Review: Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse

 by Dinura Ranmandala

Boredom is a common feeling during these periods of lockdown as people are restricted to staying in home instead of converging with friends outside. I too am not exempt from this and the feeling of loneliness is a force not to be reckoned with. So to heal the wounds of fatigue, I’ve taken up some leisure activities which I would not have done usually during school days. One such activity was scrolling through movies unknown to me, where one film caught my attention, specifically “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”. I have never really  been a fan of Spider-Man myself but was well aware of the character and the impact he has had in the modern world and therefore I started watching the film with a bit of bias against Spider-Man within my heart. Oh boy was I wrong. 

The movie was a masterpiece and I felt like I was on a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the film. Each scene was handcrafted with different feelings and the animation seemed so hand drawn that it sort of felt like I was watching a high quality stop motion. The unique art style allowed to portray a story in a way that a live action film would never have been able to achieve which is usually the path superhero action movies tend to move towards. The sudden twists and turns really helps build the story and keeps observers strapped to their sofas. One part of this film that I really enjoyed was watching the character development of the movie’s protagonist, Miles Morales. When we first embark upon Miles’ adventure, we meet an anxious individual who just faces a new responsibility with a new school. When a radioactive spider bites Miles and turns him into the new Spider-Man, we are given the first hand experience as to how Miles will juggle being a superhero and living his ordinary life. The way the film presents this situation, is almost as if we are in the shoe’s of the main hero, a prospect most welcome. By the end of movie you can clearly see the stark difference in character development between the start of Miles and how he was portrayed by the end, with one scene clearly referencing to errors he made in the past and how he was able to overcome these issues but I’ll stop myself now as in order to truly get the depth of this scene you will have to witness it yourself.

I was truly surprised by this movie and I do understand now why Spider-Man is such a prominent figure. This movie deserved the Oscar it won back in 2019 as it captivated all those who watched it(including me) and truly set a new standard for animated movies. So if you have some free time and are feeling bored I would definitely recommend watching Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, trust me it’s a film worth watching.