New Spider-Man for a New Generation
- Jordan Csigi
- Dec 10, 2018
- 7 min read
This animated take on Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man run is an instant heartfelt classic.
You know how there's a group of people that say that Batman: The Mask of Phantasm is the best Batman movie ever made? Well Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse is filling in that role for Spider-Man fans when it comes out next week. I was lucky enough to be invited to watch a week early preview of the film and watch it with my nephew. Me and my nephew have an 18 year old gap between us and we both loved the film. I grew up with the 90's cartoon show and Sam Raimi films. He grew up with Disney XD Ultimate Spider-Man/Web Warriors and Andrew Garfield/Tom Holland MCU Spider-Man films. I am in love with this film and cannot wait to go again when it opens up in the next couple of days. There is so much things I got to say about this film, so lets start with the cast of the film.
The new Spider-Man AKA Miles Morales is played by Shameik Moore. You can see him in other projects such as Netflix's The Get Down and 2015's Dope. Fun fact: Shameik costarred in Dope with Tony Revolori who plays Flash Thompson for the current Marvel Cinematic Universe/ Spider-Man Homecoming. Shameik plays the role very charismatically with a very youthful innocence behind it. Miles Morales was previously portrayed by Nadji Jeter (Spider-Man PS4) and Donald Glover (Ultimate Spider-Man Television series). Donald Glover/ Childish Gambino recently played Aaron Davis, who is the uncle of Miles Morales in last years 2017 Spider-Man Homecoming film. In this film, Aaron Davis is now played by Mahershala Ali, who recently played Cornell ' Cottonmouth' Stokes on Netflix's Luke Cage series. The father of Miles Morales, Jefferson Davis is played by Brian Tyree Henry. Brian Tyree Henry is known for his work on Donald Glover's FX original show 'Atlanta' and is now in the process of filming the new King vs. Godzilla movie. In this interpretation of Jefferson Davis, he is a police officer just like he was in the 2018 Sony exclusive playstation 4 game. Back in the Ultimate universe, he was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent instead of a NYPD cop. Rio Morales, the mother of Miles is played by Luna Lauren Valez. You can recognize her from her work on Dexter as the Lt. Maria LeGeurta. Now for the voice actors who play Peter Parker: Chris Pine and Jake Johnson. The reason for the 2 voices is because they're from 2 different universes. The one that Chris Pine plays is the one that belongs in Miles Morales universe. The one that Jake Johnson plays is from another universe. Chris Pine is known for his role in the DC Universe side of films such as Wonder Woman(2017)/WW 84' (2020) and Captain Kirk in the J.J. Abrams reboot of Star Trek. Jake Johnson is known for his role as Nick Miller in New Girl and my favorite film: Colin Trevorrow's 2012 film 'Safety Not Guaranteed'. Jake Johnson's performance on Peter Parker is a weary veteran of the vigilante profession. The last person I want to talk about in detail is Hailee Steinfield's performance as Gwen Stacey AKA Spider-Gwen/Spider-Woman. Hailee Steinfield is known for her work in the Pitch Perfect movies, True Grit, Edge of Seventeen, and the soft reboot of Transformer: Bumblebee. Which also comes out this holiday season next week when Aquaman releases worldwide. She is also a very big Pop artist right now with songs like 'Starving' and 'Love Myself'. The main villain of the film is Wilson Fisk AKA The Kingpin. Kingpin is played this time by Liev Schreiber. Liev is known for his roles on Showtime's Ray Donovan and of course as Wolverine's brother/Sabretooth in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Yeah the very same film that Deadpool/Ryan Reynolds wished he never made. Aunt May is played by Lily Tomlin. You most definitely heard of her before if you ever watched The Magic School Bus because she plays Ms. Frizzle/Professor Frizzle. Mary Jane is played Zoe Kravitz. She also played another Marvel character in X-Men First Class as Angel Salvadore. The Spider-Pig/Spider-Ham (sing Spider-Pig like Homer) you see is played by John Mulaney. John Mulaney is known for his work as a stand up comedian and a writer on shows like Saturday Night Live. One of his creations on Saturday Night Live is Stefon which is played by Bill Hader on the show. You can also see his animated show he co-created with Nick Kroll and Adam Goldberg on Netflix's Big Mouth. The anime style/Overwatch D.va looking Spider-Girl/Peni Parker is played by Kimiko Glenn. Kimiko is known for her role as Brook Soso on Netflix's 'Orange is the new Black'. The black and white Spider-Man Noir is played by none other than the legend himself, Nicholas Cage. Do I have to tell you who Nicholas Cage is? Nah, I assume not but I would love to tell you if you're old and brave enough to check out his film Mandy which also came out this year. Fun fact: Nicholas Cage almost played in Tim Burton's canceled Superman film. If you want to know more about that, check out a documentary called 'The Death of Superman' by the late Jon Schnepp. There is one more voice actor that I would like to talk about that shows up in the very ending of the credits. So if you do not want to know who it is please scroll past right now. That person would be another Spider-Man from another Spider-Verse: Miguel O'Hara aka Spider-Man 2099. He is played by Oscar Isaac. Known for his work on films such as: A Most Violent Year, Inside Llewen Davis, Ex Machina, Annihilation, X-Men Apocalypse, and of course the new Disney Star Wars films (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi). Now that we're done with talking about the cast of the film lets talk about my thoughts of the film itself.
