Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2019) Review

 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) 9/10

Hello everyone and welcome to one of the greatest animated movies to have ever been conceived. Into the Spider-Verse was released on December 14, 2018 with the directors being Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, and Rodney Rothman. This movie is regarded as one of the greatest superhero movies of all time and I have to agree with that. It’s not very often that you get a movie with this much love and attention to detail put into it, let alone a Marvel/Sony movie. Into the Spider-Verse hits different compared to other movies and I’m going to tell you why. Let’s begin.

This is an origin story for Miles Morales. After getting bitten by a radioactive spider down in Brooklyn’s sewers, Miles begins to exhibit extraordinary abilities. Wilson Fisk, alongside Green Goblin and Scorpion, kill Peter Parker and Wilson is working on a dimension jumper. This will essentially break the dimensional barriers and other Spider-Men from different universes will pop into Miles’ universe. This is the story of Miles taking that leap of faith and taking up the mantle of Spider-Man and putting a stop to Fisk’s latest scheme.

The story here is actually really good and unexpectedly gets deep and sympathetic. One thing I love about the movie is the cast of characters. All of the different Spider-Men were all great in their own right and I find it difficult to have a single favorite out of the group. Wilson Fisk was a great villain and his motive for breaking dimensions was very sympathetic and I couldn’t help but feel bad for the big guy. Olivia Octavius was also a great villain. Iirc, she wanted revenge against Spider-Man for killing her father Otto Octavius. The story itself is very nicely done and I love how the writers were able to incorporate such a large aspect of Marvel for this film. And the best part? It didn’t need twenty movies to build up the different Spider-Men. This is literally the first entry in the Spider-Verse series and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Serious props to the writers.

Character designs were cool too. I do have some issues with Wilson Fisk though. I know it's part of the art style, but did they really need to make him so huge with such a small face? The rest of the character designs were top notch. I love Miles’ Spidersuit. The way he used his spray painting to create his design was a very nice touch to the start of the film. I also love Gwen’s suit as well as Noir’s and Penni’s mech. I did find Goblin and Scorpion’s designs to be very strange. What happened to them? (they probably mentioned it in the film but I don’t remember). I’m not complaining tho; they looked dope. 

The art direction for this movie is astounding. The characters, the background, everything is so vibrant, colorful, and detailed. Massive props here. I gotta say it's one of the best looking animated movies I've seen in quite awhile. And the animation is extremely smooth, which is really weird to me. When I first saw the trailer for this movie, all the shots and snippets looked choppy af. I thought the movie was going to be in like 20 fps, but I'm really glad that isn't the case. This animation worked wonders for the action scenes. (I am well aware that they used less frames to make the animation more smooth. What I was referring to was the overall lack of smooth movement from the initial trailer).

The action for this movie was pretty insane. I was honestly expecting it to be fairly simple with a few exceptions here and there, but nope. Fights are smooth as butter, very intense at times, and absolutely insane at the end. Of course the best action scene goes to the film’s climax with the dimension jumper. All the buildings and vehicles flying all over the place was absolute bonkers.

The music is actually really good. The score is very well done, helping set the mood for the movie, and even had me emotionally moved near the end. Excellent work here. The soundtrack is hip hop/rap that matches Miles’ background. I will say, I’m not too hot on “Sunflower”, which became one of the biggest songs of the 2010’s.

Outside of minor details (such as Fisk’s design and one or two forced jokes), the movie is basically perfect. I honestly regret not seeing this film in theaters. I was so skeptical about it because I was worried it would be like the rest of the MCU. Marvel doesn't necessarily have the best track record when it comes to movies, so I'm glad that this movie blew me away. If you haven't seen this yet for whatever reason, please treat yourself to this. The movie is kid friendly, but touches upon a few adult subjects. It’s a fantastic film and I can’t wait for Across the Spider-Verse.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.

This is Zorgak, signing off.