Spider-Man returns in a 2:20 animated film that is “an arthouse film disguised as a superhero movie”, which travels through the multiverse
Five years after using the cartoon to break the codes of Spider-Man, Miles Morales, the new young and mixed version of the spider-man, returns with a sequel that aims to spawn with auteur cinema.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which is released in France on Wednesday, continues the reinvention of the superhero in the guise of a Hispanic-African-American teenager, introduced into the new generation of 2018.
As in the previous part, awarded by an Oscar, this animated film digs the furrow of a return to the aesthetic sources of comic booksmixing the timeless pencil stroke of comics with the latest techniques of computer-assisted animation.
The biggest independent film in the world?
The success of the first part “gave us permission to be even more daring for this film”confides to AFP Justin K. Thompson, one of the three directors behind this sequel. “I feel like we had the incredible chance, as directors, to make the greatest independent film in the world”, says the filmmaker. “It’s actually an arthouse movie disguised as a superhero movie.”
The ultra-colorful style, a mix between the dazzling pop of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein and the insouciance of street art, forms the backdrop of an intrigue taking place in several parallel universes. Each dimension thus has the right to its own visual identity. The spectator finds himself immersed in the New York grunge of the 1990s, represented with large brushstrokes, or in a kaleidoscopic version of a Manhattan which would have merged with Bombay.
We find Miles Morales, the new face of Spider-Man who appeared in the comics in 2011. This cool Brooklyn teen, the son of a Latino nurse and an African-American police officer, has a familiar story. Like Peter Parker, the original hero of the saga, he was bitten by a radioactive spider and swings between the skyscrapers of Manhattan to fight crime.
Multiverse
But the young Métis, with his penchant for trendy sneakers and hip hop music, brings new life to the vigilante. A revival authorized by the concept of “multiverse”, these parallel dimensions in which different versions of the same characters exist, and sometimes interact. Handled by comic books for decades, this notion has become essential for a few years in Hollywood, which declines it in all sauces to expand its superhero franchises.
But its recent popularization on the big screen dates from the first adventures of Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Next Generationwhere several versions of the spider-man, as a woman, as a private detective with a raincoat and borsalino, in the style of 1930s film noir, or even as a Spider-pig, intersected.
“What struck us with the first film was that there was no resistance to the idea of a multiverse, that the audience was all on board and that it was not not lost”, explains Christopher Miller, co-producer of the two cartoons. “It allowed this movie to go to even more dramatic places and introduce more unusual characters.” The new component thus offers new iterations of Spider-Man, in particular as a British punk rocker or as an Indian teenager in the colors of Bollywood.
A complex story of 2h20
The feature film is based on the work of more than 1000 different artists and displays a duration of 2h20, unusual for an American animated film. Coupled with a complex narrative, this length has drawn some criticism. Especially since the plot lengthens like a series: Across the Spider-Verse will be followed by another installment next year, entitled Beyond the Spider-Verse.
But its creators reject the idea that animated film necessarily rhymes with brevity. Because the less rhythmic moments of the first film, where Miles becomes closer to his father and his uncle, were among the favorites of the fans.
“The highs aren’t so high if the lows aren’t so beautiful”, says co-director Joaquim Dos Santos. With a shorter duration, “It’s these moments that we lose, the ones that make the film interesting”, adds his colleague Kemp Powers, who also co-wrote the cartoon Drunk from Pixar.