Movie Review: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a revolutionary film. It is a film that pushes the boundaries of animation on film. A film that questions the conventions of superhero movies and their genre tropes. A comic book movie sequel that is as big, bold, and ambitious as any we have ever seen.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, is a phenomenal comic book movie sequel. Like other great comic book movie sequels like Spider-Man 2 and The Dark Knight, Across the Spider-Verse is bigger and bolder than the previous film and takes the characters that we were introduced to in the first film to new levels.
The first thirty minutes of the film focus on Gwen Stacy, aka Spider-Gwen (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld), and her life as the hero of her world following the events of the first film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Following an encounter with Adrian Toomes/Vulture (Jorma Taccone), a version of the villain from another dimension, Gwen discovers the Spider Society, a group of Spider-Men, Spider-Women, and Spider-Things (like a Spider-Cat, Spider-Rex, or LEGO Spider-Man) who are trying to keep the multiverse intact. Gwen joins this team and one of her missions brings her back to Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), who is going through the typical Spider-Man storyline: he loves being Spider-Man but he is having trouble balancing his personal life and his life as a city hero. We’ve seen this story in every Spider-Man movie and show before and we’ll probably see it again in future iterations.
When a new villain by the name of The Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) threatens the balance of the multiverse, Gwen must leave Miles and try and stop The Spot’s multiverse plan. Miles follows her through her multiverse portal and finds himself at the Spider Society despite not being invited. While there, he learns from the society’s leader, Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac) that a tragic event will take place in Miles’s life because that’s what happens to all Spider-People and that event is what makes them the hero’s they are today. Miles refuses to believe this and is then in a race to stop this event from happening while being hunted by O’Hara and other Spider-People across different universes trying to stop him from causing chaos in the multiverse.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse knows how big and epic it is, and it takes its time to make sure every character and story is developed. With a robust runtime of two hours and twenty minutes, every minute flies by and is used perfectly to enhance the story and the characters. Whether it’s a scene between Miles and his parents (the heart of the film) or a pulse-pounding action scene, nothing gets short-changed and the result is an emotionally rich and thrilling film. The film also does a great job of going in-depth into the multiverse, making sure we know all the stakes of what is happening while never making it confusing or convoluted.
On a purely visual level, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is one of the most visually impressive movies I have ever seen. The film pops with color, style, swagger, and creativity. Every scene is so detailed and has so much going on, I kept scanning the entire screen so I could attempt to see every inch of what was going on. There are probably a million little details I missed in my viewing, but I would happily see this movie again to try and catch everything.
What was most impressive about the animation was the combination of styles the filmmakers used. Each world and each character is a different style and they are all spectacular and singular. It was even more impressive when they combined the styles into one shot or one scene. 2D, 3D, CGI, hand-drawn, watercolor, black and white, and everything in between all show up in this movie. I have never seen anything like this before in an animated movie and I was completely blown away. Across the Spider-Verse is a groundbreaking piece of animated filmmaking and shows that there are no limits to what can happen in an animated movie.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the best comic book movie since Avengers: Endgame. Besides the thrilling action and detailed story, Across the Spider-Verse looks at comic book movies and asks questions about their conventions and the necessity to be the same story over and over again. For Spider-Man, that would be the death of an important parental figure in his life leading him to become a great superhero. But is the necessary for his journey? Does Miles Morales need this to be part of his journey for him to become a great hero? It’s a smart question to ask in a world where we have seen Batman’s parents and Spider-Man’s parental figure die several times on screen while also living in a cinematic world where a lot of comic book movies seem run-of-the-mill and basic, two things Across the Spider-Verse is not.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is everything you could want in a movie. It’s an exciting, funny, entertaining film full of heart and humor. It is technically astounding, visually stunning, and features impressive vocal performances. It is easily one of the best movies of 2023 and one of the greatest comic book movies ever made.
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