A Must-See Comic-Book!

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2019)

Every single trailer that was released for this movie stunned me, largely due to the staggering comics-inspired visuals. But I was trying as hard as I could to lower my expectations for the movie, as I was quite possibly sure that a movie with many "spider people" in it like this would be a total mess. The reviews came out calling the movie one of, if not the greatest Spider-Man movie ever made! I was still has my same worries; but I was so glad it gained such awesome reviews, for I really had thought the movie would be a critical failure. (I mean, It's produced by Sony Pictures Animation after all!)
First things first, the eye-popping visuals I've seen a glimpse of from the trailers didn't disappoint. As a matter of fact, the animation looks even better than I expected it to be. The insanely inventive visual style of this movie is unlike any other film ever made; It's simply groundbreaking! Plus, the movie could have easily felt more self-indulgent than clever due to the eye-poppingly opulent visual style that embraces the aesthetics of its comic-book roots; but the movie's substance is as much as it's style. The action set-pieces are quite staggering and innovatively designed; those of Incredibles 2 really pale in comparison to what I found in this movie! But the quick-frame animation also does something spectacular for the action sequences. It made the action looks pretty fast and uniquely slick.
While the movie's unique aesthetic was the thing that made me interested in watching the movie in the first place; the thing that amazed me is the unorthodox and unprecedented way the movie captured the anxiety and panic of gaining superpowers and becoming a superhero. I know it seems weird and quite silly when I say that I felt that I was feeling what Miles Morales felt when he discovered that he became a superhero for the first time! The movie shows us how "With great power comes great responsibility" instead of making us hear it over and over. Of course, the visuals added a lot to this point in particular; but it's Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman's astute and extremely clever script that made Morales a fully-fledged, and quite relatable character by putting him in both internal and external conflict. Nothing feels exceptional or new in the character's arc, and you could easily sense the familiarity of the phases our protagonist go through; but the innovative storytelling that enriches the plot as well as the main character made up for that. Although they are not fully-developed and fleshed-out as much as I hoped; The other "spider people", are utilized quite well, they fit perfectly in the story, and every single one of them has their own personality, its own character, and that made each one of them adds something different to the humor of the movie, which is, by the way, quite brilliant! That's more than enough for me, especially since the overabundant storylines and characters were my biggest concerns about this movie before watching it. They could have hampered the narrative and made the movie a complete mess like I had expected; but they didn't, and everything was surprisingly cohesive.
There is no doubt that the subtle humor played an important in making the storylines feel coherent; but the unparalleled realization of the idea of... well, the parallel worlds and the multiverse is really the thing that glued all the different sub-plots and storylines together, and made what seems implausible on paper quite compelling and cogent.
The villain, Kingpin is, sadly, the worst thing in this movie. His character is underutilized, underdeveloped, and kinda dumb and stupid! It's really disappointing, as Netflix's Daredevil's Kingpin is one of my favorite comic-book villains I've ever seen being depicted on screen. Besides that I already knew his background very well, the movie did nothing but giving us every once in a while a glimpse or a peak of Kingpin's back-story, and hence his motivations, and this was very perfunctory, especially for those who introduced to this character for the first time. Adding insult to injury, the short scenes that concern Kingpin are scattered and annoyingly intrusive. The fact that Kingpin is quite brainless is totally out-of-place. I mean, the movie is way too smart and clever to have a villain like this that kept giving the protagonist enough time to defeat him until the very end!
Overall, Miles Morales has an unforgettable big-screen debut thanks to a compelling adventure story with innovative and clever storytelling, ground-breaking (and hopefully revolutionary) striking visuals and risk-taking animation style, and strong vocal performances from the entire cast. The well-deserved Oscar winner, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is hands down the best animated movie of 2018!
(8.5/10)