So, just to recap, Sony Pictures and Tristar made one of the worst superhero films in years in Venom, then turned around and put out what may well be the best superhero film to date with Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse. Wow. How does that happen? Yes, very different teams worked on both films, but talk about tonal whiplash. Not having complete permission to use the Peter Parker incarnation of Spider-Man, instead the studio used every other Spider-Man they could find, and made a few more along the way. In a world where a hyper-competent and successful version of Peter Parker is a beloved Spider-Man, Miles Morales is shifting to a new Magnet School and struggling to define his own identity when he is bitten by a radioactive spider and if you don't know what that means, where have you been? Dying trying to prevent Kingpin from starting up an inter-dimensional portal machine, Peter Parker passes on the mantle of Spider-Man to Miles, who isn't even sure if he wants it; thankfully, Miles is about to get a whole lot of backup. Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, Spider-Man Noir and an anime girl and her Spider-Robot are about to bring together the greatest super team ever known.
Every frame of Into the Spider-Verse is a work of art, drawing upon several art and animation traditions at all times and all soaked with dot-shading and "Kirby dots" to create a visual feast that I can't recall any other animated feature ever coming close to. If you have a decent TV, just pause the film at random and you'll see it; I'd hang frames of this on my wall. And the way animation styles blend is simply astonishing, the fight between Penny Parker (and SP//dr), Scorpion and Peter Porker (The Spectacular Spider-Ham!) ranges from Anime to Looney Tunes to video games but doesn't miss a beat. Each character from a different art style (Noir, Ham and Penny) follow their own logic (Noir can't see colours) and it should be a mess, but somehow it works better than even the tone blending of The Avengers; seriously, I would watch 22 more of these including solo films, even just to hear Nic Cage say "real biscuit boxers" again. Drop a neon noir take on Miguel O'Hara in the post-credits scene and Spider-Man 2099 looks ready to drop in for the next one. Love every minute of this.
Oh, did I mention that Into the Spider-Verse is also a post-racial coming-of-age story with a mixed race protagonist and complex relationship with law enforcement? Also there's a middle-aged character trying to put his life back together after his extended postmodern adolescence broke up his marriage. Want more? Aunt May wants Miles to help her set up a dating profile and there's some heavy hints that she's queer, Gwen is a ballerina in a punk band and Kingpin is motivated by a broken heart. Holy shit, this film is amazing. I had a few Spider-Man (Men?) figures in my miniatures collection before Into the Spider-Verse, but now that collection is growing, because I just have to game it at one stage.
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