On Christmas Day 2018, Sony released “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” a Spider-Man movie with revolutionary style and unheard-of success in the Spider-Man world.
With the Marvel wave that’s been crashing over theaters since the release of Iron Man in 2008, superheroes have been a very hot topic. Spider-Man, however, has been a motion picture since long before Tony Stark ever popped up on society’s radar.
Most know of the 2002 “Spider-Man” movie starring Tobey Maguire; it was the first big Spider-Man movie, and would be followed by not one, but two sequels (the final one including some glorious dancing and finger guns from an edgy Peter Parker).
Then came “The Amazing Spider-Man” in 2012, starring Andrew Garfield. Another origin story followed by a sequel with a not-so-hot success rate.
The most recent live-action installment in the world of Spider-Man brought an interesting change to the scene. Produced by Marvel rather than Sony, Tom Holland was brought in to star as the young character in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.”
A refreshing new take, audiences were excited when the story started in the middle of the hero’s known comic book beginning. Rather than an origin story, audiences got an excited fifteen year old, learning to use his powers and striving to be an Avenger.
Tom Holland is still Marvel’s Spider-Man, showing up in several movies outside of his own stand-alone series, so why did Sony feel the need to release yet another Spider-Man film last Christmas? And why was it so effortlessly revolutionary?
Simple, yet undeniably complex; “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” features a brand new storyline to audience members who aren’t familiar with the comics while bringing in a form of art that has never been seen in animated motion pictures ever.
To many, it’s the new storyline that is drawing in viewers. People are tired of the same old Peter Parker story we’ve had since the first “Spider-Man” television series aired in 1967. We’ve been hearing about nerdy, beat up Parker for literal decades.
But now, we have a completely new character. Miles Morales is a wicked smart Hispanic/African-American middle schooler who really just wants to show the world his art. Then his world flips upside-down and we as the audience are taken on this wild ride with him.
It’s new and it’s exciting.
Certainly, the storyline is a large part of what has made “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” by far the best Spider-Man movie they’ve made yet, but the art is what puts it over the top.
This movie pulls in multiple types of animation, a very difficult task for artists and animators. From anime to comic book to cartoon to noir, it’s all there and it’s all perfectly done.
The cinematography of the picture blew minds everywhere, and rightly so. Dean Gordon and Patrick O’Keefe, the film’s two art directors, not only made a point presenting the separate art forms, but blending them.
Sure, the different Spider-People are presented in their respective animative forms, but Gordon and O’Keefe blended the forms together in certain scenes.
To get proper motion effects, the two had their artists bring anime techniques into the comic book art form.
There were moments where, as a 2D film, the characters seemed to leap right off the screen. The comic book effects came to life on the big screen, “KAPOWS!” and “SMACKS!” leaping out of the film.
The Spidey-Sense was one of the fan favorites, with colorful lights emanating from the Spider-People each time their sense swung in.
While the movie may be out of theaters, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” will be on DVD and Blu-ray in no time! Feast your eyes upon one of the greatest artistic feats the world of cinema has seen in a long, long time.