The film rights to Spider-Man are in a weird place right now. Although last year's Spider-Man: Homecoming emerged as the result of an agreement between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, this year has seen Sony release several products meant to preserve its hold on the license: a well-received video game, a disastrous Venom movie, and most recently Into the Spider-Verse, an animated film which shifts focus from Peter Parker to Miles Morales, who came to adopt the Spider-Man moniker in Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series.
If Homecoming saw Marvel Studios tentatively experimenting with more complex themes, Into the Spider-Verse is more novel for its psychedelic visual style, which combines bright comic-book colours with a wide array of other influences and a healthy dollop of self-referential surrealism. At a time when the Spider-Man brand is reaching peak saturation, it has justified its own existence not only by being arguably the best Spider-Man movie, but also by being the most Spider-Man movie. And yet, as prominent as the film's fanservice is, it's always grounded in genuine pathos and humour, and the film wisely streamlines its story so that the history behind certain plot elements, while enhancing them, isn't necessary for enjoyment. Indeed, beneath all the flashy visuals and goofy references, this is a movie which contains all of the elements necessary for a good superhero film and then some.
Due to the shift in character, Into the Spider-Verse is in some ways even more effective than Homecoming was in ditching the expected story beats of Spider-Man: while Miles is still bitten by the spider, it's in a very different context from any cinematic version of Peter Parker, and more significantly, his family dynamic is notably different from his predecessor's. Instead of a beloved aunt and a dead uncle, Miles instead has a complicated relationship with his police officer father, and is instead somewhat closer to his mother and his more rebellious uncle Aaron. The specificity and detail with which the movie conveys those relationships is a large source of its emotional resonance, and certain key plot points later in the film play on what's been established between Miles and his family to great emotional effect.
For Miles, the film's key character arc is more about patience than responsibility: he pretty quickly figures out he wants to help people, but his enthusiasm is consistently undermined by his inexperience. But similarly effective is his budding friendship with the other Spider-Men, especially one named Peter B. Parker who serves as a mentor figure while dealing with is how self-pity. Their rapport is consistently funny, but it also forms the other half of the film's emotional core. Like with Miles' family, the changes in how these two Spider-Men regard each other over time allows for some genuinely affecting scenes later in the film, especially because of how their respective histories inform their behaviour.
Similar to the presence of seven Spider-Men, the film also features cameos from a wide range of villains, with the most prominent being the Kingpin and an unconventional take on Doctor Octopus. Kingpin has the near-perfect villain motivation of wanting to bring back his dead family members by taking them from another dimension. It's equal parts tragic and selfish, making his feelings understandable even as his solution is both single-minded and monstrous. Doctor Octopus is more simple, being mainly interested in science, but she (yes, she) brings sufficient sadistic charisma to the role to compensate.
The film slightly de-emphasizes Spider-Man's characteristic wisecracking in favour of quirky character interactions, but - surely due in part to the talents of beloved comedy screenwriter Phil Lord and "22 Jump Street" collaborator Rodney Rotham - the script is as funny as any Spider-Man film, and the film's wonderful mixture of verbal observational humour and well-timed slapstick remains consistently hilarious from start to finish. But it also never interferes with the film's momentum, which only slows down to switch between plot beats, and retains just enough distance from the most dramatic moments that they don't undercut the tone, but don't feel unnaturally segregated from those moments either.
Of course, the main star of Into the Spider-Verse is its dazzling animation, which is largely unafraid of eschewing reality and instead adopts the visual style of an older comic-book, complete with Ben-Day dots and vivid, unreal colours. In one scene, Miles will be chased by text boxes; in another, his spider-sense will be represented by thick squiggly lines above his head and a shift in background colour, just as it does in many a Spider-Man comic. The style proves to be highly dynamic and kinetic; I perceived a ghosting effect on the 3D print I saw, but despite that, there's a fluidity to the movement of both the characters and the camera which showed off some really creative fight choreography in the film's various exciting action scenes.
It also complements the film's other visual influences, such as street art and old cartoons. The entire movie is rendered in a 3D aesthetic not dissimilar to most other recent animated films, but the use of vivid colour and unconventional textures sets it apart. But its colourful style is complemented by an eclectic soundtrack and rampant experimentation: the film's disinterest in realism allows for some genuinely trippy experimentation, which is in turn complemented by a number of simple yet appealingly weird narrative twists, all of which further enable the film's great sense of humour.
If Marvel Studios' own Black Panther showed the dramatic and thematic potential of this genre earlier this year, then Into the Spider-Verse pushes in a different direction, demonstrating the resonance that a story with simpler morality can offer, as well as finally proving the aesthetic possibilities for the genre in theatrical animation. It's a near-perfect example of this genre at its best, just barely brought down by its reliance on fanservice, and yet it revitalizes the genre just as much as it pays tribute to its predecessors. It shows how effective superhero films can be when they differ from the established template, and yet it also succeeds on every one of the conventional levels expected of these films. Sony's recent efforts with the brand have varied in popularity, but they've got something really special here.
