Shazam

       So I have to confess that I went to see ‘Shazam’ not really looking forward to it.  He is a silly character to begin with from the Golden Age of comics and the trailers left me thinking it was just a little too campy for its’ own good.  Superhero movies have spent the better part of the last two decades trying to gain respect as a genre and this seemed like a throwback to the cheesy and silly  B-rated films pre-2000s.  Now I will say that this movie is designed for kids and the humor and even some of the plot line can be unsurprisingly cheesy, but even with all that and the family fun, this film has a heart and even some genuine thrills.

Shazam (played by the boyish Zachary Levi) was originally called Captain Marvel back in the 1940s, but due to DC letting the copyright expire, the newly formed Marvel comics grabbed the name for one of their characters whom they also called Captain Marvel (taking decades to become the feature film that was only recently released).  Marvel and DC battled over the name for years, but eventually DC gave in as the Marvel version became more well known and DC changed the character name to Shazam. For those who aren’t familiar with the character, SHAZAM is the magic word which a teenage Billy Batson utters to magically transform into the “World’s Mightiest Mortal”.  

This is an origin movie like any other and like in all super hero movie, the super villain is introduced along with the superhero.  Mark Strong takes on the role of the villainous Dr Thaddeus Savana, who was rejected as a child by the Wizard Shazam ( Djimon Hounsou) when he deemed him not worthy enough to hold the power.  However, the embodiment of the 7 Deadly Sins saw someone in Thaddeus Savana who would be worthy to help pull off their plans for conquering the earth and so they used Savana as their earthly vessel.  The Wizard Shazam, desperate to find a champion pure enough to fight the 7 Deadly Sins, sends out a spell to find a worthy mortal.  Enter Billy Batson, a 15 yr old orphan who has been hopping from foster home to foster home in search of his real mother.  The Wizard imbues young Billy with the power of the Greek gods every time he says the magic word SHAZAM.  

The movie comes dangerously close several times to becoming a copy of the Tom Hanks film ‘Big’ with the ‘kid trapped in an adults’ body’ cliche humor, but the film still finds its’ fun and we enjoy Billy testing out his powers with the help of his crippled foster brother Freddy.  A lot of praise for Shazam comes from the fact that DC has left its’ dark noir vision that they have clung to for many years and is trying to have fun with the genre.  That being said, Director David Sandberg has his roots in the horror genre and some of the scenes with the monstrous 7 Deadly Sins are suprisingly horrifying for a kid centric film. Sandberg deftly balances the horror with  Billy’s foster group home family.  All his brothers and sisters are cliché cute, but it really works as the true heart of the film whose ultimate message is the search for family.

I will say that this isn’t my favorite superhero film... not even close, but it was a welcome surprise given what the trailers prepared me for.  With all the heart and thrills this film is based upon, I can forgive the campiness of the humor.  Given the subject matter, I don’t know how they could have done it better.  I’m going to give ‘Shazam” a higher rating than it deserves just from the sheer satisfaction aspect I took from the film.  

I give this film 3 *** out of 5

Shazam trailer

Us

      

       Jordan Peele’s sophomore effort ‘Us’ is so hard to review because depending on your individual viewpoints and biases it can be interpreted so many ways.  The only way it can’t be interpreted is on face value. Throughout the film one goes through the emotions of “What?”, “Oh, I get it”, “Uhhh?”, “OMG”, “That doesn’t make sense”, “What’s that mean?” And pretty much a dozen other feelings too numerous to mention.   I can’t say one will walk away from this film satisfied, but you will walk away thinking and talking about this film for a long time to come. Despite that nebulous praise, I think it falls a bit short of Peele’s debut offering ‘Get Out’ from two years ago, but ‘Us’ is something to definitely be proud of and I think seals Peele as a new “it Director” in Hollywood.  

‘Us’ opens in1986, complete with console TVs showing ads for ‘Hands Across America’ (do you remember that?  Then you are showing your age).  A young Adelaide Wilson is vacationing with her family on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  The tone is eerie and dreamlike as Adelaide observes the revelers around her. Adelaide becomes separated from her father while he is playing a carnival game and wanders into a funhouse hall of mirrors.  Peele shows his adeptness at creating horror and tension as Adelaide panics as she is unable to find her way out among the multiple reflections.  When the images in the mirror stop mimicking Adelaide our terror increases with hers.  At the end of the prologue, Adelaide sees something profoundly horrifying in one of the mirrors and we are left wondering what as we are whisked to present day.

