But then the old zig takes a zag.
Miles cop dad (Brian Tyree Henry) has great expectations.
But, cut off from his old friends at public school, Miles feels like an outcast.
Credit: Sony Pictures Animation
Hes a talented street artist, colorblasting spraypaint in shadowy subway corridors.
Spider-Verseis the first animatedSpider-Manmovie.
Asterisk that: firstentirelyanimated.
Spider-Verseis aiming for the opposite of realism.
The visuals take their cue from Miles graffiti and also tremendous inspiration from four-color comic book illustrations.
This is a fascinating 2.5D universe, with cheek outlines that look pencil-drawn on digital faces.
The characters movements have an endearing skipped-frame quality, halfway claymated.
After Miles gets bitten by a scientifically zhuzhed spider, his powers dont just change him.
They alter the look of his whole world.
A pulsating spider-sense ripples synesthetic percussion beats through his line of sight.
His thoughts start appearing onscreen in caption boxes so colorful you want to chew them.
When Miles debuted in the comics back in 2011, the mere fact of a mixed-race superhero was revolutionary.
(It still is.)
The Last Thing Spider-Man Should Be is Another White Guy, he stated then.
Typical Hollywood, taking eight years to catch up to Bernardin!
The decision to focus a film on Miles feels like an act of franchise throat-clearing.
Now Tom Hollands played Peter in three of the highest-grossing movies ever made.
Theres this as-yet-unquenched thirst to see a truly contemporary Spider-Man, is what Im saying.
And Miles is it, man.
Moores performance has a pleasantly tossed-off quality, sounding almost improvised amidst all the digitality.
But the look ofSpider-Versefeels fresh.
The wall-to-wall soundtrack is fun.
The first act successfully conjures a feeling of community and family history around its new superhero.
Youre encouraged, I think, to view this Peter as a spiritual avatar for the whole Spider-Man franchise.
Hes gruff murder-y Batman inBatman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice!
before doing something heroic!
Look to Chris Pines Captain Kirk inStar Trek Beyond, bored of the episodic life.
But its a bit of a con job, I think.
But you feel the buddy mechanisms grinding as soon as he agrees to be Miles Spider-Man coach.
(Can you believe they used to make movies where Peter Parker didnt die?)
The latter is voiced by Nicolas Cage, whose perfect line readings belong in a museum.
Do these characters sound fun?
And the one big action number that unites the Spider-people against an onslaught of villains is very fun.
Things spiral cosmic, and the storytelling spirals shaggy.
Am I being too harsh?Spider-Versehas plenty of small delights, and it looks unique.
(I liked it more thanHomecoming, and it sure as hell is better than theAmazing Spider-Mans.)
Scholars will notice some degeneration.
InSpider-Verse, Mary Jane worships Peter Parker, as everyone is expected to do.
I liked it more when we were all Mary Jane.B-
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