I really loved the first Miles Morales Spiderman movie (which for some reason I can never accurately the title of). I watched it twice at the cinema, then many more times when it was on Netflix, with the boys. Then I got Matt to watch it and felt validated when he said he was expecting a lot given how I raved and despite a high bar set he thought it was as good as I and others said it would be.
So when they announced the second one was coming, of course it was going to be THE movie to look out for in 2023. But I did temper my expectations. Sequels are a bit like that second date after an amazing first one, you have a feeling it's going to be amazing but what if the first time it was amazing because it was the first time and then the second time would've lost some of that novelty?
We missed the first five minutes of the movie (which I keep harping on about, I realize now-- maybe because I was just irritated it happened given we were there at least half an hour earlier but for a combination of frantic buying popcorn and finding and re-finding different man/boy spread across a cinema lobby overspilling with humans), so I felt a bit overwhelmed and lost in the beginning.
Had this creeping feeling of uncertainty, "Is this good? Is this too much? What the hell is going on?"
But as the movie unfolded the story grew stronger, the old beloved characters became recognizable again, and there were plenty of cool sequences that were entertaining. Omar made a comment that he liked the first movie better because it had better fight sequences, and he said "There was actually only one that was really good when all the spider people were chasing Miles" And I had to agree with him, that there were at least a few memorable fight sequences (the first one where Miles saw Peter Parker get killed, the escape from Alchemax, and of course the whole stretch from when Miles finally could control his powers until the last bit where he tossed King Pin to push the button for him) in the first movie, and the sequences in the second movie bordered on 'too much too long',EXCEPT that spider people chasing Miles scene which was brilliant on multiple levels and arguably surpassed all other earlier sequences.
The funny thing is that while the Spiderman movie is an exceptional superhero action movie, the parts that I always loved in the first one was the heartfelt, father-son and identity/power-within searching moments the movie also managed to artfully inject in a way that could be dangerously contrived if not done well.
And the second one didn't disappoint.
This time the injection came in the form of Miles's mom's talk with him about how hard it is for a parent to let go of their growing child into the world because they want so much for the child they love to be just as loved and accepted wherever they go. But that's outside of a parent's power.
The best thing a parent could do I guess is to try and give power to the child to do their best to be loved and accepted. And if there were times when they didn't feel love or accepted by the people around them, they can still love and accept themselves because they know wherever they go, somewhere there are people who love and accept them completely as they are.
Anyhoo, can't wait for March next year! More Spiderman with the boys!
ps: The soundtrack is also just as good! Hamzah and I both have the same favorite song :D
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