[Opinion]

[Warning major spoilers ahead! If you read this do so at your own risk because you have been warned.]

Since 1962 Spider-Man has been a staple in superhero standards. About 40 years later Spider-Man swooped into theaters with his debut film, Spider-Man. Now 17 years and many iterations later, we get to see Miles Morales on the big screen, in the latest installment in the franchise, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”.

This movie takes on a new art style that we have not seen in a Spider-Man film before. This movie looks like a comic book with the colors that they use, and the way that every frame looks as if it were hand drawn.

“The way that they put so many things together and it all looked very fluid and it all fit. Take the Peter Porker character who is supposed to be old cartoons and that art style, and you have that clashing with comic book style like [Miles and Peter] it fits so well to where it was weird, because those two styles are so different, but they fit so well,” Robert Ruiz (12) said.

Taking on an art style that most people have not seen before, really grabbed people and did not let go until the credits were rolling.

“Into the Spider-Verse” dons a new character that we have not met before other than in the comics and Spider-Man for the PS4: Miles Morales. This is the origin story of Miles, and how he became Spider-Man. In the film Miles grew up in Brooklyn, and one day as he was doing graffiti in the subway, he gets bit by Spider 42 giving him powers.

“I think that they did Miles a lot of justice with this, because most people don’t read the comics they don’t understand everything about his character, so what they ended up doing was the idea with Peter Parker being Spider-Man. Having Miles become Spider-Man gives it a… broad appeal to a lot of other people. Because with Peter Parker he was not meant for him to be the Spider-Man and it could have happened to everyone, and the same goes for Miles,” Eric Greene (11) said.

The story has some mixed reviews with some saying that everything was very predictable, and others saying that it has some great twists that makes the movie even better. In my personal opinion I feel that the story had some great twists and turns with only somethings that the trailer showed off ruining the surprise.

In this film there are six villains, with Kingpin being the main antagonist. His main goal is to get his wife and son back after they were killed in a car wreck, after they saw Kingpin fighting Spider-Man (Peter Parker). Then in the first fight we see Green Goblin being very green, gobliney and wanting to kill Peter. We also meet Prowler who turns out to be Mile’s Uncle and ends up dying at the hands of Kingpin. After Kingpin’s interdimensional portal maker fails Peter Parker dies, but not after giving a drive to Miles that will break the portal maker and save the world. Then as Peter (from a different Universe) and Miles are getting a kill drive for Kingpin’s interdimensional portal, after Miles Breaks the first one, we meet Doctor Octavius, but a female version that is more psycho in my opinion. The other villains are Scorpion, Tombstone, Alchemax, but they are barely in the film so don’t worry about them.

Of course there is more than one Spider-“Person” in this film. In total there are seven. We have both Peter Parkers, after the first one dies the second Peter comes from a different Universe and shows Miles how to be Spider-Man. Then we have Miles who is the main character of the film. We also have Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham, and Peni Parker, all of which come from other Universes, and all get their own quick back story that acts as comic relief in the film right where it needs it.

I could not write this review without talking about the music of the film. The soundtrack to this film is not your basic instrumental soundtrack. The film’s album featured artists like Post Malone & Swae Lee (Sunflower), Lil Wayne & Ty Dolla $ign (Scared of the Dark (Ft. XXXTENTACION)), and several others. This might not be a long album with 13 songs that only last 42 minutes, but this movie was not a musical so I can understand that. Sunflower has been on Billboard’s top 100 for 14 weeks now and at the time of writing this it is sitting at #3 on that list. This album is amazing and the movie would not be the same without it.

“[The music] felt very original and unique as if it fit,” said Robert Ruiz 12.

This is going to be a movie for the books because at the past Oscars the movie won Best Animated Film, and has won a ton of other awards at film festivals. If you have not seen this movie it is a solid 9/10 making it one of the best films I have seen in a long time, but if you don’t trust me you might listen to the some of the students of CTHS Film Club.

7/10 Robert Ruiz 12, “I think it falters in terms of story because I thought that it was kinda predictable, and in general it is still a superhero story so it can’t do a whole lot with that concept, but I think for a superhero film it is one of the best that has ever come out, it embraces what it is very well. I think that is the strongest aspect of it.”

9/10 Josh Steckler 12 (CTHS Film Club)

10/10 Eric Greene 11 “I give this a 10, easy.”

And if you don’t believe them then you might listen to IGN:

David Griffin from IGN gave “Into the Spider-Verse” an “Amazing” 9.0 saying “’Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ delivers a dynamic visual experience unlike any other.”

Also at the time of writing this the movie is sitting at a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes

[Edit]: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is now available on DVD and Digital.