- Location: Cinemark Century Point Ruston
- If you had told me ten years ago that the best Spider-Man movie to date would be an animated film featuring a lead character of mixed race and half a dozen other Spider-Men and Spider-Women, I never would have believed you. Come to think of it, maybe that type of casual incredulity is exactly why it took so long for a movie like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to happen. Everybody knows that Peter Parker is "the one and only Spider-Man," right? Never mind that a teenager can't possibly be over fifty years old, although admittedly that teenager has died and come back to life multiple times. If ever there was a character who needed some new blood, Spider-Man is it. And I'm not talking about radioactive spider-blood, either.
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is fundamentally an origin story, but one that cleverly tweaks audience expectations. In this case, young Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is embarking on a new phase of his life at a magnet school located far from the familiar comforts of his neighborhood. Although his parents (Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez) are loving and supportive, Miles has an easier time relating to his rebellious "cool uncle" Aaron (Mahershala Ali). In fact, it is on a night out with Aaron that Miles gets bitten by one of those weird numbered spiders that New York has in great abundance. Before long, Miles finds himself sticking to the usual walls, ceilings, and hair, although he can also pull a few surprise tricks that the original Spider-Man never could. Incidentally, Miles actually gets the chance to meet Peter Parker (Chris Pine) in the midst of a particularly fierce battle against the Kingpin (Liev Schreiber) and his goons. Unfortunately, Peter only gets to pass on a few handy words of wisdom before Miles inherits the mantle of the new Spider-Man. Or one of them, at least.
- It turns out that Kingpin's shenanigans, spearheaded by a strangely familiar amoral physicist (Kathryn Hahn), accidentally snatched an entire set of Spider-Heroes from parallel universes. One of them, the potbellied Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), looks like the usual Spider-Man after a year's worth of Mondays. There's also Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), who's been hiding undercover at Miles' school until she could figure out what was happening. Rounding out the ragtag team of arachnids are the hard-boiled Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), the anime-inspired Penny Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and her mecha-style robot spider, and of course the Spectacular Spider-Ham, aka Peter Porker (John Mulaney). Sure, these last three sound like cheap comic relief, but the film invests all of its characters with such depth that it almost feels wrong to call them cartoons. (Even Kingpin earns a surprisingly sympathetic backstory.)
- Although the film's voice work and music are both excellent, it's the comic-inspired visuals that persist in dominating my thoughts on this film. More than any other superhero movie I've seen, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse succeeds in creating the impression of a moving comic book. Ben Day dots and line shading abound, boxy captions give voice to Miles' inner monologues, and the frame rate is dialed down just enough to emulate quickly turned pages. Deep down, I think we all know that it looks kind of dumb when a real person walks up walls or swings from webs, but it takes a beautiful animated feature like this to remind you just how uncanny live-action superhero movies often are. Humorously self-aware without irony and remarkably ambitious without overreaching, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse should by all rights mark the dawn of a new era in superhero cinema. In fact, the film's only real problem may be that it set such a high bar for its presumed sequel. With three directors (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman) and more than twice as many Spider-heroes on the job, I'm sure they'll come up with something.
- Also featuring the voices of Lily Tomlin, Zoë Kravitz, Oscar Isaac, and your old pal, Stan Lee.
- The post-credits scene shows Spider-Man 2099 and the original animated Spider-Man from 1967. Or so I'm told, because I'm not waiting in a theater through animation credits.
