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By Lorna Breen Over the past few years, our cinemas have been dominated by superheroes. Whether it is an epic Avengers movie, a spin-off for a superhero you had never heard of before, or a DC film that gets ripped apart by critics, there seems to always be a superhero flick at the box office every few months. Personally, I have grown a little tired of these films. While I always look forward to seeing the big-name heroes team up for an epic like Avengers: Infinity War (2018), I cannot sustain my excitement for all the spin-off films as there are simply too many of them. When I heard that there was going to be another major Spider-Man film, this time an animated one, I really could not believe it. This character has had his origin story told twice, with 5 movies released before he officially joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Holland’s take on the character had his own film, Spider-Man: Homecoming released in 2017 and has a sequel on the way. At this point, most people have grown tired of watching Spider-man’s beginnings and instead want to move on to more exciting and fresh stories. However, after seeing this film, I regret having my doubts. This film takes us into the “Spider-Verse,” where there are multiple universes. In these alternative universes, there are different versions of Spider-Man. It focuses on one universe where Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales, voiced by Shameik Moore, has his world turned upside down when he takes on the role of Spider-Man and learns about these different dimensions. The movie is self-aware, and repeatedly has the different versions of the hero introduce themselves, mentioning that they were bitten by a radioactive spider at the beginning of each of their quick origin stories. It is as if they are poking fun at the amount of times we as an audience have seen Peter Parker’s origin story played out in front of us. The lovable main character Miles struggles with his new powers and does not feel ready to take on the role as Spider-Man. His unwilling mentor from another dimension, Peter B. Parker helps him adjust to his new life. It was so intriguing to see Peter Parker, not as a high schooler but instead as middle-aged, slightly overweight and pairing sweatpants with his iconic costume. While the “reluctant mentor” is something we see a lot in film, it works perfectly here as Miles tries to follow his advice and understand that “with great power comes great responsibility." Then we have characters like Spider-Man Noir, a version of Peter Parker from the 1930s, Spider-Hamm who used to be a spider but was bitten by a radioactive pig and Peni, a girl from an anime-like universe who controls a powerful suit with a radioactive spider telepathically. In addition to these heroes, we see a version of Gwen Stacy take on the role of Spider-Woman. While this might seem like an overload of Spider-Men, these characters work perfectly together, each bringing something unique to the table and plenty of laughs. I personally found the humour in this film to be much better than the typical humour found in a Marvel film. The snarky one-liners in a typical Marvel film tend to fall flat at times and are often misplaced, deflating a lot of serious moments. However, in this case, I have never experienced an audience so amused by a Marvel film before. The jokes land perfectly one after the other, yet they know when to cut the humour too.
Not only is the humour good, but so is the action. Everyone who leaves the cinema after seeing this film says the same thing and it really is true: it is a comic book brought to life. It is full of bright colours, mimicking the street art that Miles spray paints throughout the movie. A scene which I think best showcases the stunning animation is the “Leap of Faith” scene. Miles has finally built up the courage to truly become a hero and is about to take a leap of faith, something his mentor told him about. This scene is gorgeous as we watch the protagonist run along the rooftops of New York at night and swing over the traffic below him as he realises who he is – Spider-Man. This scene solidified this movie as my favourite film of the year as it is such a breath of fresh air. It leaves you craving more films like this: films that are not afraid to take their own leaps of faith and try something different. It leaves you with the song “Sunflower” stuck in your head, too. Rating: 9/10
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