Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse Review
Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse: A Leap of Faith
There are so many reviews and analysis on Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse that I feel like it would be redundant to make this review. It’s an incredible movie that re-invigorated a dying animation studio as well as the superhero genre. It did all this while creating a genre of its own, jump starting the multiverse movie bonanza (Ex: Everything Everywhere All At Once & Dr. Strange the Multiverse of Madness).
Despite this, I still want to talk about it. But I won’t be discussing the character moments and plot that I usually focus on in reviews like this. In this Spider-Man Review, I want to zoom out, and look at the pacing of the movie as a whole, as well as its place in the Spider-Man zeitgeist.
Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse Information Dumps
Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse is a big movie. It may not seem that way when one sits to watch the film, but this movie packs so much plot, character, and detail into its almost two hour run time. Let’s take Mile’s introduction as an example:
Miles has maybe the quickest introduction scene I’ve seen in a Spider-Man film, and he’s the main character. A cool shorthand that this movie uses to introduce characters is making them introduce themselves. Blonde Peter Parker does this at the start of the movie before Miles’ introduction. However Miles is not Spider-Man at the start of the movie, so he doesn’t have this self explained intro that the others do.
In less than five minutes, we understand the following about Miles:
- Miles is into music and street art
- Miles speaks Spanish (mainly with his mother)
- An understanding of how Miles views his neighborhood vs. how he views his new private school. (They use a really neat trick where in both scenarios the camera makes the same movements, emphasizing that the audience should be making a comparison like Miles is)
- Miles relationship with his father is rocky
- His fathers relationship with his uncle is non-existent
- How hard this new school is for Miles to fit in
Once again I reiterate, all of this information is dumped on us at the start of the movie in less than five minutes. By using extensive visual clues, camera angles, dialogue, diegetic music, quick cuts, and other film making techniques, the audience has a sense of who Miles is as a person and how he fits into this world.
This technique of dumping information into the audience’s lap is used so much throughout the movie, it makes sense that we are able to get so much information about this world and its characters in less than two hours.
Slow Moments
Which makes the slow moments in the movie even more impactful. Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse has a lot of story to get through, so when it slows down, it’s telling the audience to pay even more attention to those moments.
What’s interesting to me is that a lot of the slow moments are around Miles’ connection with his Uncle Aaron. When we meet him, the movie slows down for the first time, and we are allowed to relax into the scene with Miles. This is perfect for setting the tone. The previous sequence was Miles’ jumpcut through struggling in his new school. To get away from the jump cut/ stress, Miles goes to his Uncle’s apartment, a place that Miles can relax in, therefore also a place that the audience can relax in.
Later on in the movie, when the gang is fighting Kingpin’s goons at Aunt May’s house, the movie slows down again when Uncle Aaron discovers he was about to kill his own nephew. Right before his death, it’s an action scene packed to the brim with details one might miss the first time round (like how Spider-Pig breaks one of Aunt May’s china on his head). But as soon as an important emotional moment appears, the movie slows to let the audience and story breathe.
Ebb and Flow
Emphasizing these slow moments in between fast ones allows for the movie to get through all the story that it does without its pacing being too fast. And while this idea is basic in the writing world, I don’t think any story I’ve consumed has mastered the art of fast paced story telling quite like Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse has.
Spider-Man Property
While I believe it is its masterful storytelling that allows such a grueling pace, I also believe its connection to the Spider-Man property that allows Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse to get away with this fast pace storytelling. Spider-Man is one of, if not the most popular superhero on the planet. He’s had hundreds of comic book runs, dozens of movies, and three to four video games under his belt.
Everyone knows the story of Peter Parker, the teen from Queens who got bit by a radioactive spider. But does anyone know the story of his variants? About the Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales)? About Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy)? About Spider-Man Noir? Or Spider-Man 2099?
You see, these characters introduce themselves, cause the only thing they need to explain is what makes them different from the Spider-Man we all know. And this is why this movie is incredible. Because it understands that its audience is ready for something new in the world of Spider-Man and isn’t afraid to explore it.
I guess you could say, they took a leap of faith.
Across the Spider-Verse Inspired Air Jordans
As you may notice from Miles first donning of the Spider-Man outfit, his shoes are Michael Jordans iconic Air Jordans. When the sequel released, the Air Jordan brand designed an Across the Spider-Verse inspired pair of shoes.
Want to know if the shoes are worth the hype? Check out S.Livingston article on this unique pair of Spidey Shoes here!
Or go to https://www.11jordanshoes.com for more on Air Jordans!