Coloring the Mind, Exhilarating the Soul

Rating: 10/10 (22 April 2020)

Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse didn't need to be this good. In 2018, superhero movies, especially Marvel movies, have a reputation which precedes them. People know what to expect when they walk into a superhero movie, and with little or no marketing involved, even a mediocre origin story can rake in a billion at the box office. Instead of delivering us some generic filler movie in between Avengers flicks, Into the Spider-Verse sends us on an exhilarating joy-ride into jaw-dropping visuals and story. This film is more than a film, it is a roller-coaster ride for all the senses; it genuinely left me feeling breathless and exhausted, in a good way.
From the very first moment of the film until the very last moment, the film is a visual masterpiece. I am not even saying the beginning and end of the narrative portion of the film, but even the opening title screen and end credits. Not a single inch of this canvas was left untouched. It is a Hieronymus Bosch painting in the form of a film. The effort that went in to creating a compelling and interesting world is mind-boggling. It almost seems impossible that any team of people could produce something so fabulous.
It reminds me of Princess Mononoke (1997) for its attention to detail, in which Hayao Miyazaki is said to have personally gone through each frame to perfect the backgrounds and make it lifelike. Take Time's Square, which we only see in the briefest of flashes. They had every right to phone it in on the details as the city hurtles past too quickly to be really taken in, but instead they jammed each frame full with colorful imagery, jokes and references. The close attention to detail makes it so fun to watch at every moment. Usually I am one to stay at least for part of the credits scene, but in this film it's not even difficult because through to the rolling of the cast credits, it still maintains the engrossing colors and imagery.
The most obvious visual work going on in the film is the comic book nature. If we have a spectrum with Hulk (2003) at one end, representing the overuse of comic-book style to create campiness, Spider-Verse is on the polar opposite side, using the comic-book features so well that it is a work of art in itself. It is so tastefully done and compliments the story so perfectly that it feels like so much more than just a film. It is all visual mediums condensed into two hours. We get insights into characters thoughts through dialogue bubbles, we get brief and entertaining backstories as the flipping pages of a comic, the villains are made to be so much more cartoonishly villainous, and so much more.
We are given such an amazing variety of interesting characters. Miles is a healthy mix of believably awkward, funny, charming and shy. He is one of the most realistic teenagers in film and somehow his situation, as unbelievable as it is, feels right. Peter Parker is a balance of heroic crime-fighter and derelict bum. He has flashes of brilliance as a mentor to Miles, but he has been through extraordinary trauma, and we see that at the proper moments to make him down to earth. Aunt May is usually just a helpless old-lady, but now she's a badass. Even Kingpin has an emotional arc that makes him a sympathetic villain, but we can still hate him as the antagonist. All of the other Spiders and villains only compliment each other and never go over the top. Peni, Noir and Spider-ham could have been nothing more than hilarious comic-relief, and they did that exceptionally, but they were used sparingly enough to not overpower the mood of the story or get in the way of the action. In fact they added to it and gave this movie a unique twist that other superhero movies don't have.
I could just go on and on about all the amazing work done in this film. The sound design and song choices are spectacular. The plot is interesting and unique. The dialogue is so on point with its wittiness and intrigue. And oh my god, the visuals. I know I talked about this already, but good lord it is just beautiful. It's cyberpunk mixed with Dadaism, mixed with a kaleidoscopic, on acid, thrown into a blender and then molded by Michelangelo into a statue of the gods of Olympus. This movie attacks you from every side all at once and is relentless in its wonder. I could just go on and on about it, but it must be seen to be believed.
Sometimes it can almost be difficult to critically review a film when it is so good and it has such an emotional resonance with you. This is how it felt with me during this movie. I don't want to just write about this movie, I want to experience it again and again. It has transcended my normal viewing pleasures and gripped me so wholly that it almost seems personally and purposefully constructed. Sometimes you just need to take a step back from something you love and take a breath. You can get lost in it if you look too long. This is so much more than a film. It is a monument to art and cinema. This is not just superheroes, this is sensory heroin.