“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”: A Fresh Take on an Iconic Hero

Everyone in the world knows who Spider-man is. Unless you’ve been living in a world without movies, TV, social media, and the Internet, then you’re at least familiar with basic Spider-man lore. You probably recognize the costume, the radioactive spider bite, the death of Uncle Ben, the ever-quotable “With great power comes great responsibility” line.

The point is: You know Spider-man. Because of the prevalence of his brand in popular culture, pretty much everyone is familiar with the iconic hero.

In fact, some fans have even expressed fatigue from all the Spider-man media coming out. Spider-Man: Homecoming came out only two years ago. Avengers: Infinity War, which came out just this year, heavily featured Spider-man. Venom (who originally made his debut as a Spider-man villain) just had his own movie a few months ago. Spider-man has his own animated shows, and his character makes appearances in various media.

So, why does Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse need to exist?

Well, let me tell you: This isn’t a movie about the Spider-man you know.

 

I’ll admit that, when I first heard about Into the Spider-Verse, I was skeptical. Even though I’m a casual fan of everyone’s favorite wall-crawler, I didn’t think anyone really needed this movie.

“Why does Spider-man get so many movies?” I thought to myself. “Why can’t they make movies about other characters who haven’t already gotten as much attention?”

And the trailer didn’t do much to change my thoughts. By adding more than one Spider character, it initially seemed to me like they were just trying to cram in as many new merchandising opportunities for the famous wall-crawler.

Now that I’ve watched the film, I have to say: I AM SO GLAD TO BE WRONG.

 

Well, the part about creating merchandising opportunities wasn’t wrong. But I was wrong in thinking that this was just going to be a formulaic take on Spidey lore but with Miles Morales instead of Peter.

I watch A LOT of movies, and many of the movies I watch happen to be superhero films. So, I know the usual character and story beats that superhero movies make. Into the Spider-Verse somehow manages to avoid being a formulaic film simply by embracing its comic book roots.

 

I want to talk about the animation, which is so different from the animation style we see often. Looking like a combination of CGI, comic book artwork, and visions you see during an acid trip (I mean that in the best possible way, trust me hahaha), the distinctive animation of Into the Spider-Verse immediately sets itself apart from other films, superhero and animated alike.

The animation style isn’t meant to look too realistic or cartoon-y (although the film does feature an anthropomorphic pig with spider powers called Peter Porker). It’s meant to evoke the frenetic action and dynamism present in a comic book. You can see the detail and care the creators put into the movie through the split-screen panels, eye-popping visuals, and energetic action scenes.

Much like the care and love put into the visuals, the character work was also well done. In the first few scenes, I immediately loved Miles Morales. I was already familiar with the fan-favorite character through his appearances in other media but I never felt much of a connection to him.

In this movie, he was unequivocally the star. He’s the kid who’s just trying to get through school and fit in with his peers. He’s immediately relatable and likable.

Then, we also get to meet a much different version of the Peter Parker we know and love. Peter in Into the Spider-Verse is a divorced, (seemingly) unemployed, middle-aged man with a beer belly who seems to have lost his purpose in life. Upon meeting Miles, a young and untested Spider-man, he finally finds a new role: that of a mentor.

The mentor-trainee/surrogate father-son relationship between Peter and Miles is what drives the movie. But there are plenty of other affecting relationships in the movie as well. There’s Miles’ strained relationship with his dad (a policeman who dislikes vigilantes), Miles’ close relationship with his uncle (who *mild spoiler* ends up playing a fairly important role in the plot) Peter’s broken marriage with MJ, and Miles’ budding flirtationship with Gwen.

Each character is fleshed out and given room to breathe. Even the main villain, Kingpin, is given an interesting and personal motivation for his evil scheme. Bit players like the different Spider characters (like the aforementioned Spider-Ham, Peni Parker (a Japanese girl from an anime universe), and Spider-man Noir (who is from a black-and-white crime thriller dimension) are given distinctive styles, personalities, and backgrounds.

At the end of the day, the characters are really what make this movie great. Boasting action, humor, heart, and a fresh take on an iconic hero, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a family-friendly superhero film that even people who are tired of Spider-man (and superheroes in general) will enjoy.

I hope y’all go see this film. It’s among the top 3 best superhero films of the year (and it has tough competition!).

Well, there you have it! Let me know what you thought of the movie by sharing your feedback on the comments!

“Wonder Woman” is the hero we need right now

Although I’ve always been more of a Marvel fan than a DC fan (mostly because my introduction to superheroes came primarily from movies and animated shows rather than comic books), I really have been rooting for the DCEU to come into its own because (1) I love superhero films, and (2) DC has a lot of great heroes in its stable.

When I first heard that DC was planning on making a “Wonder Woman” movie, I rejoiced. Wonder Woman is one of the most iconic and popular superheroes so why shouldn’t she have her own movie?! If Batman, Superman, and Spider-man can have multiple big screen versions, why shouldn’t Wonder Woman get a franchise of her own?

Anyway, now that Diana’s solo movie has finally debuted, I’m happy to report that, despite the fact that it took so long for this movie to get made, “Wonder Woman” is most definitely worth the wait!

“Wonder Woman” is the story of Diana (Gal Gadot), the princess of Themiscyra, an island inhabited by female warriors called Amazons. Her mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) molded her from clay and prayed to Zeus to bring her life. Being the only child in the entire island (and the daughter of the queen) meant that Diana lived a very sheltered life, unaware of the dangers that lurked beyond the borders of their island paradise. Nevertheless, when an American soldier named Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) accidentally crash-landed his plane in their realm and made her aware of the war going on in the man’s world, Diana knew that she had to help them and that she had to find a way to prevent more innocent people from getting killed.

I’ve always thought that what made DC’s superheroes stand apart from Marvel’s is the fact that they work best when they are portrayed as symbols and ideals to aspire to. For me, Marvel heroes seemed more human, grounded, messy and flawed while DC heroes seemed like they were created to represent the best that humanity has to offer. The “Wonder Woman” movie is at its best whenever it embraces this.

Diana is both a fighter and a pacifist, a princess and a servant, a realist and an optimist. Gal Gadot manages to portray the duality of Diana’s nature magnificently well. She exudes elegance, competence, and compassion.

While Diana is most definitely not perfect (she can often be naïve and bull-headed), much like other DC heroes (Superman in particular), she is an inspiring figure. Her story and character arc in this movie feel very relevant to the current political climate in our country.

Human beings are complicated. We are all of the same species but we are all so different. We tend to do terrible things to our fellow humans.  By the end of the movie, Diana finally understands that humanity is not as black-and-white as she had been led to believe.

We often hear of corruption, poverty, war, terrorism, and crime. We are privy to all the darkness that exists in the world so I don’t blame people for growing cynical and weary but, as Diana soon realizes, humanity is not beyond hope.  Yes, we are capable of such great cruelty and hatred BUT, in the same vein, we are also capable of great kindness, empathy, compassion, and love.

I highly recommend that you go see “Wonder Woman” in the theaters. Not only is it a fun, entertaining origin story but it also has a great central message that relates well to the state of the Philippines (and of the world, really).

“Wonder Woman” is, to me, the best DCEU movie so far and one of the best superhero movies period. As for Diana, as said in the movie, we really don’t deserve her… but she truly is the hero we need right now.