Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: Is It a Mulitversal Masterpiece?

So for the first half-hour or so of this movie, I had a hard time hearing what was going on.  I could hear the music and sound effects, but the dialogue was sort of tough to make out.  I didn't know if I was going crazy or if it was the theater I was in.  After the movie ended, I went online to see what everyone else was saying about it.  One of the producers, Phil Lord, said in a tweet that "If you get to the theater early...ask someone to check that the theater volume is set at reference (7)!  If it sounds a bit quiet, invite them to turn it up a touch to 7.5!"  I really wish I had known that going in, because it was tough for me to get the most out of the movie.  Hopefully, I get to see this again soon and the problem is fixed.  With all of that out of the way, let's get started!

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson and it stars Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez, Jason Schwartzmann, Jake Johnson, and Oscar Isaac.  After encountering a new villain named the Spot (Schwartzmann), Miles Morales (Moore) goes on a multiversal journey to stop him.  Along the way, he'll meet a secret society of Spider-Men, led by Miguel O'Hara (Isaac), and Miles will have to struggle with what it means to be Spider-Man.  With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the review!

I'm just going to say this right off the bat: I don't think this movie is as great as the first one.  Then again, that's a really tough feat to accomplish.  With that being said, this is a great movie that, like its predecessor, will change the animation medium again.  A lot of this movie focuses on the relationship between Gwen Stacy (Steinfeld) and Miles.  There's a good chunk towards the beginning that really elaborates on Stacy's backstory.  It was really interesting to see this, after it was hinted at in the first one.  Gwen, like all Spider-Men, is a character that has gone through a lot and it's partially because of this that she has such a strong bond with Miles.  Their chemistry is off the charts, no doubt helped by the voice-acting talents of Steinfeld and Moore.  They bounce off of each other really well and it felt like a genuine friendship.  This movie takes place about a year after the first one and we get to see how the characters have evolved.  Miles is a lot more comfortable being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.  The movie did such a brilliant job of showing how he has matured in an organic way.  He's not as hesitant as the first time around.   Another thing I really liked about Across the Spider-Verse was that it explored the relationship between Miles and his mom, Rio Morales (Velez).  She didn't get a ton to do in the first one, so it was nice getting to see her have more of a role.  Some of my favorite parts involved her and her husband, Jeff (Henry).  He doesn't have as much to do this time around, but he still is very important to the movie.  His dynamic with Spider-Man is really funny as well.  Unlike other cops in different iterations of Spider-Man, Jeff views Spidey as more of a nuisance than a vigilante.  He's fine working with him.  There's one scene that's absolutely hysterical, where he's talking about how he has to deal with Miles.  Spider-Man, who's really Jeff's son, said something that just cracked me up.  What's really funny is that Miles changes his voice as Spidey when he's around his father.  Again, it felt like such an organic evolution of the relationship that we saw in the first one.  Peter B. Parker (Johnson) is back as well.  He has completely transformed as a character since the last time we saw him.  He's now a dad and it really has changed him for the best.  It is such a beautiful and natural arc.  There's a ton of new characters as well that really stood out.  Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) was a scene-stealer.  He was hysterical.  He's essentially a British Spider-Man that hates the establishment and loves to start a little chaos.  Since he has such a heavy accent, it was a little hard to understand him, but that's part of the appeal.  Miguel O'Hara A.K.A Spider-Man 2099 was also a cool addition to the cast.  He's very dark and brooding for reasons that I really can't get into because of spoilers.  O'Hara isn't a villain per se, but he's definitely not a character to root for.  He is in charge of the society of Spider-Men that I mentioned earlier, that's composed of many different multiversal versions of the Webhead.  This movie does a wonderful job of taking tropes that are associated with Spider-Man and working it into the overall structure of the story.  Every Spidey has to deal with loss of some sort.  There are certain moments (or as this movie calls them, Canon Events) that must happen to Spider-Man for reasons that I won't get into because they are extremely spoiler-filled.  It's a clever use of writing and very meta.  Villian-wise the Spot is the main guy here and is pretty interesting.  He is pretty much a dude covered in spots that are portals to different places.  At first, he's sort of a big idiot that even the movie jokes about.  Over time, however (without getting into too many spoilers), he becomes a genuine threat.  Part of what makes the Spot so cool is his look, which can be said for the whole movie.  The first Spider-Verse was gorgeous, a comic book come to life.  It revolutionized the animation game.  Across takes it one step further.  Each frame of this movie is like a painting and should be hung up.  There were so many times where I was wondering, how did they animate this?  It was incredible.  My friend texted me the next day and said, "I want to extract like a thousand wallpapers from it."  He's right.  There was so much care put into every little detail of the film.  Unlike the last movie, we get to visit different dimensions.  Each one is animated differently.  One that really stuck out was Gwen's.  At first, it looks pretty similar to Miles'.  Once you look closer though, you get the sense that it was painted with water colors.  It even overlaps styles.  Slight spoilers here, but towards the beginning, Gwen has to fight the Vulture.  It's not the one from her dimension.  He looks like he came from a universe where the drawings of the Renaissance have come to life.  It was gorgeous.  I could go on forever about how beautiful this movie looks, but I can only write for so long.  I can't wait to see how they innovate even more with the next one.  Yes, by the way, this movie directly sets up a sequel, but I won't get too much into it.  The movie ended and you could just feel the energy in the theater.  Going back to the movie itself,  I loved the action.  It felt like I was watching panels from a comic book.  Everything is just so well-choreographed.  There's a sequence that involves Miles being chased  by thousands of Spider-Men.  It's exhilarating.  What makes it work, I believe, is the animation that I talked about earlier.  It just fits so well.  There's also a ton of references and cameos in this movie, but they never managed to get in the way of the story.  Some of them were quite surprising.

I didn't have a ton of problems with the film.  My main one was the audio issue that I mentioned earlier.  This movie is pretty long, 2 hours and 20 minutes, which is one of the longest animated movies from the West ever.  Some parts in the beginning did tend to drag on just a teeny bit for me.  Some characters, like Peter B. Parker, take a backseat this time around, but that's understandable since this is Miles' story.   Sometimes, some of the cameos might be a little too inside baseball for some people.  What I mean by this is that are some really obscure references to Spider-Man media that the casual movie goer won't really pick up on.  Another thing I was a little bummed with was the score.  The first one had great pieces like Prowler's theme, but I really didn't latch onto anything here.  With that being said, these are very tiny gripes.

To wrap everything up, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a great sequel.  The characters, particularly Miles and his relationship with Gwen and his parent, are awesome, the new players add a lot, the animation is absolutely breathtaking, the actions is spectacular and the references are really neat.  I had some problems with the audio, the pacing in the beginning was a little off,  I didn't really care that a few characters got sidelined, a couple references might go over people's heads, and the music wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.  With that being said, this is a great movie and I am pumped for the sequel next year!  If I were to rate it, I'd give Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse an 8.5-9/10.