The grown-up Adelaide (the beautiful Lupita Nyong’o) is grown and has a husband Wade (Winston Duke) and two adolescent children.  She has obviously moved on from whatever childhood trauma she experienced.  We realize Adelaide is not completely over what happened when Wade announces that he has arranged a vacation at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk with old friends of theirs (Kate Moss and Josh Tyler).  In a quiet panic,  Adelaide resists, but she is eventually talked into the trip on the condition they don’t go out at night.  Even with those conditions, Adelaide starts noticing coincidences, each small, but too numerous to be inconsequential once they arrive.  When finally one late evening, they are mysteriously confronted by another family of four in their driveway, they are taken hostage by what they come to realize are their evil doppelgängers.  A premise that sounds cheesy as I write it, but effectively done with horror and surprising humor in Peele’s hands.

What follows is the predictable ‘Survive the night’ horror trope as the family escapes only to realize that the whole town has been invaded by each citizen’s evil doppelgänger.  The film converts into a zombie film in the second act, but we never let go of the “WTH is going on?”, disorientation.  Peele shows his love of the horror genre with his mix of horror and humor that he obviously grew up with.  We see obvious clues and puzzle pieces everywhere of what is happening, but they don’t fit together easily for the audience… or at all. No matter what is happening, we struggle with understanding what is actually going on.

As the third act gets underway, Peele throws in the twists and turns.  He starts answering questions, but his answers sometimes confuse us more than we were before the questions. The new ‘Twilight Zone’ series is narrated by Jordan Peele and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the revelations at the end very much reminds one of that TV series.  There is a twist ending, but as I have said before, it leaves us more confused than satisfied.  Maybe that was the intention.  Your views and individual perspectives will determine how you interpret it.

No matter how well this film does or how it is received, Jordan Peele is no longer just a sketch comedy actor.  He is a full fledged Hollywood director.  Much like M Knight Shyamalan, Peele as a unique artistic vision that makes him a welcome change from current Hollywood cookie-cutter products.  I won’t rate this film as high as ‘Get Out’, but I will give credit where credit is due.  If you aren’t averse to horror movies, then I highly recommend you give this one a try.  It won’t blow your mind, but it will definitely twist it a little.

I give this film *** out of 5 stars.

Us trailer

Captain Marvel

After much hype and fanfare, ‘Captain Marvel’ is here.  Acting as both an appetizer for the upcoming ‘Avengers: Endgame’ in April and as Marvel’s declaration of having their first female lead in one of their movies.  I never thought I would say this about DC, but they did it first and they did it better with Wonder Woman.  That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy Captain Marvel and that I don’t think she is a great addition to the MCU, but the expectations were too high and the deliverables were too low.  Where ‘Wonder Woman’ exceeded ‘Captain Marvel’ is in that Wonder Woman did not dwell on feminism or trying to prove something, WW was simply the lead protagonist of an inspiring film.  ‘Captain Marvel’ wallowed a bit too much in “girl power” and trying to prove herself to the audience that a woman can be powerful (despite her protestations that she didn’t have to prove herself).  I felt that if they had minimized the social justice aspect of this film and enhanced her as a well defined and developed character it would have delivered more.  

Some quick back story; while comics have long been lauded for leading social change and diversity in particular, they still struggled in the beginning with it like the rest of the culture.  Women in particular were side novelties at best in the early pages of comics.  Their powers were more defensive or posturing than their male equivalent’s visceral strengths.  Many of the female heroes were mere shadows of male counterparts or worse just powered down versions of another hero like She-Hulk or in this case Ms Marvel (Her original name).  The original male Captain Marvel (technically ‘Mar-Vell’) was a rather uninteresting Kree warrior whose story I never truly understood.  Still, he was a cosmic level hero and was even considered Thanos’s main adversary.  Writers just didn’t know what to do with him, so eventually they just killed him off (‘The Death of Captain Marvel’ is a really good graphic novel if you are so inclined).  Ms Marvel was still around and with a sexist name at that, so eventually, in Marvel’s strive to create strong female characters, they retconned her and bestowed her with the Captain Marvel mantle.  I’m not a big fan of SJWs reinventing of characters to fit agendas (i.e. the female Thor), but this one seemed to stick.  Captain Marvel quickly became the lead female character in the Marvel universe, so it was only a matter of time before she got her own movie.

