Film Review — Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE IS A PART TWO FOR THE AGES
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is astounding. Delivering a multiverse story in service of its characters rather than the other way around, directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson elevate this Spider-sequel with jaw-dropping craft and a keen deconstruction of the wall crawler’s metafiction. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the closest a movie has ever come to the joy of reading a great comic book, splash pages and all. Minor spoilers ahead…
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was released five years ago in 2018, but the gulf between the popular cinematic landscapes - then and now - is wider than you would think. Compared to a time when Marvel movies were still consistently good, the Disney remake engine was barely at a rev, and the multiverse was but a glint in Doctor Strange’s eye, 2023 is altogether a different zeitgeist. But five years after its release, Into the Spider-Verse remains the gold standard for not only animation, but superheroics, spinning a new origin for Brooklyn-teen-turned-web-slinger Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) while becoming one of the definitive Spider-Man stories of the last two decades. Its sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, has big shoes to fill: Its predecessor is a nigh-impossible-to-reach benchmark, and the average moviegoer - amidst a flagging superhero movie complex and a glut of IP key-jingling - is now more discerning than ever. But even with the deck stacked against it, Across the Spider-Verse is astounding. The rare sequel that expands upon its precursor’s craft, thematic depth, and understanding of its iconic hero and his namesake, its most likely the closest a superhero film has ever come to capturing the experience of reading a great comic book.
Across the Spider-Verse’s updated, hard-to-pin-down aesthetic is instantly recognizable. The dazzling amalgamation of traditional, hand-drawn line-work and state-of-the-art computer animation from Into the Spider-Verse makes a welcome return, but right off the bat, something is different. Opening on Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), almost bumped up to co-lead after the events of the first film, Across the Spider-Verse makes it known that its artistry will be swinging for the fences with a jaw-droppingly creative cold open. Realized through distinctly gorgeous brushwork imitating watercolor and pencil, Gwen’s cross-dimensional origin sets a dazzling stage for different styles to coalesce into a beautifully geeked-out tapestry. Always on the verge of overload without frying your brain and paradoxically profuse and legible at the same time, Across the Spider-Verse deftly walks a tightrope as a candidate for 2023’s best-looking movie: It’s a monumental work of art that stands out in a sea of sludgy, featureless blockbusters that have sadly become the industry norm.
“Always on the verge of overload without frying your brain, Across the Spider-Verse deftly walks a tightrope as a candidate for 2023’s best-looking movie…”
This time around, the villain is a C-lister crook-of-the-week by the name of The Spot (Jason Schwartzman). Borne from the same laboratory that birthed Miles’ powers, The Spot is content burgling corner bodegas and committing petty larceny, but when he begins to realize the full potential of his dimension-hopping abilities, it seizes the attention of a multiversal squadron of Spider-People tasked with protecting all the variant universes. Led by Spider-Man 2099 Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), a beefy, vampiric heavy with no sense of humor, this interdimensional Spider-Team - a well-oiled machine putting the lid on multiversal anomalies and parallel-word threats - is eventually put on a collision course with none other than Miles Morales, whose “do it my way” gumption threatens not only the welfare of the multiverse, but the very foundations of what it means to be a Spider-Man.
On its surface, Across the Spider-Verse plays the hits like every cameo-obsessed, superhero blockbuster. Even more so than its predecessor, it includes parades of “I recognize that!” layups and easy access Easter eggs: surprising appearances, clever visual gags, and resurgent memes are littered throughout. But unlike its comic book movie brethren, Across the Spider-Verse has much more on its mind than just mining gawks and cheers from its audience; its multiverse story - scripted by the trio of Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and David Callaham - is fully in service of its characters rather than the other way around, and perhaps even seeks to upend the very pillars of the web-slinging hero’s mythos.
“Its multiverse story…is fully in service of its characters rather than the other way around, and perhaps even seeks to upend the very pillars of the web-slinging hero’s mythos.”
There are no fewer than 10 Spider-Man movies across the last two decades, so it’s difficult to anticipate a fresh spin on the character’s perennial juggling act of power, responsibility, and superheroism, but Across the Spider-Verse tackles the stalwarts of Spider-Man lore not only in a fresher way, but also a deeper way. Miles’ expected struggle balancing his vigilantism with his overbearing - but well-meaning - parents is buoyed by endearing performances from Luna Lauren Veléz and Brian Tyree Henry, but the narrative really finds its juice when Miles collides with Miguel’s iron-fisted policing of the multiverse. Cleverly confronting head-on the tried-and-true cycle of tragedy, sacrifice, and triumph of Spider-Man - both the Peter Parker and Miles Morales versions of the character - Across the Spider-Verse unspools the metafiction, pitting bleak comic book determinism against free will. Is Miles’ story already written like so many versions of the superhero? Or can he spin his own fate?
Very much a part two, many of Across the Spider-Verse’s hard-hitting questions aren’t answered by the end of its brisk-feeling 140-minute runtime. Some will feel cheated and unfulfilled by its “to be continued” tag, and it’s hard not to prefer the streamlined, airtight masterwork of Into the Spider-Verse, but there’s no denying there’s an unbridled, awesome magnetism to this super-sequel. Its bombastic balancing act is a rare feat: Across the Spider-Verse is a sprawling jaunt through the multiverse and it provides just as many hits of cameo-induced dopamine as its less-revered contemporaries, but - against all odds - it’s also a hallmark of animation teeming with creativity and unparalleled craft, all striving to extract simple, emotional truths from its unmoored characters. Like Miles Morales himself, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a wonderful anomaly. We’ll have to wait until next March to see if Beyond the Spider-Verse sticks the landing, but if it’s even half as good as its predecessor, we’re in for an all-timer trilogy.
