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June 4, 2023

Quick Review: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse


If the first blew your mind...

I unfortunately missed out on seeing the original Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in theaters back in 2018, only getting to it on home media after the film's success at the Oscars. And I loved it when I saw it. I swore to myself that I wouldn't miss this one. Saw it yesterday.

In our current cultural media zeitgeist where so many works (especially but not exclusively superhero stuff) focus on the multiverse as THE popular topic, any movie that comes out has to find a way to stand out from the others. If the film that precedes this one was an excellent entrance into the subject, especially with the MCU moving on to focusing on it from Phases 4 to 6... with varying degrees of success. For the MCU alone there's Loki, which I haven't seen; Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is great in all the ways its fanservice needed to be; and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which... eh, it's middling, does a lot of things right, but doesn't actually go as deep into the topic as it could have with its premise.

And of course, in that paragraph, there's a big Everything Everywhere All At Once-shaped hole. I also saw EEAAO once it got a physical release, and I enjoy it a lot as well for actually going as deep into the topic as it could, and delivering on all its ideas, which makes for a hilarious and awesome ride at the cost of making the film feel crowded with plot points and loose ends to tie together towards the resolution. To be fair, that's the risk of every story about the multiverse. It's hard otherwise to get an actual feel of the scope of the subject matter.

I mean, literally all of these movies could have a discussion that goes, "the multiverse is infinite", "okay but that means how many of me are there?", "which part of INFINITE didn't you understand??" But I digress.

Story

(Despite my best efforts, there may be a few spoilers here, so tread lightly.)

In the year following the events of Into the Spider-Verse, things don't quite settle for some Spider-People.  Of course we have Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) learning the ropes as his universe's new Spider-Man, which involves all the hardships that come with the spot: Lying to his family, being late to events, struggling to have both his civilian and superhero lives coexist. Especially at an important time in his life where, at 15, he has to choose what to do with his life, and what he wants. His straining relationship with his parents isn't helped by his dad Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry) being promoted to Captain in the NYPD.

While we have Miles' story, I would say that Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) is a strong deuteragonist. Perhaps she even takes the spot of main character in his place this time around. Facing issues of her own due to her greatest mistake as Spider-Woman, she nonetheless jumps into action when the Guggenheim Museum is attacked by the Vulture. No, not her universe's. That fight takes place in her universe where the style is dominated by pastel colors and an "oil painting" feel. Perhaps moreso than its predecessor, this film takes great pains to make each universe look distinct in design, not always significantly, but at least notably. Members of the multiversal Spider-Society arrive to help her and capture this Vulture, and with her own father, Captain George Stacy (Shea Whigham) pointing a gun at her due to her status as a vigilante, she jumps into their portal and flees her world.

The Spider-Society is comprised of hundreds of Spider-People from across the multiverse (many of which you can recognize if you're the least bit familiar with the franchise), all brought together through the efforts of one: Miguel O'Hara (Oscar Isaac), AKA Spider-Man 2099, one much less comedic than his fellows. He intends to use this team to right the wrongs caused by the multiversal incursions (from the previous film) while preventing others from happening, and also ensuring every universe's events happen as they're supposed to be... Vows which, ironically because of his initiative, are far more likely to be broken than they ever did before. He also strongly dislikes Miles and refuses to let him sit at the cool kids' table.

Meanwhile, Miles has to deal with his own repercussions from the initial event with the super-collider; a new villain, the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), was born from it. He can use the spots on his body as portals and summon holes at will. Not too impressive, right? Well, this guy takes poorly to being called a loser villain, and sets out to become a threat to not only Miles' Spider-Man, but the entire Spider-Verse...

Review

As I said, this film ups the ante when it comes to design. The first film was gorgeous and extremely stylized, despite only really showing one universe; this one really goes all-out, with Spider-People in as many styles as possible, leading to some of the most peculiar medium blending that's ever been seen. Without spoiling, it goes to pretty odd places.

The film is the record holder for longest animated film to see a worldwide release, clocking in at 2 hours 20 minutes. (The trend of long movies is catching up to animation, it seems...) Although those are two very busy hours spent across something like six different universes, the focus isn't lost from the story that's being told. The relationship between Miles and Gwen is given a lot of space, and both have an important arc. Unfortunately, the film's runtime does work against it eventually, as it feels long in the end covering all its bases and setting up the next installment, which is a direct sequel to the events happening here, the film even closing on a cliffhanger.

If you're averse to self-awareness, you might want to skip this one, as on top of referencing the hundreds of Spider-People from across the time the franchise has existed, the plot directly revolves around the way Spider-Man, the character and his stories, work. It's a running gag among anyone who follows comic books that every Spider-Man's life is just a never-ending sequence of tragedies, and... well, Across the Spider-Verse leans into this pretty hard.

Talk about an all-star cast, too. Aside from those mentioned, we have a return of Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, Daniel Kaluuya, Andy Samberg and Amandla Stenberg as other prominent Spider-People of different ethnicities and quirks. And they all add their own little something to the greater plot, adding and improving the main story, not detracting from it. There are several surprises that I refuse to reveal, let's just say I let out an audible "WTF?" more than once in the theater. (I probably shouldn't have, there were kids in the room.)

And, obviously, like most recent superhero media, this movie doesn't exist in a vacuum and, while the movie tries to be viewable without seeing Into the Spider-Verse, it's easier to understand if you've seen it, and in fact, you get more out of it if you already know about several Spider-Man variants and are well-versed in the Spider-Man media associated to both the MCU and the Sony Spider-Man Universe (which also includes Venom and Morbius).

In short: Not a ton of flaws, so definitely worth watching.

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