Despite the revamp, I still don’t find Captain Marvel that interesting a character.  There’s still a muddled backstory of her being a Kree/Human hybrid named Carol Danvers with vague and difficult powers to define.  In fairness to the film, I thought they did a much better job of defining her than I ever read in the comics.  So given all that and the fact that her cosmic universe backstory would be too difficult to explain in a 2 hour movie they decided to just jump in and leave it up to us to figure out.

The movie is set in the 1990s (I never really figured out why) and they do a great job re-creating mid-90’s earth, right down to the Blockbusters and Radio Shacks.  However, we start on the Kree home world of Hala with our future warrior Captain Marvel (Bree Larsen) now called Vers struggling with her amnesiatic past with only flashes of her previous human life in her nightmares.  The Kree are in a galactic war with their nemesis, the shape shifting Skrulls. Vers is part of an elite Kree military squad yet she still tries to prove herself to her mentor, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law).  We’ve seen the Kree race a few times in other movies and TV shows, but this is the first time we are introduced to the leader of the Kree dramatically named The Supreme Intelligence (Annette Benning…sort of).  An A.I. culmination of the greatest minds in Kree history, one sees the person they most respect when communing with it.  In Vers case, a mysterious woman from her nightmares named Mar-vell’. Yon-Rogg tries to guide and help interpret Vers communions with The Supreme Intelligence, but Vers is left even more confused after each time. Anyone not familiar with the comics will be completely lost, but you can still enjoy the ride.

After a botched rescue mission involving Skrulls, Vers is separated from her team and marooned on Earth in the 1990’s where she quickly uncovers a Skrull plot to infiltrate the Earth.  Fortunately and coincidentally (as conveniently happens in films like this), Vers runs into a cynical SHIELD field agent who turns out to be a younger and two eyed version of Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) along with his rookie partner Agent Coulsen (a welcome return of Clark Gregg). The film went for predictable laughs with the ‘fish-out-of-water’ routine, but the comedy fell rather flat I felt that Brie Larsen’s performance was a little wooden for an Oscar level actress, but overall it was fun to see Nick Fury’s backstory.  The film also employed many twists and turns to keep the viewer guessing who was the good guy and who was the bad guy.  Without being too much of a spoiler, I felt they emphasized the Skrulls innocence and victimization without really acknowledging any of their horrific acts they are known for (just my pet peeve as a reformed comic nerd).  

Vers best friend from her earth past and fellow fighter pilot was a highlight of the film for me.  Maria Rambeau is not just a side kick, but a stalwart companion and pillar of strength for Vers as she struggles to reclaim her Terran past.  Even more important for the initiated, we recognized that Maria’s young daughter Monica will eventually become a superhero in her own right and given the time the film highlighted Vers and Monica’s relationship, I would be surprised if we don’t see her debut very soon (‘Avengers: Endgame’ will be 20 years in the future from this story). 

Like I said, I didn’t not like this film (double negative intended), it just wasn’t one of Marvel’s highest deliveries.  For me it was just a whetting of my appetite for the upcoming Avengers finale next month.  Fortunately, it will save the audience the necessity of an introduction to Captain Marvel when she appears in ‘Avengers: Endgame’.  I will end on a high note in that the opening credits of ‘Captain Marvel’ alone was worth the price of admission.   Marvel decided to forego their traditional opening and gave us a touching montage tribute to Stan Lee.  As they said: “Thank you Stan Lee”.

