James’s review published on Letterboxd:
Still my favorite Spider-Man.
The film follows Miles Morales as he gains his new spider powers and gets roped in to a conflict between multiple multiverse Spider-people and Wilson Fisk.
Well, with the upcoming release of Across the Spider-Verse (possibly my most anticipated release of the year), I figured I should go back and rewatch this masterpiece, and it holds up just as well as I had expected. I think one of the main reasons this holds up so well is due to its incredible animation. Instead of adopting the Disney, Pixar or Illumination style of animation which was (and still is) popular, Sony Animation decided to make this film look like a living comic book, panels and thought bubbles included. It looks gorgeous, with some truly creative shot compositions that seem borderline impossible outside of animation. The animation is also incredibly fluid, which lends itself well to the highly inventive action sequences which feature some really fun, trippy set pieces, especially in the film's climax.
Another aspect that still holds up well is the voice cast. Shameik Moore leads the cast as Miles, and I think he did a wonderful job here. Miles is ill-adjusted to his new place in the world even before the spider bite, so things only get worse for him after that. I loved his arc of learning to understand his place in the world and how to deal with lofty expectations. Jake Johnson plays the main multiverse Peter Parker, and he too has his own journey to work through. His story thankfully isn't just boiled down to a simple mentorship role, though that is a part of his story, it's far more about him regaining his footing, not just as Spider-Man, but as Peter as well. Then there's the always excellent Hailee Steinfeld as Spider-Gwen. She too has her own stuff she's working through, but the bulk of her story comes from her endearing relationship with Miles that I cannot wait to see get built upon with the upcoming sequels. Steinfeld brings a lot of heart to her role, and makes for one of the most memorable people in the supporting cast, which is saying something when you also have Nic Cage playing a black and white, hard boiled 1940s Noire Spider-Man, John Mulaney as a Porky Pig rip-off Spider-Pig and Liev Schreiber as a very nuanced, and borderline sympathetic, version of Kingpin.
Still, what makes this film work so well for me extends beyond the audio/visual aspect and into the plot and themes. Sure, there are moments of excitement in this multiversal conflict, but the heart of the story is firmly rooted in Miles' struggles with loneliness and expectations, both as a son and as a Spider-Man. These are themes that resonate so well with me for a whole host of reasons that I would rather not get entirely into. Let's just say I was a lonely kid who had some lofty expectations to live up to, and that feeling is crushing. It truly sucks, so it was cool to see that depicted on the big screen at a time when those expectations were largely at their worst (this came out around the time I graduated high school, when I had to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, where I wanted to go, who I wanted to be, all while balancing what my family expected of me). But, like Peter B. Parker says, you never know if you're ready until you take that leap of faith. Not sure if my leap of faith has, or will, pay off, but you have to try.
In the end, this will always be a special movie for me, and not just in the Spider-Man canon. Seeing the trailers for Across the Spider-Verse already tells me that I'm likely going to relate to it quite a bit as well, and I cannot wait to catch it in about a month's time.
