'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' Gorgeously Elevates The Miles and Gwen Multiverse

By TK Burton | Film | June 3, 2023 |

By TK Burton | Film | June 3, 2023 |

There are all manner of ways that audiences and critics described 2018’s groundbreaking Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It was called one of the best-animated movies ever made, one of the best superhero movies ever made, and one of the most imaginative films ever made. It was indeed all those things, and possibly more. Through a trio of talented directors, some terrific screenwriters, and a veritable army of innovative, insanely creative animators, Into the Spider-Verse seemingly changed the game when it came to animated storytelling, creating the kind of multimedia viewing experience that you could watch over and over, continuing to find something new.

It’s a lot to live up to, especially given the mixed bag of successes when it comes to modern sequels. When that is aired with the fact that Across the Spider-Verse brought in a new directing trio (Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson), this sequel was facing quite a challenge. Yet somehow, they’ve taken all the emotion, heart, beauty, and creativity of that first movie and elevated it to a new level. Across the Spider-Verse is a stunner - a gorgeous, lively, dizzying film that takes two of the best characters from the first film, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), and uses them as a framework to explore this wild series of universes to even greater heights.

The film starts with Miles and Gwen each back in their own universes, struggling to find the kind of bond and friendship they had discovered with each other and their oddball collection of co-spider-people in the first film. Feeling adrift and unable to share their secrets with their loved ones, they’re growing distant and frustrated with their lives. Fortunately - or so it seems - fate throws the two together again thanks to a bizarre new, seemingly-innocuous villain named The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) and the mysterious workings of Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), Spider-Man 2099, who runs an interdimensional network of Spider-folks charged with repairing anomalies in the multiverse.

While is may sound complicated, it’s actually a marvelously easy-to-grasp take on the Marvel Multiverse, and in part that’s because the film is ultimately more about the characters than the conflicts. Yes, there is astonishing action, amazing pastiches of animation styles - even some live-action parts thrown in - and a soundtrack that rivals the first film’s superlative hip-hop beats and rhythms. Across the Spider-Verse is an absolute riot of light and color and sound, a dizzying combination that would seem excessively flashy if not for the fact that there is so much damn heart in the film. Perhaps it doesn’t hit the emotional beats quite as hard as the first film - there’s no moment that gut-punches like the first film’s death or the “leap of faith” scenes, but there is still plenty of love here though, thanks to the excellent screenplay by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and David Callaham.

Much like Into the Spider-Verse, what we’re seeing is often simple metaphors for growing up, for feeling left out, and for the struggles of the disenfranchised and marginalized. Those themes are further explored here, in glorious and diverse colors, including the addition of another universe where Spider-Man is Indian (and voiced by Karan Soni, aka Dopinder from Deadpool), defending the city of Mumbattan. There’s also a terrific turn by Daniel Kaluuya as Spider-Punk, an anarchist punk rocker Spidey who despises authority and the status quo and gives a more mature voice to some of the anger and frustration with the establishment that Miles feels. Yet Moore and Steinfeld are the soul of the film, having a complex relationship with ups, downs, affections, and betrayals, all tied into the beating heart of the film’s breakneck-paced story.

It’s no surprise that the film succeeds so resoundingly - its directors are behind the likes of Pixar’s Soul and Star Trek: Discovery as well as the original Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legacy of Korra, and Netflix’s recent Voltron reboot. All of these are series renowned for being fun as hell while also tackling in-depth, varied subject matter. pedigrees shine through here, as Across the Spider-Verse hits so many beats that it is as emotionally affecting as it is visually arresting. It’s the rare film that is hard to find fault with, a resoundingly engaging and enjoyable story that continues to up the game in terms of visual style. If there’s one real complaint, it’s that we’ll have to wait a year for the resolution of its monster cliffhanger of an ending. I suspect, however, that the wait will be worthwhile.