I give this film ** 1/2 out of five

Captain Marvel Trailer

Stan & Ollie

         Laurel and Hardy was one of the original world famous comedy teams that arose to global prominence through the advent of the fledgling motion picture industry of the time.  At their peak (circa 1939), they were the preeminent comedy duo in the world.  I remember as a child, pre-Netflix, pre-DVD, heck, pre-VHS and cable, we would check out 35mm films from the library and watch Laurel and Hardy movies on neighborhood movie night.  They were my first introduction to comedy.  In danger of becoming forgotten through the passage of time, ‘Stan & Ollie’ tells the story of the final comedy tour of the duo in the twilight of their careers.  Steve Coogin and John C Reilly give Oscar worthy performances (even though they weren’t nominated) channeling Stan and Ollie right down to the minutest mannerisms.  Unfortunately, Director Jon Baird fails to deliver an engaging biopic that should celebrate this legendary team, rather he dwells upon the sadness of their fading celebrity.

For anyone familiar with Laurel and Hardy films, the opening sequence is a pleasant voyage of nostalgia, but after 5 minutes (and with no explanation) we are transported 16 years into their future as they embark on a British theatre tour in preparation for a movie that they are staking on reviving their careers.  I can’t emphasize enough the total suspension of disbelief as I actually believed the two actors were Laurel and Hardy.  Many times, especially when famous people play historical roles, we are always aware it is an actor playing a role. Coogin and Riley have the mannerisms and even look down so exactly that I would be hard pressed to tell the difference. I  couldn’t even tell that Riley was in a fat suit with prosthetics.  There should have been an Oscar nomination for at least make-up and special effects if nothing else.

As the tour commences, we realize that something has happened that has strained their friendship and they try to put the past behind them in order to restart their career.  It was interesting to see them interact having never seen them outside their vaudevillian interplay on screen.  On screen, Ollie usually plays the brains opposite Stanley’s almost simpleton persona.  In reality, Stan was the more business savvy of the two where Ollie was the reckless bon vivant.   A life of excess had caught up to Ollie and he struggled with a variety of health ailments that put his ability to do the tour in jeopardy. We feel Stanley’s desperation to make the tour work despite sub-par venues, shady promoters, and an increasingly fading outlook of the film project he was counting on. 

Everywhere they go, there is great love and affection for the two, but it is past glory.  It is not strong enough to fill theaters of even low level auditoriums.  They were expecting first class accommodations, but the reality of the fading stardom quickly sets in as they see the quality of their accommodations and even the inability to meet with producers.  Young up and comers like Abbot and Costello have taken their limelight.  As the pressure of looming failure emerges, so do their buried resentments.  Each had gone on with their lives after their split years prior, but they had never truly come to grips with the hurt both felt.  They tried to convince themselves they were merely studio actors paired together for films, but the reality is that they felt brotherhood for each other and the split was real and emotional.  The arrival of their devoted wives who were equally divided only exacerbates the situation.

The final confrontation between the two is heartfelt and dramatic and a highlight of the film.  It is both emotionally rending and cathartic.  Ultimately, the one scene is not enough to save the otherwise dour film.  So much more could have been explored and revealed about Laurel and Hardy.  To just dwell on the end without any context robs the uninitiated viewer of what they truly were.  They were pioneers at the dawn of global celebrity.  While we look back and wonder what the big deal was, for the time it was something the world hadn’t seen on a wide level.  They were the foundation for almost all comedy that followed.  The inspiration for countless aspiring performers.  That is what the film should have been about.  It should have been a celebration and not a tragedy.  I so wanted to love this film, but at least I loved the performances.  The fact that Coogin and Reilly weren’t even nominated for Oscars for these performances shows the state of the present day Academy.  If you have any nostalgia for these two, then I recommend seeing this film for a trip down memory lane. If you don’t have that, or don’t really know anything about Laurel and Hardy, then I’m not sure this is the best introduction to them.

I give this film ** stars out of 5.

Stan & Ollie trailer

Glass

              M Knight Shyamalan is a director for whom I have an unjustifiable adoration.  He has not had any significant commercial or critical successes since ‘The Sixth Sense’ and his career has almost been ended by a series of mainstream debacles where he even caused a Will Smith action film to fail.  All that being said, there are few Directors I have more respect for their artistic vision and ability. Few that I admire their skill to use the medium of film to express their art.  Shyamalan is an unparalleled storyteller and is capable of capturing nuance and substance, no matter what the box office craves.  His films do follow a formula:  the slow burn of exploring characters and rolling out a story, excruciatingly slow at times, culminating in a big surprise payoff.  He’s at his best when he uses his story telling prowess to de-construct the art of the story.  As a fellow comic nerd, his exploration of the comic art form in ‘Unbreakable’ connected with me.  He used this story 20 years ago to deconstruct comic book films before comic book films were even a thing.  Way ahead of his time.

