Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse review

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE: 

MILES AND GWEN RETURN IN TRULY SPECTACULAR SEQUEL! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES, SONY PICTURES ANIMATION, AND MARVEL

Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and the many Spider-People in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

 

            Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore-Dope, Cut Throat City, Samaritan) and Gwen Stacy (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld-True Grit (2010), Pitch Perfect 2, Bumblebee) are back in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the latest installment of the Spider-Man franchise and the highly anticipated follow-up to 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I’ll try not to spend too much time recapping my thoughts on the last film since I already did a full Into the Spider-Verse review when it came out, but I’ll quickly sum it up in one word…Perfection! 

            I adored the first Spider-Verse movie when I saw it and thought it was an absolute game-changer not just as an animated and/or superhero movie, but film in general. With distinct animation that takes on various styles, exciting action, fast and tightly-written dialogue, a very unique story that takes full advantage of its potential and takes the Spider-Man series to places never explored before in film, all kinds of memorable characters (including a talking Spider-Pig that was once owned by Homer Simpson!), and a bold coming-of-age tale revolving around Miles learning his powers and becoming the best Spider-Man he can be. 

            It left such an impact on cinema that even the current live-action Spider-Man films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe took inspiration for it with 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home as well as other animated features like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem were heavily influenced by its animation style. It also dethroned Spider-Man 2 as not only my all-time favorite Spider-Man film, but the most times I ever saw a Spider-Man movie (and movie in general) in theaters. 

            Which brings us to the sequel with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Jump Street, The Lego Movie) back as producers and many of the first film’s voice actors returning. The film, however, is directed by Joaquim Dos Santos (Justice League: Unlimited, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra), Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami, Soul), and Justin K. Thompson replacing the three directors of the first movie. 

            Guess what? I love this movie just as much as the first! Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is about as perfect a sequel as you could get that offers more of what people love about its predecessor and multiplies it a million times over while still leaving plenty of room for innovation in both animation and storytelling. 

            Let’s do this one last time, the film follows Miles Morales (voiced by Moore) adapting to being Spider-Man while also struggling to live up to his parents’ expectations. But when his old friend from another dimension Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen (voiced by Steinfeld) shows up and takes him to a secret society of Spider-People known as…well, the Spider Society led by the mysterious Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by Oscar Isaac-Inside Llewyn Davis, A Most Violent Year, Ex-Machina) where they also meet up with Miles’ former mentor from another (another) dimension, Peter B. Parker/Spider-Man (voiced by Jake Johnson-New Girl, Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World) who is now a father, Miles learns that he must make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save the multiverse from a new dimension-hopping threat known as The Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman-Fantastic Mr. Fox, Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Klaus)…or what if Miles could do his own thing instead? 

            The film also features the voices of Issa Rae (The Hate U Give, Little, The Lovebirds) as Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, Karan Soni (Safety Not Guaranteed, Deadpool trilogy, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu) as Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-Man India, Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Black Panther, Nope) as Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk, Greta Lee (Sisters, Money Monster, Past Lives) as Lyla, Andy Samberg (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 1 and 2, Hotel Transylvania franchise, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers) as Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider, Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games, The Hate U Give, Bodies Bodies Bodies) as Margo Kess/Spider-Byte, Jorma Taccone (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) as the Vulture, and Brian Tyree Henry (Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk, Joker) and Luna Lauren Vélez (Dexter, Oz, Ugly Betty) as Miles’ parents Jefferson Davis and Rio Morales. 

            Overall, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse continues to push the boundaries of what can be done with an animated feature, superhero movie, or film in general to the point where the MCU (The big comic book movie juggernaut) version of Spider-Man feels less and less significant with each new Spider-Verse movie. Don’t get me wrong, I had a blast with Spider-Man: No Way Home, but this film is much smarter, a lot more inventive, and the character dynamics of these animated superheroes ironically feel more realistic and relatable than many of the live-action Spider-Man characters. 

            I really enjoy the family dynamic between Miles and his parents with Miles wanting to follow his own path while his parents just want what’s best for him and the scenes where his mother is talking with Miles and motivating him to achieve great things are genuinely heartfelt. Gwen Stacy is more fleshed-out this time around than in the first film with her having her own arc regarding her relationship with her father back in her home dimension and this sort-of love triangle between her, Miles, and Spider-Punk. 

            Much like how the first film mostly focused on Miles and Peter’s relationship, this one is definitely Miles and Gwen-focused and I loved seeing them together even more so than in the first movie. Miles and Gwen have incredible chemistry in this movie, and you believe their friendship (and potential romantic interest), it’s honestly just as much fun to listen to them sit around and talk to each other as it is watching them kick butt as superheroes because of how likable and charming these characters are. 

            I didn’t know anything about The Spot before this movie, but afterwards he is seriously becoming one of my favorite Spider-Man villains of all time. Just this bumbling doofus of a supervillain who just happens to have dimension traveling powers via the holes on his body and really wants to prove himself as a legitimate threat and not a “Villain of the Week”. He reminds me a lot of the Joker from The Lego Batman Movie if I’m being honest and he has one of the most hilarious villain backstories since AU Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb: The Movie. 

            Like its predecessor, the film experiments with different animation and art styles whether it’s character designs or environments and it’s absolutely dazzling. From a Renaissance-themed depiction of the Vulture made out of paper to the grungy Spider-Punk who looks like he’s ripped straight out of a heavy metal magazine, you can just tell by all the attention to detail in every frame of animation that the animators really loved what they were working on and had fun researching all the different artistic styles, every piece of animation stands out and looks incredible on the big screen. 

            The film also pokes fun at various Spider-Man plot tropes seen in other comics, shows, and movies and the way it’s done is absolutely ingenious and fits the interdimensional nature of these films. I don’t want to give it a way, but it’s a very clever way to draw attention to these clichés people familiar with the Spider-Man lore have seen a million times before. 

            But it doesn’t stop at the tropes, the Spider-Man fan service is outstanding and overwhelming to the point where you would need multiple viewings in order to catch everything. An infinite amount of different iterations of the character, countless references to the web-slinger’s history, memes, etc., but it never feels distracting or shifts the focus away from its core characters. 

            I absolutely love this movie, zero flaws or nitpicks, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a perfect masterpiece of a superhero movie that continues to raise the bar and set a new standard for how to create comic book entertainment. See it…and then go again…and again…and again…in fact, go see it every single day for the rest of your life or at least until Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse hits theaters next year! 

I’m gonna piss a lot of people off for saying this, but I’m sorry this is just how I feel after experiencing this game-changing piece of cinema!