Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
What Hi-Fi?
What Hi-Fi?
Technology
Robyn Quick

Marvel's animated epic is ideal for testing your Dolby Atmos system – but it's leaving Netflix this week

Netflix.

Looking for a way to challenge your home cinema system, all while enjoying one of the most exciting superhero films to grace our screens in the past few years?

This could be the ideal watch for you. Marvel's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is still available to stream on Netflix. You'll have to be quick to catch it, though: it's leaving the streaming service at the end of this week.

If this animated hit has somehow passed you by, let me catch you up. The film takes place over a year after the events of the first instalment (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) where teenager Miles Morales develops spidey powers.

As he settles into his role as Spider-Man in his hometown Brooklyn, Miles discovers a whole group of Spidey-People led by Miguel O'Hara. But our protagonist is less welcome than he thinks and soon must try to carve his own path and change his destiny.

The sequel has been a huge success with critics and audiences alike. The movie boasts an impressive 95 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes for both the Tomatometer and Popcornmeter.

The Guardian's Wendy Ide also adds “there’s not a frame of this rich, kaleidoscopically detailed animation that isn’t dazzling.” If that's not high praise, I'm not sure what is.

But what makes it such a good test movie?

First off, it's popping and punchy colours make it a heck of a good way to put an OLED TV through its paces. From the bright red of the Spider-Man suits to the rich black of the villainous Spot's transformed body, every frame offers a tapestry of wealth when it comes to picture.

Then there's the fine sound performance to consider. Take the scene where Miles is being pursued by a crazed Spider-Man 2099 (known to his friends as Miguel O'Hara) through Nueva York.

As Miles flees from Miguel, Daniel Pemberton's energetic score perfectly reflects the tension of the scene. Miles desperately clambers further away, moving from the top to the bottom of the frame in a moment. With Atmos, you can close your eyes and pinpoint where he is on the screen – all of which is emphasised by the fast-paced soundtrack.

This scene is so impressive in terms of the audio performance, in fact, that it is included in our guide to the best Dolby Atmos movie scenes to test your home cinema surround sound system.

It might be leaving Netflix, but once it's gone, there will still be plenty of ways to watch the superhero epic. It's available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

As always, though, we recommend investing in the 4K Blu-ray edition of the film to get the best viewing experience possible at home. You can pick this up via the usual avenues, such as HMV and Amazon.

MORE:

This is our review of the Apple TV 4K

Now Showing: three movies we have been obsessed with in the What Hi-Fi? test room

These are the best OLED TVs

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.