Movie review: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is Miles better
Amazing. Spectacular. Superior.
All the superlatives that have been applied to Spider-Man comic book titles apply to this film.
Wanting to see it again is like giddily wanting to get back on a roller-coaster.
The difference between this and some attempts at live-action Spider-Man films is like night and day.
It is fresh, loose, experimental while honouring the legacy and unencumbered by laboured exposition.
Purely on a visual level, Spider-Verse is thrilling, as though you are being fired by laser through a million artworks.
This feels like it is a new form - a new level - of animation, with its mix of 3D and 2D animation, heavily leaning on graffiti art, comic books (naturally) and some of the wilder cut scenes from video games.
Fans of some Marvel comics will enjoy a number of character designs - there are a few deep cuts.
Considering an origin story can drag down a superhero film these days, putting five into one is daring.
And yet, this follows a new Spider-Man, the mixed-race Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), who is immediately thrown into having to save the city from being sucked into oblivion.
Luckily, he has some help from various other Spider-Men, most notably Hailee Steinfeld as Spider-Gwen and most bizarrely John Mulaney as Spider-Ham.
In a year that has produced some stunning superhero films, Spider-Verse is up there with the best and miles better than its recent distant cousin Venom.
In a smart move, Sony roped in producing-writing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the maestros behind 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie, to guide this latest Spider-fest.
On top of the visuals and action, it is also laugh-out-loud funny, thanks no doubt to the Lord-Miller influence.
Even the end credits are an experience - and it is worth sticking all the way to the end.
Sony obviously wants to keep a grip on this character, and if it treats Spider-Man like this from now on, more power to it.
RATING: 5/5
MOVIE: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
STARRING: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Chris Pine, Nicolas Cage
DIRECTORS: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
THE SKINNY: Teenager Miles Morales (Moore) gets Spider-Man powers as a by-product of an inter-dimensional experiment, which also brings a number of other Spider-Folk from other dimensions. Can they come together to save the city.
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