Last year’s ‘Split’ was widely acknowledged as his return to form.  The surprise mid-credit reveal, that the main character was linked to the ‘Unbreakable’ universe caused fans to rejoice and eagerly anticipate the meeting of the characters of Mr Glass, David Dunn, and The Horde.  I think what confounded the casual movie goer about these films is that they expected a ‘super-hero’ movie when that’s not what these are at all.  If you go to ‘Glass’ expecting a major super-hero blockbuster, you will be disappointed. It is a character study and examination of what goes into making a super-hero mythology. In ‘Unbreakable’, Mr Glass (a brilliant comic art collector with extraordinarily brittle bones) is determined to find a reason for his pained existence. He is convinced that comics were based on exaggerated reality. He reasoned that if someone like him existed, then there must be others.  He fashioned himself a super-villain and his mass homicidal tendencies landed him in a psychiatric prison. 

The film opens 20 years after 'Unbreakable' with David Dunn (Bruce Willis) now patrolling the streets using his power of intuition to capture bad guys. This power leads him to the multi-personaged Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), who had kidnapped a group of girls to feed his “Beast”.  Their confrontation lands both David and Wendell in the same psychiatric hospital as Mr Glass (Samuel L Jackson) and in the care of Dr Staple (Sarah Paulson), a clinical psychologist who specializes in patients who believe they have extraordinary abilities.  Dr Staple’s sole goal is to understand why these three think they have super powers and hope to cure them of their delusion.  

I will repeat from my review of ‘Split’ that James McAvoy deserves an Oscar for his portrayal of Wendell Crumb. McAvoy flows seamlessly in and out of characters, each with a distinct identity (and sometimes with different languages).  He reveals himself for the true actor he is.  However, the star of every super-hero film (even this one) is the villain.  Jackson’s damaged Mr Glass is a true mastermind and he sees the arrival of Dunn and Crumb as part of a larger story unfolding.  Demented or not, Glass is an inspired genius whose sole goal is to see the culmination of the story with a climatic battle between Dunn and Crumb (or as he prefers, The Overseer and The Horde).  The fact that life is rolling out like a comic book story gives him his raison d’être. If what he believes is true then he understands that his existence was not a mistake.

I won’t go into anymore of the storyline as anyone who knows anything about Shyamalan films, its all about the subtle twists and turns.  It’s about the surprise of reality not being what we expected or thought.  For a comic nerd such as myself it was a delight to see Mr Glass's reality through his prism of comic book expression.  He planned and understood events through how the stories he loved so much played out.  The characters are without a doubt extraordinary, but are they super-hero level.  Dr Staple examines this and causes the characters, and the audience, to doubt if this is indeed the case.  I say characters, but Mr Glass is the only one with the intellectual fortitude to believe he is exactly who he believes himself to be.

Again, don’t go to this expecting a fast paced, big budgeted super-hero film.  Shyamalan is a Director from a bygone age when Directors expressed their artistic vision and storytelling as opposed to churning out big studio inspired formula films. I’m not sure why the critics haven’t been kind to this film as I had nothing but respect and admiration.  I don’t think this film is for everyone, but if you like M Knight Shyamalan you won’t be disappointed

I give this film *** 1/2 stars out of 5

Glass trailer

Aquaman

       I so wanted ‘Aquaman’ to be great.  It was getting so much hype as the savior of the DC extend universe that I should have known  it would never live up to the hype.  DC is smacking of desperation with putting so much pressure on each new offering to repeat the success they had with Wonder Woman.  In fairness, films like Batman vs Superman and Justice League have made money, but they aren’t capturing the hearts and minds of fans the way Marvel movies have.  It shows there is a built in audience thirsting for these films to be good, but once again, studio heads trying to replicate and copy the Marvel business model have no idea what connects super heroes to fans.  You can see them trying hard by throwing explosions, and great battle scenes, and humor, and over proportioned heroes, but what they lack is the character depth and humanity that Marvel captures in each one of its’ characters.  Marvel puts story first, then builds all the fun around it.  People who don’t connect with the super hero world don’t realize that and just focus on the superficial.  It’s not about the costume or the powers, it’s about the people.  Bless ‘Aquaman’ for trying hard…really, really hard, but this film fails to find its’ heart and tone and just comes out as a mish-mash of hurried scenes and story lines that some producer thinks the audience wants to see.

