Into the Spider-Verse

Rarely do I gush about films and very rarely do I rewatch films. But after I watched Into the Spider-Verse, I was simply stunned at how incredible it was. I was so taken aback by what the film accomplished that I couldn’t stop thinking about it for two full days, and then re-watched it a second time. Even when it ended the second time, I wanted to watch it a third time. I have literally never felt that way about a movie.

I really didn’t know much about the film before going in. I knew it was an alternate dimension spidey mashup, and I remember watching the trailer months ago and being very intrigued by the art style. Throughout the past few months, the animators that I follow on Twitter have been posting scenes and shots of the film that they worked on. They were really good. Apparently it took over 140 animators to create all the scenes for the film. And when the film finally came out, my Twitter feed went insane. Animators from other disciplines couldn’t stop fawning over the quality of the film and its inspirations. It was praises all around, and that meant I seriously needed to watch it.

Spider-Man has had quite the 2018. Hot on the heels of last year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, our favorite masked webslinger had a spectacular role in Avengers: Infinity War earlier this year and enjoyed a second revival in comics through the Amazing Spider-Man, the Spectacular Spider-Man, as well as the just-as-insane-as-it-sounds Spider-Geddon line of comics that came out to critical acclaim. Marvel’s Spider-Man was a smashing hit on the PS4, hailed by many as the best superhero game of all time. And Into the Spider-Verse capped it all off with a thrilling ensemble case of spider-people getting up to all sorts of stylish shenanigans.

If you’ve seen the trailers for Into the Spider-Verse, you’ll undoubtedly be awestruck by the art direction. It takes heavy inspiration from the comic books and brings the panels to life, frequently flash-cutting comic panels into its shots and transitioning scenes with comic book frames. My favorite part is that most of the sound effects are called out in words just as they would be in a comic book, with the signature “Thwip!” popping up whenever a web is shot out of spidey’s hands. All of this is also used very well to great comedic effect, telling a long story very quickly by using freeze-frame comic panel shots to convey an idea quickly and effectively with a jarring punchline at the end. The execution is spot-on.

And the art style. My oh my. Every object in every frame uses a glitched out chromatic aberration effect, sometimes exaggerating it to extremes to really sell the idea of movement or the twisting of the dimensions. I’ve never seen this done in any medium and it works shockingly well here. It’s very subtle for most of the movie and is primarily used in backgrounds or when there’s a lot of motion happening, but it takes center stage during special moments, like for example when a comic book version of a scene cuts in for a few frames during the actual CGI scene to emphasize a silhouette or explosion.

The faces of the characters are dot-patterned with a texture, just like the old comic books were. They are all then cross-hatched wherever shadows and highlights are needed. Craziest of all, Sony automated this whole process of texturing their renders and even patented the style. The lighting is also used very strategically, only partially highlighting faces when necessary and instead relying on silhouettes or poses to portray character emotions. There is a stunning amount of detail and love poured into every frame, from each ad in Times Square to the individual lines on every suit.

As for the animation itself, that’s a technical marvel in itself. Most of the movie is animated at 1s (12 frames per second, instead of the usual 24 frames per second), which means that there’s no motion blur to smooth out the transitions between frames. So you’re left with a very stop-motion-esque animation sequence that actually works surprisingly well and create snappier poses. It exaggerates the poses because they hang in the scene for double the number of frames, so every pose and stance that every character is in has to be carefully selected to convey a very specific mood or emotion. The film does sometimes swap to 2s (24 frames per second) in scenes where the spider-people are gracefully swinging across an area, because it makes the motion feel effortless and smooth, almost as if they were gliding through the air.

Apparently, it took an entire year with one lead designer to create 10 seconds of the film and establish a visual style that the rest of the animators could then use. That boggles my mind. They iterated on the style for an entire year until they felt like they had it nailed down and in a way that they could communicate it to over a hundred talented animators. The fact that all 140+ animators managed to nail the scenes with so much consistency to make it feel like it was all done by one person is a staggering achievement. I’m so impressed by that simple fact. Some of the fight and traversal sequences in the film are truly spectacular.

And then there’s the plot. We haven’t even touched on this. The whole concept for the film feels like it shouldn’t work at all. It’s easy to dismiss the concept as “oh haha, they ran out of ideas for spider-man so now they’re just combining it all together”. But it’s so much more than that. It properly pays homage to every single version of Spider-Man from the 70’s and 80’s comics. It strikes a tone and sense of humor that can be appreciated by everyone. It gives all its characters a unique personality and introduces them at just the right times without overwhelming the audience. Miles’ story still feels like it takes center stage despite it being a movie about five spider-people. It’s such a ridiculous idea to think about, but it totally nails it. DC tried this with Justice League but went down a very different path with the type of movie they wanted to make. Into the Spider-Verse completely blows it out of the water on every front.

There’s also an older Peter Parker in the film, a take on him that we haven’t really seen in any Spider-Man movie. There’s Gwen, Noir, Peni, and Peter Porker, all of whom get just the right amount of screentime to build up their characters and give the audience a little taste of who they are without having them completely dominate the film. I was familiar with these characters, but had no idea how much of a backstory they had until I looked them up afterwards. There’s tons of easter eggs and little details in all their jokes throughout the film, referencing past comics and media in the best way possible.

Then there’s the bomb soundtrack. Rap and hip-hop are my least favorite genres of music, and this movie made me like those genres. That’s the best compliment I can give it, because it speaks volumes. It encapsulates urban hip-hop so well and shows a very cool take on what Spider-Man would be like if a black teenager in Brooklyn got bit by it instead of Peter Parker. You can hear the graffiti culture and street fashion of New York pouring out through the soundtrack. There was one sequence in particular where “What’s up Danger?” starts playing as Miles gains the self-confidence to “be” Spider-Man and leaps off a building that completely blew my mind. The score, the animation, the timing, the editing, and the visuals were so dazzling in that entire scene. What a ride.

Into the Spider-Verse might just be my favorite animated film of all time. I haven’t seen such a unique visual style since Scott Pilgrim vs the World. The movie feels like it has its own distinct identity and it truly feels like it was put together by a dedicated, passionate team of people who cared a lot about the franchise. It was the little things that I loved in the film, like how the spidey senses of all the spider-people would tingle at the same time, priming the audience for a big moment coming up. Or how the Prowler’s theme, sounding much like an air-raid siren, would instantly fill you with a sense of dread every time you heard it and saw his shadow. Or how the dumb silly moments Miles has in school can be extremely relatable for anyone (the audience in my theater cracked up multiple times at Miles’ misfortunes).

I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy this film as much as I did. The whole thing was bloody brilliant from start to finish. The credits sequence at the end was amazing, referencing all sorts of spider hijinks and pop culture memes. And oh, the post-credits scene was truly worth it. Definitely stick around for it. The team behind this film has done something really rare. They’ve managed to subvert audience expectations for what a superhero movie can be in the best possible way. Right when the world was feeling like it was having “Marvel fatigue”, Sony pulls this out and blows everyone away with something totally crazy and out there. And it works! I can’t believe I want to rewatch it a third time already. If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you doing still reading this? Go out there and watch it ASAP!