Movie Review: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
When "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" was released in 2018, it was a huge success. Critics and fans loved it and, most importantly for the studio, made a ton of money. It was a masterpiece of animation and storytelling. Could a sequel live up to the hype?
Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) encounters a team of other Spider-Men on a mission to protect the multiverse.
Does this sequel live up to the first one; yes, and then some. The story, the animation, and the action sequences are all better than the first movie (and that one set the bar pretty high). The first movie focused solely on Miles, but this one splits the story between Miles and Gwen Stacy (Hallie Steinfeld). Gwen gets recruited to join "The Spider Society" when she helps Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Issiac) and Spider-Woman (Issa Rae) take down a version of The Vulture from another dimension. She visits Miles in his dimension while chasing The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a villain who has developed the power to hop through the multiverse. She is dealing with rejection from her father after revealing her secret identity, and she is trying to protect Miles from a terrible truth while trying to find her place in the Spider Society.
One of the things I loved about the original movie was that the characters from different universes were animated differently. In this one, that is best shown with Hobie "Spider-Punk" Brown. He is animated in the style of flyers advertising punk shows in the 70s. He looks like he is made of paper. It is such an incredible effect.
The original title for this movie was "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: Part 1," so I knew going into it that all the problems would not be solved by the time the credits rolled. There was someone in the theater who didn't know and was very vocal about his displeasure, which was highly entertaining to watch. This movie takes what made the first one special and does it better. It raises the bar for what animated movies can be from both an animated and storytelling standpoint.
9/10
Rated PG for sequences of animated action violence, some language and thematic elements.
2hr 20m
