Review of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) by Filipeneto — 02 Feb 2020

Truly original.

I thought I had seen almost everything I could see in relation to Spider-Man, because he is one of those characters who insists on returning to the cinema with some regularity. To make matters worse, the industry, and particularly Marvel, flooded theaters with films about cartoon characters, from the most famous to the most obscure, and this became repetitive, trivializing the genre.

But this film has nothing to do with the others. In fact, instead of following the path of ultra-realism that other animated films have followed or limited to being a spin-off or reissue of the character's story, the film transports us totally to the world of comic books, assuming for you that stylized look that these publications have, and bringing a totally new and different story, with an African American Spider-Man who tries to succeed the original, after witnessing his death, and save the world from destruction with the help of several versions of the hero from various parallel universes. Even the famous Spider Pig (even those who have never seen the Simpsons know) will appear!

The film features several famous actors who give the voice to the various characters (Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Mahershala Ali, Hailee Steinfeld, Nicolas Cage etc.) and is visually impressive, full of effects taken from the comic books on paper and a CGI state-of-the-art. The sound is also impressive, both in the action scenes and in relation to the soundtrack, where Hip Hop and suburban rhythms predominate. The pace of the film is quite fast, with breathtaking scenes.

I had little expectations when I went to see this film, but I have to admit that it is truly exceptional. However, it turns out to be so bold and so different from the ordinary that this can make it indigestible to some audiences.