The film is really the ultimate fan service to fans of Spider-Man. Even more so than the live action films and even acknowledges them in easter eggs throughout the movie. The art style of the animation worried me in the trailers because of this stop-motion quality of the characters moving like as if you're watching a Laika (Paranorman, Coraline, Kubo and the 2 Strings) or any of the Wes Anderson animated films (Isle of Dogs, Mr. Fantastic Fox). There is also this 3-d effect that the movie does on purpose which makes some of the background visuals look like watching a 3-D movie without 3-D glasses. After watching the final product of the film itself, I can say it be overlooked. The movie is very gorgeous to look at and should be coming from directors who worked in art departments for Hercules, Mulan, Fight Club, Minority Report, Treasure Planet. The framing of shots and camera techniques are really well put together. One sequence in particular I really enjoyed is when Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) and Miles (Shameik Moore) are walking sideways on the walls in an alleyway. The editing techniques are also great with use of wipe transitions, match cutting and even comedic hard cuts. The writing of the film is top notch and due to the fact that it's written by The Lego Movie/21 Jump Street directors: Phil Lord and Chirstopher Miller. Them being the script of the film makes the movie really self aware of the audience and the history of Spider-Man and the superhero genre. Everything from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, Peter Parker getting married to Mary Jane, and even the meme culture behind the 60's Spider-Man with him pointing at himself and sitting behind the desk is referenced in this movie. The soundtrack and score is amazing in this film also. The score is by composer Daniel Pemberton. He worked on All the Money in the World, Steve Jobs, Little Big Planet, Black Mirror, Molly's Game, and is currently working on The Dark Crystal TV Series. The movie really is amazing and you do not want to take a bathroom break at all during the movie because its pacing moves pretty fast. Even if you blink you might miss a punchline or visual gag.
Earlier I talked about who I watched the movie with: my little nephew Tyler. We recently lost a loved one in the family this summer and it's been rough the last couple of months. The last time I've seen my nephew was at my grandma's funeral. Reason behind it being a combination of me being recluse for the last 2 years due to depression/anxiety and family complications. In the film and story of Miles Morales in the comics, there is one person he looked up to: his uncle Aaron Davis. I remember going to the hospital to see Tyler for the first time and even holding him as he slept through Waikiki beach. I was really close to watching this film with a friend of mine but fate somehow landed on me taking my little nephew instead who I have never seen in a couple months. I woke up very early that Saturday to pick him up and it was hands down one of the best days of my life. As soon as I picked him up from his house, we immediately bonded again. We talked about a bunch of things like sports, music, movies, and girls (he's a player already!). When I watched Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse, I went through a wide range of emotions connecting with the characters on screen just as I was with my nephew talking in the car. The movie's theme deals a lot with regression and is inevitably tied with inter dimensional multiverse traveling. Which happens to be my favorite genre of science fiction due to the fact that Back to the Future is my favorite film growing up in diapers. The movie is something special and truly a great achievement in animation and cinema with its amazing art style and direction. Voice acting, directing, editing, soundtrack etc. is all top notch and needs to be praised. I'm glad that it's getting a Golden Globe nomination but as of right now, it is my pick for best animated film of 2018 but I still got to see the other nominees to make a final decision. One thing is for certain is my score for the film: 10 Spider-Man thumbs up. So to commemorate my rating of 10 out of 10, here are 10 Spider-Man Thumbs up (Let's just count President Obama as a thumbs up).
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