Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

It's been a good couple of years for Spider-Man fans, which is something of a pleasant surprise when you consider the radically different position the character found himself in just four short years ago. Cast your minds back to the winter of 2014 for a moment – Spider-Man couldn't help but feel like yesterday's news, what with the newly crowned Marvel Cinematic Universe dominating the screen, the Raimi trilogy already being something of a distant memory and Webb's attempt to restart the franchise failing to ignite much passion in anyone but its most vocal detractors. Things weren't looking great for ol' web head – and yet since then, we've seen the character make his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to much applause, star in his first good solo movie since 2004, make a hugely enjoyable appearance in probably the most successful and talked about film of 2018 and even star in his own critically acclaimed and highly successful video game. It's been quite the impressive turnaround – so really, I guess it's only fair that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ends continues that winning streak.

We follow Miles Morales, an Afro-Latino New Yorker teenager who (wouldn't you just know it) winds up getting bitten by some kind of radioactive spider and gaining superpowers. But this isn't your average origin story – after a plan to stop a dangerous experiment held by Wilson Fisk goes wrong, several other Spider-Folk are dragged into Miles' universe, all of whom will soon die from the side-effects of being in the wrong universe if they cannot get back to where they came from.

It's an exciting conceptual hook that helps Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse stand out amongst the crowd, but vitally, it's not a hook that ever threatens to overwhelm the film entirely. In fact, it could be argued that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is actually fairly restrained in this respect – it would have been easy (and I imagine incredibly tempting) to really cram in as many Spider-Folk as possible, but by keeping that number reasonable and ensuring that the real meat of the story centres on just three of them (namely Miles, Peter and Gwen), the film manages to perform a careful balancing act that ensures the multiverse concept neither overpowers the movie nor ends up feeling under-utilised.

The result is a film that manages to both have its cake and eat it too, indulging in all the fun weirdness that the multiverse concept brings while also telling a tight and well-focused story about a young man figuring out his place in the world. I had assumed from the marketing that Nicolas Cage's Spider-Noir or the adorably anime Peni Parker would end up being my favourite characters, but wonderful as they are it was actually Miles himself who ended up taking the top spot. But he's far from the only stand out character – virtually every other character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse leaves an impression of some kind, whether they be Jake Johnson's Peter Parker, Hailee Steinfeld's instantly iconic Spider-Gwen and others that would be mild spoilers to even talk about.

And it's funny too, which probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise given the talent involved – Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's fingerprints are all over this. They might not have directed it (that particular credit goes to Rodney Rothman, Bob Persichetti and Peter Ramsey) but one has to assume that Lord and Miller were very hands-on producers – it fits their style and sense of humour to a tee, filled with neat visual gags and open slapstick right alongside some character driven humour that never seems to miss, all of which only adds to the sense that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is an immaculately crafted movie on every level.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse bursts at the seams with innovation and heart, it's a movie that demands your attention from frame one and never wavers in its commitment to earning, so consistently, fundamentally great. Even as a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a fantastic movie that single-handedly justifies Sony's decision to hang on to the rights to the character. I can't see a film this different and daring coming into existence under the Disney banner, and if the price of that is the risk that Spider-Man could simply disappear from the MCU one day? Well, so be it. It's worth it, and I don't say that lightly.