Sunday, April 7, 2019

On DVD: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)

The Academy Award-winning "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" may very well be a fitting coda to Brian Michael Bendis' nearly two decade run at Marvel.

It was Bendis, now at DC, who introduced readers to Miles Morales, a half-Latino, half-African American teenager, in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man a few years back, believing that it was time to hit the reset button with one of Marvel's oldest franchises. He did this with the Ultimate Universe, rather than the core Marvel Universe, although a later storyline would move Miles into the core universe.

"Spider-Verse", then, is a loose adaptation of the recent miniseries event of the same name that allowed Miles to meet other Spider-Men, as well as Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), and an alternate universe Gwen Stacy, her world's Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld). In the movie, there are two different Peter Parkers, both voiced by Jake Johnson (ex-New Girl), one of whom is a blond, the other a more typical Parker if you know your Spider-history.

In the context of the movie's plot, the dimensional rift that brings Spider-Ham and the others to "our world" is the work of a female version of Dr. Octopus, acting on behalf of crime lord Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin (Liev Schreiber), whose design was lifted from some work done by artist Bill Sienkiewicz several years ago. For Miles (Shamiek Moore), it's about pleasing his police officer father, but then, he also discovers his uncle, Aaron (Oscar winner Mahershala Ali), is also this world's Prowler, also working for Fisk.

Let's take a look at the trailer:



If you get past the loud, splashy effects designed for a 3D version of the movie (and also prompting warnings upon the film's theatrical release to protect viewers prone to sensory-created seizures), and get into the story, you let yourself in on a wacky thrill ride that not only emulates some of the live-action Spider-movies that came before it, but carves its own place.

Trailers on the DVD include the forthcoming "Spider-Man: Far From Home" and "Men in Black International", plus the pending DVD release of "Hotel Transylvania 3".

Movie rating: A.

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