‘Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse’: Irreverent, Modern, Meme-y, Mashup Superhero Move Is Spectacular [Review]

The moral obligations of ascension are a huge cross to bear for anyone in touch with humanity. Voltaire knew it, Uncle Ben knew it, and so did Stan Lee. There comes great responsibility when taking the reins of an iconic superhero character too, doing right by them, but also weighing the demands of a restless, savvy audience that has already seen three versions of this role on screen before. Fortunately, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the ingenious, architects behind Sony’s exhilarating new animated film, “Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse” understand this acutely.

The duo’s thrilling, visually-groundbreaking ‘Spider-Verse’ film perfectly captures the essence of Spider-Man—his fundamental existential burdens and struggles—while blissfully whipping the character into its most modern, funny, edgy context for a new generation brought up on remixes, memes, and stylistic collision. ‘Spider-Verse’ is a kinetic pop fantasia mashup—the kaleidoscopic sensibilities of Takashi Murakami‘s dense, ironically titled, superflat art, propulsive EDM, anthemic trap (both the hip-hop and pop kind), chaotic dubstep and the irreverence comedy rhythms of Lord and Miller. Revitalizing the genre with is cleverness, ‘Spider-Verse,’ upends, subverts, even mocks the core Spider-Man mythos—tearing it all apart and throwing it up in the air with abandon— and yet dazzlingly sticks the landing when ultimately embracing everything that makes Spidey special. It’s also pretty spectacular.

By all rights, ‘Spider-Verse’ should be something of a disaster. It introduces the narrative clusterf*ck of a multiverse and half a dozen Spider-People from different dimensions. It’s wacky, sometimes bizarre, over-caffeinated, hyper-meta, almost aggressively psychedelic in its visuals, and yet, the film’s anchored by a huge heart, a soulfulness, even, and a true understanding of the emotional fragility and resilience of this character born from tragedy.

Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and comedy writer/producer/director Rodney Rothman (he co-wrote “22 Jump Street“) who co-wrote the screenplay with Phil Lord, the filmmakers behind “The Lego Movie” and the ‘Jump Street,’ franchise may not have directed ‘Spider-Verse,’ but their sensibilities and fingerprints are all over this movie.

‘Spider-Verse’ flips the Spider-script with a funhouse mirror version of everything you know about the web slinger’s lore turning everything on its side and playfully destabilizing the origin. Everything’s familiar, but astutely askew including a meta, holding-your-hand voice-over that explains how this tale is about a different friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It centers on young Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a Brooklyn-based blacktino teenager who eventually assumes the position of a new Spider-Man. Bitten by a radioactive spider, he gains similar powers to that of Peter Parker—plus a fight or flight response camouflage power and a bio-electric energy venom strike—and must suffer similar kinds of afflictions before he can face the trials of being a superhero. The son of a police officer (Brian Tyree Henry) who dislikes Spider-Man’s vigilantism that only really connects with his cool, black-sheep-of-the-family uncle (Mahershala Ali), Miles is a typical teenager struggling with identity, the voice of who you are, and the awkwardness of post-pubescent life.

But all life in New York is threatened when the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk (Liev Schreiber)—desperate to rewrite history and change fates—uses super technology and the genius mind of Lady Octopus (Kathryn Hahn) to open a portal to several different dimensions. Universes fracture and fold in on each other in the process causing Spider-People from other realms to transport to this world. There’s another Spider-Man, albeit spiritually defeated (Jake Johnson), Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), the Humphrey Bogart-ish 1940s Spider-Man Noir (a scene-stealing Nicolas Cage), the absurdist Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) and futuristic kawaii Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn). It would be easy for Morales story to get lost in the chaos of the ‘Avengers’ of Spider-Man, but the filmmakers keep their eye on the prize.

While learning the ropes of web crawling via his terrible Spider-mentor (Johnson), tragedy strikes—the heartbreak all Spider-People must face and endure— and young Miles must grapple with the price of heroism, life’s consequences, self-doubt and what it means to truly be a superhero. Complimentary to this narrative is the redemption story of Peter Parker, who’s essentially given up on the idea of being a hero because, in his world, he’s already lost everything. Broken and beyond jaded, through the inspiring story of Miles and facing death if the multiverse isn’t restored and the Spider-People return to their respective dimensions, Parker finds his purpose once more.

Something of a game changer both aesthetically and narratively, ‘Spider-Verse’ is an outstanding hybrid of cheeky, post-modernism that pushes the envelope of what you think a superhero movie should be and yet inspiringly soars in its ideas and emotional examination of courage in the face of fear and uncertainty. Its aspirational qualities— finding your voice and being the Spider-Man you need to be—are also quite moving. Audiences should absolutely adore this movie and kids of a certain age may short-circuit with glee. It’s arguably the best “Spider-Man” movie ever made too, including the Sam Raimi-directed films.

All superlatives aside, ‘Spider-Verse’ is extremely entertaining and a big win for Sony. The studio, desperate to squeeze an MCU-sized cinematic universe just out of one character, really screwed the pooch with the “Amazing Spider-Man” series, somehow dodged a bullet with “Venom” (a terrible movie that performed outrageously well), and had to give Marvel ‘Homecoming‘ so they wouldn’t f*ck it up, but they’ve pulled it off despite increasing the degree of difficulty.

Every stylistic choice is aces too, including the banger of a soundtrack that features The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Run The Jewels, Joey Bada$$, Vince Staples and a sweeping score by Daniel Pemberton that recalls the high emotional stakes of Hans Zimmer, especially in the third act, which is by the way, an insane visual symphony akin to a neo-pop clash of manga, anime and ‘2001.’

The anxiety of power masked with a sense of quippy humor—saving the world and living up to the demands of heroism—has always been the central defining hallmark of “Spider-Man,” a vulnerable humanity we can all empathize with. And Lord and Miller and their team have distilled and redefined the concept for a whole new generation. Entrusted with the great responsibility of this iconic character, Lord and Miller and the “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” team deliver an eye-popping web of delights that will leave you smitten and blithely ensnared. [A-]

PS, yes, there is a post-credits scene to stick around for and make sure to keep an eye out for some fun voice-cameos throughout.