If Homecoming saw Marvel Studios tentatively experimenting with more complex themes, Into the Spider-Verse is more novel for its psychedelic visual style, which combines bright comic-book colours with a wide array of other influences and a healthy dollop of self-referential surrealism. At a time when the Spider-Man brand is reaching peak saturation, it has justified its own existence not only by being arguably the best Spider-Man movie, but also by being the most Spider-Man movie. And yet, as prominent as the film's fanservice is, it's always grounded in genuine pathos and humour, and the film wisely streamlines its story so that the history behind certain plot elements, while enhancing them, isn't necessary for enjoyment. Indeed, beneath all the flashy visuals and goofy references, this is a movie which contains all of the elements necessary for a good superhero film and then some.
Due to the shift in character, Into the Spider-Verse is in some ways even more effective than Homecoming was in ditching the expected story beats of Spider-Man: while Miles is still bitten by the spider, it's in a very different context from any cinematic version of Peter Parker, and more significantly, his family dynamic is notably different from his predecessor's. Instead of a beloved aunt and a dead uncle, Miles instead has a complicated relationship with his police officer father, and is instead somewhat closer to his mother and his more rebellious uncle Aaron. The specificity and detail with which the movie conveys those relationships is a large source of its emotional resonance, and certain key plot points later in the film play on what's been established between Miles and his family to great emotional effect.
For Miles, the film's key character arc is more about patience than responsibility: he pretty quickly figures out he wants to help people, but his enthusiasm is consistently undermined by his inexperience. But similarly effective is his budding friendship with the other Spider-Men, especially one named Peter B. Parker who serves as a mentor figure while dealing with is how self-pity. Their rapport is consistently funny, but it also forms the other half of the film's emotional core. Like with Miles' family, the changes in how these two Spider-Men regard each other over time allows for some genuinely affecting scenes later in the film, especially because of how their respective histories inform their behaviour.
Similar to the presence of seven Spider-Men, the film also features cameos from a wide range of villains, with the most prominent being the Kingpin and an unconventional take on Doctor Octopus. Kingpin has the near-perfect villain motivation of wanting to bring back his dead family members by taking them from another dimension. It's equal parts tragic and selfish, making his feelings understandable even as his solution is both single-minded and monstrous. Doctor Octopus is more simple, being mainly interested in science, but she (yes, she) brings sufficient sadistic charisma to the role to compensate.
The film slightly de-emphasizes Spider-Man's characteristic wisecracking in favour of quirky character interactions, but - surely due in part to the talents of beloved comedy screenwriter Phil Lord and "22 Jump Street" collaborator Rodney Rotham - the script is as funny as any Spider-Man film, and the film's wonderful mixture of verbal observational humour and well-timed slapstick remains consistently hilarious from start to finish. But it also never interferes with the film's momentum, which only slows down to switch between plot beats, and retains just enough distance from the most dramatic moments that they don't undercut the tone, but don't feel unnaturally segregated from those moments either.
Of course, the main star of Into the Spider-Verse is its dazzling animation, which is largely unafraid of eschewing reality and instead adopts the visual style of an older comic-book, complete with Ben-Day dots and vivid, unreal colours. In one scene, Miles will be chased by text boxes; in another, his spider-sense will be represented by thick squiggly lines above his head and a shift in background colour, just as it does in many a Spider-Man comic. The style proves to be highly dynamic and kinetic; I perceived a ghosting effect on the 3D print I saw, but despite that, there's a fluidity to the movement of both the characters and the camera which showed off some really creative fight choreography in the film's various exciting action scenes.
It also complements the film's other visual influences, such as street art and old cartoons. The entire movie is rendered in a 3D aesthetic not dissimilar to most other recent animated films, but the use of vivid colour and unconventional textures sets it apart. But its colourful style is complemented by an eclectic soundtrack and rampant experimentation: the film's disinterest in realism allows for some genuinely trippy experimentation, which is in turn complemented by a number of simple yet appealingly weird narrative twists, all of which further enable the film's great sense of humour.
If Marvel Studios' own Black Panther showed the dramatic and thematic potential of this genre earlier this year, then Into the Spider-Verse pushes in a different direction, demonstrating the resonance that a story with simpler morality can offer, as well as finally proving the aesthetic possibilities for the genre in theatrical animation. It's a near-perfect example of this genre at its best, just barely brought down by its reliance on fanservice, and yet it revitalizes the genre just as much as it pays tribute to its predecessors. It shows how effective superhero films can be when they differ from the established template, and yet it also succeeds on every one of the conventional levels expected of these films. Sony's recent efforts with the brand have varied in popularity, but they've got something really special here.
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