Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a first on more than one front for marvel. It is the first animated film in the Spider-Man franchise and also the first Marvel film to feature Miles Morales as its protagonist. The success of this character led to his eventual introduction into Marvel's Spider-Man PS4 and later to have his own stand alone game Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. As well as this, it also focused on the "multi-verse" something that has now entered into the marvel cinematic universe and is confirmed to be a large part of the next major Spider-Man film Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The film follows a very young Miles Morales as he faces the rapid changes that come into his life after he is bitten by a more advanced version of the spider we are familiar with giving Peter Parker his powers. The film doesn't take too long to set itself up as the audience is already familiar with the Spider-Man universe and this makes for a very entertaining film that holds your attention throughout. After a sudden loss and unexplained power outage New York faces many new threats as well as gaining some extra heroes to help defeat their common enemy. These heroes are different iterations of the Spider-Man we all know and love taken from different parts of Marvel Comics that come together to create a unique but entertaining team. Like Miles, all have their own short but effective origin stories but the key difference is that they all have experience, something that Miles lacks at this point in his journey and this is an issue he faces as the film progresses, he must deal with the expectations placed on him by others.
There are many other reasons this film stands out from others. One of these reasons is Miles unique abilities. As i mentioned before the spider that bites Miles is a newer version than the one that bites Peter. This grants Miles with his own unique abilities as well as the ones we are familiar with. The two most notable are his Venom Strike and his cloaking ability. These give him the ability to use electricity to attack his enemies and to be invisible when it is needed.
Another reason this film has such positive reviews is its soundtrack and visuals. The soundtrack uses many talented and modern music creators to fit with Miles' younger age and helps show the personality of Miles throughout the film. The film also has many amazing visual scenes and uses its own comic book style to add to the films uniqueness and personality. It even alters the frame rate of scenes to match the style it is going for.
One specific scene in the film I want to talk about is the "Leap of Faith" the scene takes all the previous elements I have mentioned to create one of the best scenes in the film and in any Spider-Man film yet. The visuals and music used in this scene are great and perfect for Miles' character progression at this point. One of the most engaging parts of the film is the development of Miles' Character and this scene is the transition from a Miles who isn't ready for the pressure of Spider-Man to someone who is full of confidence. Some interesting things to pick up on in this scene is the suit Miles wears as well as the shattering of the glass as he jumps. The suit symbolizes Miles has found himself and is no longer trying to be the Spider-Man people are familiar with and instead be his own hero. The glass is one of the best additions to the scene and not something I recognized the first time I watched. The film is great at referring back to previous scenes and using them effectively to show change. This is done well during the final fight scene but in my opinion is done best in this scene. When Miles was scared earlier in the film his hands would stick to the things he touched such as the scene with Gwen earlier on, the name of the scene is also a reference to something Peter tells him earlier in the film. The shattering of the glass as he jumps shows that he was still scared and had to forced himself to jump despite his fears and embrace his fear in this scene. It is the scene where Miles finds himself and lets go of the things holding him back.
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