A week into its box office run, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is looking more and more like the comic book film high point of the year; with a stellar voice cast, some of the best animation in history, and emotional beats that hit just as hard as the unprecedented spectacle, Across the Spider-Verse is among the best coalescences we’ve ever seen.
Indeed, it takes a Spider-Society to make something as special as the sequel to Into the Spider-Verse, and it’s somehow equal parts dizzying and simplistic to point out the film’s strengths given how much heart was put into each and every aspect of it.
But perhaps one of the more relatively unsung sides of Across the Spider-Verse was its score; it may be difficult for the music to take center-stage with visuals as delectable as these, but those who loaned an extra ear to the film’s music were treated to some melodies that got the blood pumping as much as they got the tear ducts kicking in.
And it was no mistake that film composer Daniel Pemberton‘s music seemed to take on a life of its own during the film; in an interview with Variety, the Across the Spider-Verse score mastermind explained his unique process for crafting such pieces for Miles, Gwen, Pavitr, and the rest of the Spider-People, all of which he built from the ground up.
“You’re trying not to make a score that sounds like other film scores. You’re trying to invent your own language. I spent two years researching and developing this score, going through ideas, coming up with concepts and throwing them out.”
We can only hope that Pemberton is one of the Spider-Verse puzzle pieces that gets retained for Beyond the Spider-Verse, which is due in theaters early next year. The trilogy’s strengths lie in each artist wearing their heart on their sleeve, and Pemberton’s laborious, intimate process is very much in asset in that regard.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.