Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with a terrific presentation.
Sharpness excelled. The movie always came across as tight and well-defined, so don’t expect any signs of softness.
Jaggies and moiré effects also remained absent, and the image lacked edge haloes or artifacts. In addition, print flaws were a non-factor and didn’t appear at any point.
In terms of colors, Across went with a bright palette that emphasized no particular choices, as the various settings opted for a broad variety of tones. The hues popped to life well.
Blacks were deep and tight, while shadows showed nice clarity. Across the board, the image satisfied.
Almost as good, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack worked very well. From the active use of music to all the action beats, the soundscape used the various channels in a satisfying manner.
This meant information that popped up all around the room in logical spots, and the material blended smoothly, with strong panning and movement. Music showed fine stereo presence, and we even got some satisfying localized speech on occasion.
Audio quality seemed positive, with speech that came across as natural and distinctive. Music was bold and rich, as the score brought out lively material.
Music sounded lively and full, while effects displayed good definition. Those elements seemed accurate and dynamic. All of this led to a positive presentation that deserved an “A-”.
The disc includes an array of extras, and these open with an audio commentary from writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller and directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson. All five sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, the comics and influences, “Easter eggs”, color and visual design, music and audio, editing, and connected domains.
On the positive side, we get a pretty good overview of various production topics. However, the track also comes with too much happy talk, a factor that renders this a useful but somewhat frustrating discussion.
A slew of featurettes follow, and Creating the Ultimate Spider-Man Movie goes for 14 minutes, 49 seconds. It involves Lord, Miller, Thompson, Powers, Dos Santos, story artists Lauren Sassen and Denise Nagisa Koyama, head of character animation Alan Hawkins, executive producers Bob Perischetti and Peter Ramsey, producers Cristina Steinberg, Amy Pascal and Avi Arad, production designer Patrick O’Keefe, art director Dean Gordon, editor Michael Andrews, supervising animators Daniel Pozo and Chelsea Gordon-Ratzlaff, animator Dan Mao, head of story Octavio E. Rodriguez, character designers Brie E. Henderson and Kris Anka, texture painter Zeinab Farran, visual development artist Jay Thakur, production consultant Dan Slott, comic book artist Brian Stelfreeze, visual effects supervisor Mike Lasker, visual consultant Naveen Selvanathan, and actors Oscar Isaac, Daniel Kaluuya, Issa Rae, Jake Johnson, Shameik Moore, Luna Laurne Velez, Brian Tyree Henry and Karan Soni.
The program covers the movie’s visual approaches and challenges behind the scenes. Like the commentary, this one mixes insights and self-praise.
Obscure Spiders and Easter Eggs runs five minutes, 39 seconds. It brings notes from Thompson, Lord, Miller, Dos Santos, Powers, Lasker, O’Keefe, Gordon, Thakur, and Anka.
As expected, they tell us of many – but clearly not all – of the movie’s hidden touches. It becomes a good overview.
Next comes ”I’mma Do My Own Thing: Interdimensional Destiny. This one spans eight minutes, 26 seconds and delivers comments from Thompson, Sassen, Perischetti, Moore, Pascal, Gordon, Andrews, Johnson, Henry, Lord, Thompson, Ramsey, Velez, Powers, Dos Santos, Arad, Isaac, Steinberg, Miller, and Rodriguez.
“Thing” covers the notion of fate and personal choices in the story. It offers a little depth but not a lot.
Across the Worlds: Designing New Dimensions fills seven minutes, 52 seconds. We find info from O’Keefe, Perischetti, Miller, Lord, Gordon, Lasker, Thakur, Thompson, Andrews, Powers, Dos Santos, and Selvanathan.
“Worlds” looks at the visual styles of the movie’s different locations/realms. Despite some of the usual happy talk, we get a nice array of observations here.
After this we find the 13-minute, nine-second Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Cast. It features Rae, Soni, Moore, Velez, Dos Santos, Steinberg, Pascal, Thompson, Perischetti, Arad, Powers, Miller, Andrews, Henry, Ramsey, Lord, Isaac, Kaluuya, and actor Hailee Steinfeld.
As implied by the title, “Friendly” discusses cast and performances. Anticipate lots of praise with only a few insights.
Designing Spiders and Spots occupies 12 minutes, 31 seconds. Expect remarks from Miller, Lord, Thompson, Anka, Dos Santos, Henderson, Hawkins, Thakur, Lasker, O’Keefe, Powers, Koyama, Selvanathan, Andrews, and character designers Jesus Alonso Iglesias and Joe Moshier.
This one views character and costume design. It offers a solid array of facts.
Up next we locate Raising a Hero. The eight-minute, 56-second piece involves Moore, Steinfeld, Johnson, Rae, Velez, Dos Santos, Powers, Thompson, Lord, Miller, Rodriguez, Steinberg, Steinfeld, Arad, Henry, Pascal, and Perischetti.
The theme of family as featured in the movie becomes the dominant concept here. It comes with a few worthwhile moments but lacks a lot of impact.
Scratches, Score and the Music of the Multi-Verse lasts five minutes, 17 seconds. It gives us statements from Steinfeld, Perischetti, Miller, Andrews, Ramsey, Thompson, Pascal, Powers, Lord, and composer Daniel Pemberton.
Unsurprisingly, this one covers music and audio. Expect another mix of facts and fluff.
After this comes Across the Comics-Verse. It lasts eight minutes, three seconds and involves Dos Santos, Ramsey, Thompson, Powers, Perischetti, Lord, Miller, Anka, O’Keefe, Slott, Stelfreeze, Rae, and comic book artist Rick Leonardi,
“Across” discusses the use of comic book artists in the film. We find more useful material balanced with praise.
With Escape from Spider Society, we find an eight-minute, 14-second show. This one delivers info from Lord, Miller, Powers, Dos Santos, Steinberg, Thompson, Koyama, O’Keefe, Arad, Perischetti, Hawkins, Anka, Lasker, Thakur, Gordon, Rodriquez, Sassen, Andrews and Pascal.
“Escape” examines one of the movie’s big action scenes. Despite the usual self-praise, it comes with some worthwhile info.
Miguel Calling runs five minutes, 33 seconds and presents a storyreel. It gives us an extended version of a Spider-Society sequence that offers some interesting material.
We also find lyric videos for “Annihilate” by Metro Boomin, Swae Lee, Lil Wayne and Offset as well as for “Calling by Metro Boomin, Nav. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie With Swae Lee.
Both show movie clips paired with the songs and their lyrics. They seem pointless.
The disc opens with ads for Spider-Man 2 video game, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Into the Spider-Verse. No trailer for Across appears here.
A second disc provides a DVD copy of Across. It includes “Creating”, “Raising” and “Spider-Cast” but it lacks all the other extras.
After the success of the prior film, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse maintains that high level of quality. The first of two chapters, Across brings an inventive and fresh superhero flick. The Blu-ray offers excellent picture and audio as well as a decent set of supplements. I look forward to the second part of this adventure.
