Perhaps Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse will give the trend of superhero films an extra few years, beyond where it might have otherwise ended. Or maybe it shortened the genre's lifespan. In all honesty I hope for the latter. Not because I'm against people having fun, and considering my age most of my friends are people who love superhero movies over mostly anything else in the medium. Instead, I expect or at least wish that Into the Spider-Verse gave audiences more than what the average comic book movie gives them, and every other film in that category consistently and repeatedly fails to deliver on what Into the Spider-Verse promised. Into the Spider-Verse could just as likely be the beginning of a new wave, as it might be a beautiful beginning of the end.

And sure, you could have said that for The Dark Knight, or Wonder Woman, or any step above the rest. And maybe The Avengers needs to find some kind of resolution in order for Marvel to really start losing their audience (DC's reign seems more sporadic nowadays). But as much as I find a lot of those films to be serviceable, good even, do they really deliver to the same extent that Into the Spider-Verse does?

Glitchy neon visuals are obviously the big immediate impression for basically every viewer, now or well into the future. Special effects age, and animation won't always look as new and as cool as they do now, which is why I like this comic book imitation style so much more. It really feels like it'll age better than the more realistic experiments that will be outdated once the next closest thing to reality comes out. Lots of other homages to various comic book and cartoon styles make this a really unpredictable first watch, especially as it infiltrates into the grounded and gorgeous New York City.

And while the city may seem like a character in and of itself, that isn't used as an excuse to not have actual... characters in the film. I like all these characters, I like the roles they serve (however convenient they can sometimes be). Strangely enough my least favorite might be Peter Parker himself, for the sarcastic teacher role he plays. Though I will admit a lot of his jokes do land, even if they feel a little out of place from time to time. It's enhanced as well by not only individual personalities, but also how they interact. A diverse cast is cool, but it's how they see and speak to others that really makes them stand out.

This cultural groundwork, shifting between superhero exaggeration and New York life is sometimes messy but completely admirable and varietal. It's nice to get enough time in both so that the original humanity of the film isn't lost when the superhero conflict gets more intense. Same with the other way around, though admittedly I care more about the human side to superheros than I do the larger conflicts and epic ideas. Though I do think Into the Spider-Verse verges on epic at times, if it's okay to use that word in the context of a citywide story.

In dividing the time of the film however, comes Into the Spider-Verse's biggest flaw. Two hours is actually a reasonable time for a modern mainstream film, and certainly some superhero films could benefit from greater brevity. It's not really the overall pace of the film that's the problem, moreso the pace of nearly every individual scene. I have no issue with brisk films by any means, but a lot of moments that could have and would have benefited from slower and quieter observations go by way too fast to be as meaningful as they could have been. They still work, which is why it isn't as detrimental as it might have been in another film, but it does hurt the film's overall product. Even the scenes meant to be quick and intense might have been better with emphasis used through slower moments throughout those scenes. Give the audience a breather to let those faster cuts or scenes hit harder.

Despite that and some occasional mismanagement of humor, I did have a lot of fun watching Into the Spider-Verse. It still feels meaningful beyond just its conflict being resolved. Its greatest elements, like its visuals, its detail in culture and in character, these things are given enough of an edge to be different now, while still having the potential to be timeless. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's the sixth best film of all time (Letterboxd), or even the twenty-ninth (IMDb)... but good? Yeah. Yeah, it's really good.