Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2023) – Net Positive

Released: 1st June
Seen: 1st June

It’s kind of wild to think about how different things were in December of 2018, both in terms of general worldwide issues and in the pop-culture landscape. Obviously, we didn’t know at the time that we were about a year away from experiencing one of the biggest worldwide events in human history, weren’t to know that the simmering of fascism that popped up in small places was going to become an overwhelming constant nightmare that would seemingly never end and in the world of pop culture we’d all just experienced the absolute shock that was Infinity War. 

This was the last point in history when people who were into the MCU believed there was only one timeline and at best any references to different versions of the characters we’d grown to love would be relegated to throw-away jokes… and then Into the Spider-Verse came out and screamed “Surprise bitches, Multiverses are an option now” and in doing so not only completely changed what was possible within the Marvel franchise but was also just generally one of the best-animated movies of all time. It was an absolute miracle of a film that almost begged for a sequel that we were patiently waiting for… then a plague happened so it took 5 years but we now have that sequel and it’s just as glorious as the film that came before.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse picks up shortly after the events of the first film with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) doing his best to juggle both his school life, personal family issues, and his duties as a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man fighting assorted villains every week. This week the big villain Miles has to deal with is some guy called The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) who can produce big black holes out of nowhere that allow him to teleport around. He seems like an easy villain to defeat that he could literally be beaten while Miles is running to a PTA meeting where his parents are waiting but turns out that The Spot might not be so easy to deal with and may have accidentally found a way to jump through the Multiverse.

Once Multiverse hopping starts being involved, Miles might need some help in the form of The Spider-Society. The good news is that the Spider-Society has allowed Miles’ old friend Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) to be a part of the group so there’s at least a familiar face helping on this mission, the bad news is that the Spider-Society is run by Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac) who does not really have a sense of humor, nor does he seem to get along that well with Miles. Still, he and the thousands of other Spider-people are there to help… they just might have a very different definition of what ‘help’ means.

Once again, the Spider-Verse crew just knocks it out of the park when it comes to creating a visual spectacle. If you thought the first film was a treat for the eyes, you haven’t seen anything yet. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse brilliantly creates what has to be a half dozen or more completely unique universes (Gwen’s world looks like a classic impressionist painting, there’s an entire world made of Legos, another that looks like pop-art comic books, the list could go on forever) and every single one of these universes is used to brilliant effect. Every character is just ever so mildly tweaked to fit into them and every time it’s just jaw-dropping to behold. They saw what people loved about the first film and decided to take a bunch of steroids and do it again and it’s glorious to watch, especially any sequence that takes place in Gwen’s world which might be the most beautiful thing to be put in any of these movies.

That embrace of insane variations of visual style isn’t limited to the universes though, much like last time the film lets every single version of Spider-Man that’s in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse be in a clearly different animation style and it’s obscenely impressive how well it all blends together. It feels like someone dared the people behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse to incorporate every single style of animation that’s ever existed into one film and the filmmakers went “Challenge accepted”. Name a style and they throw it in there. Name a version of Spider-Man and chances are good it’s in there, not just recent stuff either but insanely obscure stuff that only the most hyper-knowledgeable fan would even think of referencing. Some films would have trouble combining versions of a character from video games, cheap 60s cartoons and a version that’s a Dinosaur but Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse makes all that just seem like it should naturally fit together.

Yes, there is a Dinosaur version of Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, did I mention it was amazing?

But all the visual bombast in the world can’t really save you if you haven’t got a good story to work with… and once again, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse delivers an absolute barn burner of a story (albeit one that’s going to have to be concluded in Beyond the Spider-Verse which is due to come out in 2024). On a textual level, the story of Miles being basically forced to fight against an army of other Spider-people in order to learn just what makes him special is just a great way to really dive into the character. Miles is already a top-tier Marvel character but getting to have a film basically designed to break him down and explore just what makes him stand out from all the other versions of a friendly neighborhood Spider-man honestly just makes him even better. 

The hope and intense desire to do what’s right is visible in every single scene, you always know how willing he is to throw himself into danger just for the chance to maybe save one more person. Miles Morales is one of those characters who is always trying his hardest to do what’s right, even when what’s right might not be the easy choice and watching him develop along that path is fantastic. This kind of emotional storytelling is hard enough to pull off in films where we can spend a lot of time seeing the character’s face but to do it with a main character who spends a substantial amount of time with a mask on is some next-level shit. The way they are able to crack open Miles and let us see exactly what makes him tick is truly what makes this film special.

Then there are the more meta-textual elements that are either completely intentional or the funniest accident that’s ever happened. One of the core ideas that the film brings up with some regularity is the idea of Canon, basically the thing that makes all the Spider-people what they are is that they all share some very specific pieces of their history (Death of Uncle Ben, Death of loved one, Death of captain who means a lot to them, a whole lot of death) and if someone deviates from that then that will cause entire worlds to crumble and wreak havoc… in other words, Miles Morales basically has to stand up to a bunch of hyper fanboys obsessing over Canon and prove to them that it’s possible to be Spider-Man without ticking a set of pointless boxes. It’s absolutely subtext (and admittedly could just be me reading into something because Fandom is exhausting and it’s nice to imagine them being called out by the medium they love) but it’s the kind of added idea that once again just elevates Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Of course with a big plot full of assorted Spider-people you would hope that this animated film would deliver on the big bombastic action scenes… and your hopes would be worthwhile because oh boy does Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse deliver on some of the most insanely over-the-top web-fuelled action scenes that have been on film in a while. From swinging through towns to the epic chase scene with over a thousand different Spider-people, every chance that Across the Spider-Verse gets to do something absolutely over the top and epic with its insanely large cast of characters it will take that chance and run with it. Just when you think they can’t find a way to throw more Spider-People on the screen, that’s when we just remove the word ‘people’ and start doing non-human variants of Spider-Man (Spider-Horse, Spider-Cat, Spider-Dinosaur, Spider-Car… I did not make any of those up). It’s almost unbelievable just what they throw on the screen and somehow make it all work.

For a film that, in the long run, is largely setting everything up for Beyond The Spider-Verse it’s kind of stunning that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse works as well as it does but it not only manages to meet the insanely high bar set by its predecessor but in many ways, it surpasses it. More visual delights, more heart-stopping action, more Spider-Things and a whole lot more of the fascinating human connections that made the first film so special. Once again, the insane people in charge of this animated franchise have pulled off something magical and it will not be a shock to anyone when they do it again next year. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is about as perfect as an animated film can get, enjoy your swing into the Spider-Verse