♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣
Miles Morales (Shameik Moore)
is bitten by a radioactive spider and starts adjusting to his new powers. Soon
enough, he witnesses a confrontation between Wilson Fisk (Liev Schreiber) and Spider-Man.
After foiling his plan to fuse parallel universes using a super collider in
order to bring his wife and son back from the dead, the Kingpin corners Peter
Parker (Chris Pine) and deals him a lethal blow. The young hero’s death is met
with trepidation by the people of New York, but they are not quite prepared for
what is to come, as a system glitch in the collider causes a ripple spanning
different realities. It doesn’t take long before different iterations of
Spider-Man are yanked from their respective dimensions into Morales’ own,
namely: Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson); Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld);
Spider-Ham (John Mulaney); Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage); and SP//dr (Kimiko
Glenn). Unprepared for the inter-dimensional dilemma facing them, Miles must
step up to save not just his world, but every other parallel one as well.
Sony seems to be faring better
than Fox as far as managing their mutants is concerned. Lending Spider-Man to the
MCU, they must now find a way to maximize the remaining properties that they
still own. We’ve seen three different Peter Parkers since 2003, adding another
high-profile one would further dilute the character’s waning impact. So why present
just one when you can introduce another half a dozen? From other dimensions! Whoever
came up with the idea deserves a pay raise.
It wouldn’t have worked had
they opted for another live action popcorn flick. Shifting to animation characterized
by a good mix of different drawing styles definitely added to the charm of this
particular Spider-Man narrative. It would have been fun to see Toby Maguire,
Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland in the mix, but perhaps the decision to keep
considerable distance from those iterations of the character is the best option
for the movie to be able to craft its own unique identity. And it does so with
style!
Miles Morales headlining the
movie is also a wise decision. Peter Parker doesn’t have a monopoly of this hero’s
mythology anymore so why not introduce a new one, right? At least we don’t get
to see Uncle Ben die for the umpteenth time. As a younger teenager, Morales’
Spider-Man echoes that of Holland, and by teaming up with different versions
of Spider-Man from parallel universes, the writers get to play around with team
dynamics without having to deal with complicated corporate issues as to who
owns whom.
The premise is unique in that
there is more leeway for creative license. The greatest achievement of Sony’s
team of animators is to come up with a product that can reconcile the
differences among the various Spider-Man versions involved not just in terms of
visual style, but also in terms of overall feel. For example, SP//dr is very
anime while Spider-Man Noir, as the name suggests, is very dark. Maybe that’s
also what effectively fuels your curiosity throughout the movie, convoluted
storyline aside.
The question now is whether
Miles Morales’ story will progress from here. Sony can actually use the
character for their Sinister Six project should they need a live action
Spider-Man to connect the dots, instead of borrowing Holland from the MCU or introducing
yet another Peter Parker. They have already established that there are
different Spider-Men in the wider Sony Spider-Verse anyway. The idea won’t be that
far-fetched if ever. The decision is up to them but for now, this has got to be
their best Spider-Man narrative yet since Maguire donned the costume in the
early 2000’s.
0 creature(s) gave a damn:
Post a Comment