Back Into the Spider-Verse
With the news of a sequel on the way, Archie Lockyer runs us through the joys of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and looks towards the future of the franchise
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse is one perfect film. I don’t say that lightly. It balances a cast of lovable, funny characters while managing to explain a multi-dimensional plot that I can’t see being possible without such dense, heartfelt and hilarious writing from Rodney Rothman and Phil Lord (writer of The Lego Movie, another masterpiece of modern animation).
This isn’t mentioning the utterly mesmerising animation style! A comic book projected onto the screen. The level of detail in the animation itself, down to animating Miles at a lower frame rate to emphasise his inexperience in the role of Spider-Man, means that watching Into the Spider-Verse is never tiring, never boring. An absolute gem of a film.
Recently, the Twitter account for the sequel to Spider-Verse teased images of a new character: the futuristic science-fiction version, Spider-Man 2099, voiced by Oscar Isaac (this is also hinted at in the first film’s end credits scene, which I would recommend everyone check out this instant). Personally, for me, I couldn’t be more thrilled to see new characters being introduced. I have complete faith that with the return of Rothman and Lord, Spider-Verse 2 will be equally humorous and capable of examining and exploring the characters, taking them to new depths and discussing what it really means to be Spider-Man.
Whatever they do, I am certain they will nail it!
Perhaps, Rothman and Lord will take this even further, questioning the morality of Spider-Man and the effects they can have on those around them? Whatever they do, I am certain they will nail it! I would love to see the use of even more art styles as the differences between the characters’ visual aspects has always made each character stand out on their own to me. We can all agree that more screen time for Nicholas Cage’s 1930’s Spider-Man Noir, “fighting Nazi’s and drinking milk,” wouldn’t go amiss either!
