Is it possible to find a film that matches the inventiveness, stylistic boldness, and just effortless coolness of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? Not an easy task. Could a sequel ever manage to recapture the same freshness, energy, and visual brilliance? With the release of Spide-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the answer seems to be a resounding YES.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is nothing short of outstanding. Every frame of this visually stunning animated masterpiece is a dazzling display of rich, kaleidoscopic detail. It takes the fundamental themes of the first film – the struggles of adolescence, breakdowns in communication, the chaotic journey of personal growth and finding your place, and a general superhero origin story – and constructs entire worlds around them. It's an overwhelming flood of ideas and visual references, but it never loses its heart. It even manages to incorporate a clever font-related joke.
The filmmaking team and the story itself strike an excellent balance between original talent and fresh perspectives. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller return as writers and producers, but there's a new directing team that includes Kemp Powers (known for Pixar's Soul). Once again, the story revolves around the bond between Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), fellow Spider-people from different multi-verses who first met in the original Spider-Verse film. As the movie kicks off, we pick up the story with Gwen, living on Earth-65, getting a view into another universe, with its own distinct style and color palette. That variation of animation style by universe was first introduced in the prior film, but now we get to explore it even further.
However, we also meet a multitude of new characters with distinctive appearances who join the mix and help Miles’ Spider-Man on his latest adventure. One standout is Hobie (Daniel Kaluuya), a spider-punk anarchist depicted with a graphic style reminiscent of Jamie Reid's Sex Pistols aesthetic and Jamie Hewlett's Gorillaz.
The plot is densely woven, occasionally overwhelming, and Daniel Pemberton's score adds an Escher-like staircase of anxiety. Yet, the film's soul lies in its attention to tiny human details: the way Miles, on the verge of gaining entry to an inner Spider-circle, bounces lightly on his toes, still embodying the excitement of a child eagerly awaiting a treat. Gwen is probably deserving of her own film at some point, but we get to understand her backstory a great deal more this time around. As the two main characters, they have great chemistry (even if it is animated). The additional characters build on the already crazy cast of Spider-Men from the first movie, now including a vampire, an Indian teenager in a Mumbai-Manhattan hybrid city, a pregnant biker, a bathrobe-wearing Spider-Dad, and even a Lego Spider Man.
We won’t spoil the plot, other than to say it’s a wild ride with non-stop wit as we get to know the new cast of characters.
It’s also safe to say we haven’t seen the last of the Spider-Verse, with two strong feature films under its belt (and maybe a cliffhanger ending?). Spider-Man has delivered an impressive 8 live-action films (not counting a few others from the 1970s) and now 2 full-length animated films. That’s basically on par with Batman for a long run of films. So, we can expect this great animated movie series to continue delivering on its promise of wild imagery and even wilder imagination in the future.
