Overview:
Miles Morales finally gets a handle on the whole Spider-Man routine when questions about his future and college leave him longing for the camaraderie that he used to have. A growing desire to reconnect with Gwen Stacey causes Miles to inadvertently interfere with universal canon that leaves the Spider-Verse in shaky shape. Miles finds himself becoming a fugitive and on the run from Spider-Men and destiny itself, all while he deals with his own nemesis, The Spot.
Our Take:
At this point, the multiverse isn’t just a mainstream topic, but it’s material that somehow has been shoved down the audience’s throats that it’s somehow become passé. “The best multiverse movie” is a superlative that means less each year, but Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse doesn’t just claim this honor, along with the best Spider-Man movie, but it might just be the best film about comic books and the nature of comic storytelling of all-time.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse celebrated an uplifting message where anyone can wear the mask, be Spider-Man, and seize their destiny. Alternatively, Across the Spider-Verse is about re-writing that destiny and understanding that this mask means that life is a necessary balance of tragedy and joy. It’s a logical, more mature theme that connects with the slightly older version of Miles Morales who is present in Across the Spider-Verse.
The first Spider-Verse film is firmly Miles’ story even though each of his Spider partners leave excellent impressions. One of the smartest pivots made in Across the Spider-Verse is that this is just as much Gwen’s movie as it is Miles. Gwen’s growth beautifully parallels Miles own personal hurdles as the two try to embrace their similarities while not succumbing to the same mistakes. Structurally, this makes sense and it’ll pay off even more in Beyond the Spider-Verse. However, Gwen is an excellent character and the movie creates a welcome balance, and symmetry, through their character arcs.
On the topic of characters, the marketing behind Across the Spider-Verse has gone all in on the literally hundreds of Spider-Family cameos. These appearances are undeniably fun and the movie finds so much joy in getting Andy Samberg to mope around as Ben Reilly, but this film is a whole lot more than just empty cameos and nerdy fan service (although there are some great Easter Eggs for longtime fans of Spider-Man cinema). There’s endless heart and optimism in this superhero story. Across the Spider-Verse also exhibits incredible restraint when it comes to which characters from the past film return and this sequel is hardly an endless parade of return players. Every character fulfills an important role here.
When it comes to villains, the first Spider-Verse movie benefits from its main antagonist’s emotional connection to Miles. Across the Spider-Verse doesn’t stumble in this category and it does some really creative things with its villains, some of which might actually be heroes. When it comes to the origin story behind The Spot, fans of the first Spider-Verse will not be disappointed. There’s extreme significance behind the cause and effect nature of this villain and how he represents the contrasting consequences of butterfly effects.
Part of the joy in the original Spider-Verse movie was the anarchic chaos in all of these disparate art styles working in tandem. Across the Spider-Verse makes the first film almost look visually boring in comparison. All of the unique Spider-Man aesthetics are seamlessly integrated (an entire essay could be written on the glory of Daniel Kaluuya’s Spider-Punk and just how hard this character goes in attitude and animation), but the film also pulls from wilder source material, like a Renaissance era Vulture whose art style is evocative of Da Vinci sketches. All of these touches are fantastic, but the film also adopts such a stunning visual language for different emotional throughlines. The arguments between Gwen and her father are conveyed with bleeding watercolors that perfectly symbolize the fragile feelings on display. This is a movie that makes you want to curse your eyes for having to blink.
If there’s anything to knock Across the Spider-Verse on it’s that the film does enter a point in its second act where it feels like it devolves into endless chase sequences. That being said, it’s hard to complain about these sequences when each one is truly a next level visual masterpiece. These chases are sometimes exhausting, but they never feel repetitive and Across the Spider-Verse has perfected its script and pacing so that its two-hour-and-fifteen-minute runtime flies by. Those that are aware that that is the first installment in a two-part affair may begin to slightly see the writing on the wall during the film’s final act. That being said, there’s a huge twist towards the end that works so well and feels incredibly natural. Heavy emotional catharsis bookend the movie with both Miles and Gwen’s respective families so that the middle of the movie can fully let loose and have fun.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse throws the word “anomaly” around a lot, but it’s a genuine magic trick how well the movie is able to embrace this concept as a unifying theme. On an emotional level, Miles Morales feels like an anomaly as he struggles to be honest with family, find his community, and figure out his community. However, Miles is also a literal anomaly when his Spider-Man mucks around in a universe where he doesn’t belong. The film weaponizes and vilifies the other-ification of anomalies while the film fundamentally argues if these are bad things or necessary for growth. This alone is thematically sound, but Across the Spider-Verse takes this one step further through the very origins of Miles Morales’ character and how he is the original Spider-Man and the real world cause for all of this. It’s a turducken of meta that’s such a smart use of the multiverse and Spider-Man character that it’s almost frustrating.
In a time when sequels are inevitable rather than justifiable, Across the Spider-Verse finds the perfect angle for its story that’s somehow stronger than its predecessor’s mission statement, while also helping it evolve. If the entire series is to be viewed as a trilogy than Across the Spider-Verse is the perfect middle chapter–a true Empire Strikes Back–that effortlessly improves upon everything from the previous movie, while leaving the audience on a heavy note of uncertainty that’s guaranteed to make the year-long wait for Beyond the Spider-Verse even more impossible.