Jul 13, 2020

Watch Dogs: Legion" cinematic trailer is "Spider-Verse" on steroids

Game publisher Ubisoft, which has been in the news lately for unfortunate reasons, has released the cinematic trailer "Tipping Point" for its upcoming title "Watch Dogs: Legion."

If it feels similar to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," that's because the director is Alberto Melgo, who created the film through his independent production company Pinkman.tv and DDB Paris.

Mielgo was the original production designer of "Spider-Verse" and established the visual language of the film before being fired from the production for reasons that are not entirely clear. He was eventually credited as a "visual consultant," an unappreciated designation given that his development work on the film served as a template for other productions.

Part of the creative tension in the "Spider-Verse" between Mielgo and the Sony staff seems to stem from the fact that Mielgo wanted to push the graphic style more than the rest of the team. In "Watch Dogs," it feels as if Mielgo is trying to clean up unfinished business, in effect showing the audience what "Spider-Verse" would have looked like had he had his way.

In addition to this film, Mielgo recently directed the multi-Emmy Award-winning "The Witness" segment for the Netflix anthology Love, Death & Robots. Last year, a deal was announced with Greg Silverman's independent production company Stampede for Mielgo to write and direct an original animated feature.