The lack of respect for the character of Aquaman has been so much of a running joke among comic fans that it has almost become a cultural phenomenon.  Despite his strength and ability to communicate with aquatic life, he has largely been viewed as the most useless member of the Justice League.  Writers have taken on the challenge in the comic world to take on reboot after reboot to somehow gain the character some respect but, despite some valiant attempts, have failed to give the poor King of Atlantis the stature he deserves (or rather was created to have). The Studio Execs at Warner decided to totally shake things up by casting the currently popular and ruggedly handsome Jason Momoa in the title role.  While I respect taking chances, the biker cool-dude shagginess of Momoa is a complete miscasting of what is supposed to be a more regal and dignified role.  The film also struggled to find a consistent tone.  One moment it tries to be operatic and then silly and goofy the next.  Jokes are randomly thrown in that fall flat (because Marvel has jokes in their movies) and elements are taken from other successful movies that also seemed haphazard.  Everything from Star Wars to Avatar to, most blatantly, Thor were all exploited if not out right copied. And most painful of all was the leaden chemistry between lead Jason Momoa and leading lady Amber Heard.  I don’t know what their screen test looked like, but I wish someone would have caught their complete lack of interplay before offering the roles.

The key elements of the hero torn between land and sea are there.  In fact, the story of his mother (a surprising casting of Nicole Kidman) the exiled Queen of Atlantis and his father, the lighthouse keeper who rescued her was probably one of the highlights of the film.  The improbable romance that somehow produced a super powered off-spring had heart.  Much like Iron man was tailored to Robert Downy Jr’s personality, so was Aquaman adjusted to fit Jason Momoa’s.  The problem was it didn’t fit.  The immediate onslaught of CGI battle scenes, wondrous underwater cityscapes, and convoluted family drama came at the sacrifice of creating a fully developed character.  

I will say that any film that puts Dolph Lundgren and Willem Dafoe in the same movie together has my attention, but their underwater acting seemed awkward at best.  Patrick Wilson tried to recreate Tom Hiddleston’s evil brother act as Aquaman’s evil half-brother Ocean Master.  He failed to match Loki’s multi-nuanced silver tongue performance and just came across as an effeminate hand wringing villain.  And then there’s Aquaman’s love interest, Mira (played with the aforementioned wooden intensity by Amber Heard).  How the main romance can go unexplained and undeveloped is unfathomable to me.  They were either exchanging quip filled bickering or staring doe eyed into each other’s eyes depending on the scene with no real explanation of transitions.  Despite the sporadic story telling there were zero surprises with most scenes being cliches.  Training montages, grudge matches, the ‘only person who can take on the monster’ scenes.  How many times can we see a ‘There can be only one’ scene and remain engaged?

My final complaint is that they way over powered Aquaman.  Bullet proof and able to lift submarines?  He’s not Superman.  More isn’t always better in these movies and that was what this movie was all about… More!  To the point of over the top. Despite all my grumblings, I can’t say that I hated it.  It was more disappointment at something that could have been so much better.  DC has to find their own vision apart from Marvel.  Until that happens they will always be in their shadow.  No matter how much the film makes.

