Who is going to step up and fill the spot in the next generation of heroes? If Sony has their say Miles Morales will be among that number and they set him up for success with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, an amazingly inventive film with impressive animation and a lot of heart.
What’s fascinating about this movie is how it repurposes the hero’s journey into the type of protagonist we don’t get to see. When we first meet Miles Morales (Shamiek Moore), we see him as a confident boy in his neighborhood with a love for rap music and art. He’s not the typical nerd that we’ve been presented with, and not just because of his skin color, fashion sense, or hairstyle. Miles is a brilliant way to dissect what it means to be a nerd. There’s already been a lot of conversation around Miles not being a lonely nerd type like Peter Parker, mostly from white people. It’s as if a line has been drawn in the sand, mirroring much of the other conversations surrounding nerd gatekeeping.
This movie really forces us to look past what our preconceived notions are. Miles is a confident young man and his hood but immediately put in a place where all that he knows himself to be is tested. He’s an outsider at his new school, his jokes don’t fly, no one else is “cool” like him, etc. That you can be incredibly lonely in a space that you should belong in is a hard pill to swallow. It’s a feeling a lot of people who look like Miles can identify with, you’re only as cool or accepted as your surroundings. Even when he gets the powers and purpose of being a Spider-person, he’s still an outsider even amongst those he should be in with! Everyone is an experienced hero whether they have a dad bod (Jake Johnson) or are a pig (John Mullaney), leaving Miles on the outside.
However, like all the great heroes, Miles has an intestinal fortitude that allows him to keep going in the face of adversity. Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse throws so much at the character and it all works. The script is whip smart, creating distinct character voices for everyone, not just the Spider-people, and brilliantly plotted. What a tough feat to give everyone a motivation that is worthy of the story.
But the big win here is for animation that breaks the mold of what animation can do. The ingenuity on display here is Laika level, using every aspect of the medium that you can and blending elements together. It’s like a comic book come to life but not just panel hopping, there’s a cinematic fluidity to this movie that rivals the best animated films of all time not just of this year. It’s jolt to the genre and a much needed look at what being a hero means in 2018.