Spider-Man:Into the Spiderverse is,in a word, stunning
The hypnotizing visual effects, killer soundtrack and comic book text just add to a surprisingly new story for Marvel. Gone are the days of incredulously muscular superheroes knocking out the bad guys while simultaneously winning the girl. It is 2018, and viewers want new heroes that they can relate to. And that radically new hero is… Spider-Man?
You know the story. Boy gets bitten by radioactive spider,watches Uncle Ben die, fights crime in the Big Apple, falls in love with M.J.(or Gwen in his younger days), and lives pretty much as happily ever after as asuper hero can. Into the Spiderverse challenges practically every detail of Spider-Man’s familiar origin story, as six different Spider-people wind upin the same universe to kick some Kingpin butt. The kooky cast of Spider-characters include a ballerina, an anime tech-genius with an adorable robot partner, a Spider-Man past his prime, a gravelly detective, and a Simpsons-worthy animated Spider-pig.
This movie, albeit another Spider-Man film, just feels new.Each scene is bright and colorful – a stark contrast to Marvel’s other biggest hits this year, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. Comic panels and speech bubbles embellish the film, in a fashion that Stan Lee himself would have been proud of. Onomatopoeic BOOMs and POWs adorn the film’s fight scenes, reminding viewers that these stories were told in print long before reaching the silver screen. Even the character shading is reminiscent of super heroic graphic narratives, as bold black lines outline every character’s most distinct facial features. Into the Spiderverse feels more like reading a comic book than watching a movie, and it works well.
The main character of Into the Spiderverse is new to Marvel too. Miles Morales first appeared in Ultimate Comics in 2011 and is known for being the first African-American Spider-Man. Miles, like Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man (in Spider-Man: A Homecoming and Avengers:Infinity War), is a teenager, and must navigate social perils as well as life-threatening ones. The biggest challenges in Miles’ life come from transferring to a new school, and, of course, being bitten by a radioactive spider. Miles is not the only super-person in his family though, as the film later reveals that Miles’ uncle, Aaron Davis, is Prowler. Uncle Aaron is a parallel to Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben – so don’t get too attached to him when watching this film.
If you have a chance, see Into the Spiderverse in theaters. The movie itself is too brilliant to waste on a laptop or television screen. I wouldn’t spend extra money for the 3D version, as the “normal”version of the film is fantastic, and because I didn’t notice too many scenes that would seem any more interesting in 3D. Make sure you stay for the end-credit scene to get a glimpse of a popular Spider-Man meme on the big screen, and for a moving quote by this dimension’s hero, Stan Lee.
Kristin Gustafson is a senior Creative Writing major at Otterbein University. Her favorite character in the MCU is Deadpool and her favorite fantasy series is Harry Potter. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her dog, Nikita, writing poetry, and riding horses.
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