly eccentric character.

Aunt May kicks ass. I can't deny that I'm loving this incarnation of her just a little bit. She definitely could have saved a few Spidey movies for me.

I actually can't believe that Spider-Ham has been in the Marvel Universe since 1983. He featured in a One Shot Marvel Tails originally that featured other Marvel hero parodies including Captain AmeriCat, Hulk-Bunny and Goose Rider. The series definitely requires some further investigation... particularly Ant-Ant, Croctor Strange and Nick Furry: Agent Of S.H.E.E.P.. Honestly there's no end to punny names. Sadly, this amusing back story doesn't save Spider-Ham for me, apart from the issue I had with the graphics he's my low point. He really is just too hammy for the storyline.

What you should do


You should definitely watch this one, there's enough amusement and action for everyone. For the older nerds, wait until the end of the credits for a scene that most of the kids won't understand but you'll appreciate.

Movie thing you wish you could take home


Having the ability to stick my hands to things wouldn't be bad. Climbing walls would be good, I'd never need a ladder to paint those hard to reach spots in the house... and I'd never drop my phone. Lots of possibilities there.

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