Spider-Verse revives people's love for Miles Morales

Rating: 9/10 (24 December 2018)

A Review from a comic book nerd XD
When going into Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse I was very excited. I had been reading Miles Morales since 2014 alongside Kamala Khan, and while I never loved him as much as I loved Kamala I had always enjoyed the story of Miles in the Ultimate Universe. He felt different from Peter Parker as he was more grounded in his responsibility to his family first. He was never defined by some major death of a family member the way Peter was, but rather instead by the loss of his Peter Parker. He became Spider-Man to honor his Peter's legacy, and that felt like a solid motivation to me.
Back in the Ultimate Universe era Bendis was on a hot streak with Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and other street level heroes. This fine tuned writing really did well for the Ultimate Spider-Man as he would eventually create a really powerful bond between 616 Peter Parker and the 1610 one, and it was this relationship that I was elated to see get portrayed on the big screen.
However there was one major worry I had about this film, and that was the entire concept of the spider verse. I just never liked the idea of a billion spider characters all coming together in one big giant event, and I defiantly didn't want it in Miles's first movie when he should be the focus. It also made me feel like these writers didn't think Miles could stand on his own which also irked me. Luckily though in the film these other characters don't take away from the character of Miles Morales as the film still revolves around him. The other Spider characters are kind of just there to help felt the big bad, and because the film is still called "Into the Spider-Verse," but there not major. I did like Spider-Man Noir a lot, and also Penni Parker was cool too.
In regards to the animation for the film I felt it always looked pretty crisp and clean. I liked the style of allowing a comic book come to life in animation. It allows for it to feel more realistic, and for the colors to start to pop more. You can tell that the writers put a lot of love and care when crafting this film with the stylization in mind. It is something that is both amazing and spectacular. Pun intended. :-P
There is quite a lot in the film that pulls from Miles's story in the Ultimate Universe. I really enjoyed seeing Ultimate Green Goblin realized on the big screen, and his battle against Peter Parker was absolutely great. I also loved the death of Ultimate Peter Parker as it both dark and brutal. I literally started to have goosebumps in the theater when watching it. There was also the bond between Aaron Davis and Miles that was captured perfectly, and when Aaron died it felt like my soul left my body.
That being said despite my love for this scene I did find Aaron's death to be a bit problematic. It makes Miles lose some of his individuality in my opinion. And with the movie trying so hard to get us to see that Miles is more than a Peter Parker knock off the idea that Miles would need another major loss to define him really undercuts his development. Especially when we have a more compelling story to tell with his relationship with his Uncle were Miles is caught between the world of crime and the world of a hero.
Going into some performances I thought everyone did a pretty solid job. I thought Chris Pine's portrayal of Peter Parker was very original and a different take on the character. I found Jake Johnson's Peter to be absolutely amazing and quite memorable too. Hailee Steinfeild as Gwen Stacy was perfect casting in my opinion, and her friendship that she created with Miles was really heartfelt. And I can't wait for that to be developed more if we ever get a sequel to this movie.
Overall this was a exceptional film with a really heartfelt story. It understands what makes Miles a really compelling character, and was just a lot of fun to watch on screen, and so for that reason and others I truly believe that this movie deserves many accolades.