Alex Merchant’s review published on Letterboxd:
Found myself substitute teaching comic book club the other week and put this on for the students. Normally I don't review movies that I end up watching at work because there's nothing like having to wrangle middle schoolers to skew one's perceptions on a film. But I'm making an exception this time because Into the Spider-Verse is one of my all-time favorite movies. So let's do this one more time.
Everybody in the club was obviously very familiar with this movie, and I think everybody was expecting the explosive success of the sequel. It might surprise you that the first movie only made $35 million domestically in its opening weekend. Spider-Verse started as an offbeat and niche effort which found its popularity gradually through word-of-mouth about how dang good this one is.
Comic book devotees will tell you that Miles Morales has always been an awesome character, but this movie really launched him into the mainstream as a beloved favorite. His origin story is told quite a bit differently from those, as several other versions of Spider-Man throughout the years of comic book history get launched into his universe. We have an older and more amusingly cynical Peter B. Parker who has let himself go since breaking up with Mary Jane. Then there is Spider-Gwen, a stylish take on Gwen Stacy as the wallcrawler and a possible love interest for Miles.
Much like The Lego Movie, Phil Lord along with co-writer Rodney Ratham play fast and loose with their worldbuilding and aren't afraid to get silly with it as we're introduced to characters like Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Ham. What's impressive is that the movie never loses its incredible sense of heart and the audience's emotional attachment in the zaniness. The movie is powerfully anchored with time-tested relationship arcs like that between Miles and his father, along with his new friendships with the Spider-people. Miles has to grow in confidence and take his leap of faith, which transpires in one of the most rousing montage sequences in cinematic history.
Into the Spider-Verse also has one of the most simple but brilliant takes on positive representation in superhero films. As Miles tells us triumphantly, "anyone can wear the mask. YOU can wear the mask". The Marvel Cinematic Universe only wishes that it could so elegantly and inspirationally show to us that our heroes can come from any background.
It goes without saying that Spider-Verse kickstarted a bit of an animation revolution, breaking the molds of house styles and encouraging studios to go more experimental. The more stylized looks of many recent animated movies is a breath of fresh air and we have Sony Pictures Animation of all studios to thank for it. The amount of detail that went into every frame makes for an endlessly rewatchable thrill ride.
Daniel Pemberton's score is also incredible and sticks in your head. And then there's the soundtrack. Post Malone's "Sunflower" got so popular that it's immediately recognizable by just about anybody, but the tracks are all pretty excellent and are incorporated into the film very organically.
Into the Spider-Verse was an incredible super hero movie when it first came out and it's still incredible now. There's still nothing like it and every risk they took on the project paid off and made for an unforgettable movie.
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