I give this film ** stars out of five

Aquaman trailer

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

       It’s been awhile, but I felt the need to post a review of ‘Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse’ because of how impressed I was by the latest offering into the over commercialized and saturated Spider-Man (and super-hero) movie world.  It seems like a Spider-man movie or reboot is released every year.  I will state from the outset that this film is a gift to the comic nerd community and may not be for everyone. Due to film copyright issues, Sony has tried to cash in on the Marvel success by attempting to create a Spider-man shared cinematic universe franchise of their own and each offering has been increasingly dismal.  I felt after this year’s horrific ‘Venom’ (where Spider-man wasn’t even mentioned) that they had truly hit rock bottom and were counting their blessings that Marvel’s studio acquisition of their film division would end their hardships.  The Spider-Man franchise descent truly is an example of a movie Studio that had no concept of what makes super-hero movies magic and the only respect they had for the iconic property was the money they thought it could generate.

So I digress:  A recent trend in comics has been the advent of SJW writers and artists who have sought to diversify comics (That is a worthy goal, but not by destroying iconic characters IMHO).  There has been everything from female Thors to Asian Hulks to a multitude of Captain America personas.  The momentary uptick in sales for each title, based on the novelty, quickly fades and the result is Marvel increasingly struggling with sales and angry fans who don’t like Marvel canon being messed with.  The notable exception to this was the introduction of Miles Morales as an African-hispanic Spider-Man.  One cannot predict how or when mojo will strike when creating characters, but Miles struck a cord and has been a popular part of the Marvel universe ever since.  Again, IMHO, the vast majority of people don’t care whether a character is politically correct or what their ethnic background is, they care whether or not the story is engaging and the character is endearing.  Miles Morales ascended from this quagmire virtue signaling to where Sony decided to try him out in his own movie (albeit it an animated one separate from the rest of the continuum).

I will grant that one of Marvel’s biggest current flaws with it’s iconic characters is that they were mostly invented in the 60’s and 70’s.  Their origin stories are starting to lose relevance and connection with audiences that are now several generations removed.  What I feel the Miles Morales character does effectively is modernize the Spider-Man story while maintaining what made Spider-Man so relatable in the past.  And I love that they resisted the urge to go dark with the storylines which all other franchises seems to be doing.  Miles reflects the original Spider-Man’s hopeful and youthful exuberance that made the comic fun to read.

I’m not a big fan of animation and the strides in effects over the last couple decades have been so incredible that nothing from an animation point of view really impresses me anymore.  That being said, I approached this with some trepidation.  I’m glad to say ‘Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse’ exceeded my expectations and I’m thrilled that the franchise found a unique voice outside what they have been trying to do.  This does not feel like a Marvel movie.  As much as I love what Marvel has done, this is a fresh take and feel that still delivers on all the action, humor, and emotion one comes to expect from Marvel.  I must say this is a unique style of animation, which I found initially distracting, but I soon was able to get past that and release myself into the story.

The concept of the ‘multi-verse’ was created, so writers would have freedom to create storylines and characters outside the normal continuum of the shared universe concept.  You can make new characters, or have interesting twists of events, or explore all sorts of ‘What if’ possibilities. Eventually, some stories became so popular that fans would want them to cross over into the normal Marvel universe.  Miles Morales was one such character from the Ultimates universe.  Miles Morales offered a more modern and diverse take on modern New York that rang truer than the traditional Spider-man.

The origin story is similar, but in ‘Spider-man-Into the Spider-verse’ we see an aging and disillusioned Peter Parker finding himself drawn into another universe by a device created by the Kingpin who is trying to bring back his lost wife and child (sounds complicated I know, but it makes sense when you are watching it). Peter immediately identifies with Miles, his other universe counter part, and reluctantly takes on the role of mentor.  To make matters more fun and confusing, a variety of other Spider heroes are drawn from other universes.  From the charming, to the silly, to the down right weird, they all team up to take on the Kingpin and his henchmen to prevent the ultimate destruction of their universes and to find a way back to each of their own universes.  Like I said, it sounds complicated, but makes sense as you watch.

This is one case where I hope Marvel passes the Spider-Man mantle on to Miles from the ‘Archie comicsesque’ storyline of the original.  I think this film is a good start at introducing the new character to the masses and do it in a unique way that doesn’t affect the current MCU storyline.  I hope Marvel explore other options like this that is separate from the style and current storylines of the current universe they have created.  Comics has rich and varied genres and the movies should reflect that freedom.  Sincere gratitude for being able to breathe fresh life into a stale property.

I giver this film *** 1/2 stars out of 5

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse trailer