Across the Spider-Verse is a visual masterpiece
I’ve seen a grand total of two films in theaters in 2023. This count is relatively low for myself. I’m not certain if it is because I’ve been busy, or if it is because the theaters are further away than when I lived in Madison, or if the films themselves have just not really felt worth seeing on the big screen. That being said, both movies I have seen were certainly worth the price of admittance (one I actually saw twice, the other I am considering watching again).
Interestingly enough, both are animated features. And when I first saw Suzume, a Japanese film from director Makato Shinkai, I felt fairly confident that it was going to be the best looking animated film of the year, perhaps best looking film, period.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse made me second guess that assumption. And triple guess it. Over and over and over again, throughout its nearly two and a half hour runtime, it made me not only rethink my perhaps premature ranking, but also question some of my beliefs about the medium in general.
I’ve held the opinion that traditional, 2D animation is in many ways better than the newer, 3D CGI animation. The chief of these being that 2D animation featured and seemed to allow for more varied visual styles. Style is an important aspect of any visual medium, as it can convey much in the way of tone and emotion. This is especially so in animation, where everything on screen must be designed by its creators.
In this regard, 3D animation always seemed to lag behind, with few having a distinct visual style that conveyed anything more than exactly what was on screen. After nearly two decades of rapidly increasing technical improvements but minimal progress in regards to varied visual styles, it seemed possible that 3D animation was perhaps inherently disposed to all look very similar, and thus failing to utilize one of the greatest advantages that animation has.
Across the Spider-Verse’s predecessor, Into the Spider-Verse, finally seemed to suggest otherwise. It took years of development, but the comic book-esque style was dynamic, unique, and truly impressive to look at. It greatly enhanced the tone of the story it told and stood out from its contemporaries. But the question remained; was this a mere flash in the pan, an outlier?
Saturday evening, it became abundantly clear that this was not the case. Not only does Across the Spider-Verse improve upon the style of the original, it also introduces countless others. Each of the various alternate universes that main characters Miles Morales and Gwen Stacey visits has its own distinct visual language, as do the hundreds of various Spider-People they come across. While some of this serves little purpose beyond “looking cool” or the artists flexing their creative muscles, each world has a distinctive atmosphere that matches the characters they represent. The abstract, purple-tinged brushstrokes of Gwen’s New York evoke feelings of loneliness and uncertainty, directly correlating with her conflict within the film. This contrasts greatly with the colorful and lively palate of Mumbattan, the home of the cheery Pavitr Prabhakar, whose life appears near perfect before things take a turn for the worse. Miguel O’Hara’s Nueva York looks bright and pristine on the surface, but the underlying parts of the city and the deepest parts of the Spider-Society’s headquarters have a much darker, almost horror feel, a metaphor of O’Hara’s nature.
While there is certainly more to say, the point is that Across the Spider-Verse has proven that unique and interesting styles are more than possible with 3D animation and that it can stand toe-to-toe with 2D animation, if enough time and care is put into the creation process. It’s honestly a bit difficult to describe exactly what I’m talking about in words, so I think the best thing I can really do at this point is recommend that anyone go and see the new film (or its predecessor first if you haven’t already). It’s something certainly better experienced for oneself. And it would certainly be one thing if it merely looked as good as it does, but the story, humor and characters are all top notch as well. Taste in movies is obviously subjective, but in this case, I feel that a recommendation of the newest Spidey adventure is a relatively safe one.
A C ertain Point of V iew
