Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Bryan Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Luna Lauren Velez, Zoe Kravitz, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicholas Cage, Kathryn Hahn, Live Schreiber, Chris Pine, Natalie Morales, Stan Lee, Jorma Taccone, Joaquin Cosio, Marvin Jones III, Lake Bell.
The infinite possibilities of the Universe are such that right now as you are sat at home looking at the weather prospects for the upcoming Christmas celebrations, staring out on the grey skies and persistent rain that runs down the bus window and steams up as thirty unhappy people heavy breathe and add to the damp and chill, or if you are waiting in line outside of a classroom, the boredom of the day finally getting to you. It is in these moments of existence that we hope there is another version of us having an exciting time, that they perhaps made a different choice somewhere in their life and are exactly who we hope we should be.
We all want to be the hero in our story, we want to be the one to save the save the day, or at least write our own narrative but as the maxim goes, with great power, comes great responsibility and it is one that sees us shy away arguably from being the greatest version of ourselves.
It is the origin of Spider-Man, one of Marvel’s, Stan Lee’s and Steve Ditko’s monumental creations, that the possibility of being greater than we are holds true, across many films, thousands of issues of comic books and graphic novels and cartoons, Peter Parker and his heroic alter-ego, Spider-Man have been what we perhaps could not be, a reminder to us that our actions in the face of adversity are important, that even if we cannot face down the trial in front of us, there is perhaps a universe in which we do, and in that we can take comfort.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse takes that situation and runs wild with wit and at times absurdity, but never anything less than good intentions to keep the momentum of Marvel inspired characters going on the cinema screen.
The film does suffer from slight absurdity, a comic relief too far at times and one in which the nature of the artistry involved, of the technical appreciation which comes with the pain-staking artwork at hand, could, and perhaps should have done without.
The idea of multiple universes is not a new concept, it is one that thrills and spikes the imagination, and yet for every Spider-Noir or Spider-Gwen, there really shouldn’t be a Spider-Ham, or even bringing the cross-genre art of Anime into what was essentially a very good and insightful film.
With great ideas, comes great responsibility, to take one of Marvel’s most iconic heroes and place him in such a story is fascinating, but that is not to say it would have worked any less as a live action film, in many ways and perhaps in another place, it would have done. We only have this life in which to see our true potential, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is a good enough reason in which to believe we can all be that hero.
Ian D. Hall