Bullet Points: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
After more than four years of people recommending 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to me, I finally got around to watching it this past weekend.
It was a good thing too, since I as I type this intro I am about to attend a press screening for the second chapter in the Miles Morales saga, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse…
- A John Hughes Film: The beginning of the movie focuses on Gwen Stacy (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld) and her life since returning to her dimension, her feelings for Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) and her relationship with her police captain father. The movie shifts to Miles Morales’ dimension and Miles’ struggles of being the new Spider-Man in his dimension and dealing with his parents, who know that he isn’t being 100% truthful with them. Not to mention Miles missing his mentor, Peter, and even more noticeably Gwen. The early part of the movie feels like it could have been a coming-of-age teen flick directed by John Hughes in the 1980s and not the work of Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson.
- Scratching the Surface: I thought Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse did a great job providing the backstory that the Miles Morales saga needed… turns out that it merely scratched the surface. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse builds on the groundwork laid in the first film and introduces the “Spider Society” as well as the Miguel O’Hara character (voiced by Oscar Isaac). Miguel is the Spider-Man tasked with keeping everyone in their proper dimensions and he has a whole army of “Spider-Men” to help him do it. The deeper your Spidey fandom the more you will probably enjoy this aspect of the movie.
- Villain of the Week: My biggest curiosity going into the movie was who would the main villain be and to be honest with you, now that I have seen the movie, I am still curious about The Spot (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) since this was my first exposure to the character in any form. The movie introduces The Spot in unique fashion, painting him as a comedic figure and a minor inconvenience for our still wet behind the ears Spider-Man. Miles even refers to him as “Villain of the Week” and laughs at The Spot referring to himself as Spidey’s “arch-nemesis”… well, it’s all fun and games until the villain has the ability to travel between interdimensional portals at will. The most intriguing thing about The Spot is it is obvious by the end of the movie that we have yet to see him at his worst.
Having watched all of the various animated incarnations of Spider-Man over the course of my lifetime, the animation featured in Across the Spider-Verse is breathtaking and every frame feels like a work of art. The animation also allows for some spectacular action scenes that a live action film (even with all the CGI bells and whistles) could only dream of. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has something for everyone… heroic struggles, plenty of drama, action that jumps off the screen, great use of the Spidey archives, a few surprises and a cliffhanger ending that will leave you wanting more.
