2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” was a silent hit, earning less than $400 million at the box office, while earning acclaim for its art style, its multiverse-trotting adventure that premiered long before the live action Marvel Cinematic Universe embraced those type of stories and its portrayal of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a Spider-Man of African American and Puerto Rican descent from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Following up on that was no small feat, but I think “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” does a very adequate job. The film actually starts from the perspective of Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), a version of Gwen Stacy that became Spider-Woman after her world’s version of Peter Parker dies — which we see onscreen — whom we met in the last film and who befriended Miles. It seems that in her reality, instead of being bit by a radioactive spider, Peter becomes the Lizard and goes on a rampage before dying. Gwen’s father, George Stacy (Shea Whigham), who is a police captain, sees her as Spider-Woman moments after Peter’s death and blames her for it, not knowing his daughter is underneath the costume.
This all comes to a head when an alternate version of the Vulture (Jorma Taccone) crashes into her reality, in which she helps Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (Spider-Man from the year 2099, voiced by Oscar Isaac) and Jess Drew/Spider-Woman (Issa Rae) capture him. They succeed, but Gwen reveals her secret identity to her father, after which Miguel invites her to join the Spider-Society, which is a multiversal cooperative of Spider-People who fight against anomalies like that version of the Vulture. Basically, if anyone stays too long in a universe they don’t belong without special technology the Spider-Society has, it can erode that reality. Interrupting “canon events” — which happen in every reality — can also do this.
Back in Brooklyn in his own universe, Miles is busy fighting Dr. Jonathan Ohnn/The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), who has no face, is all white and has black-spotlike portals all over his body, when he should be discussing his college plans with his parents and guidance counselor. The Spot is treated initially like a joke or “villain of the week,” but the less Miles takes him seriously, the more emboldened and dangerous he becomes, eventually powering himself up to be the film’s main antagonist. Meanwhile, his father, Jeff Morales (Bryan Henry), is about to be promoted to police captain and he and Miles’ mother, Rio Morales (Luna Velez) have had it with him being late to everything.
The Spot draws the attention of the Spider-Society after he figures out if he enters his own portals, he can travel across the multiverse. This sees Gwen reunite with Miles and the two have a great time; visually, it’s one of the strongest parts of the film, as they glide through New York City displaying their powers, venting to each other. Miles is the only friend Gwen made after Peter died and likewise, Miles hasn’t made any friends since the first film, which makes him feel isolated as he has no way of traveling across the multiverse. That is, until Gwen shows up with her Spider-Society tech; when Gwen fails to capture The Spot, Miles follows her through a portal to a new dimension, which gets him tangled in the business of the Spider-Society.
This is a very visually stunning film; its art direction is arguably its strongest element. Its animation style is gorgeous and this time around, the film really leans into this pastel color palette while tactfully using things like comic panels to effectively tell its story in a visual manner. Scene presentation is not always straightforward, often becoming more abstract during emotionally charged moments, which makes the film stand out in a very big way. If you can, you absolutely must see this at the movie theater; the small screen will not do it justice.
The film has a packed cast with a seemingly endless amount of cameos from Lego Spider-Man to versions of Spider-Man from animated shows to appearances of Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire from the live action films. Some standouts include Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), a British punk rock version of the webslinger, and Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-Man India (Karan Soni), an overconfident Indian variant — both of whom have important secondary roles in the cast. Also returning form the first film is Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), who was Miles’ mentor, who now has a child.
What makes this film interesting and what gives it a sense of urgency is its central dilemma, which is spoiler territory, so stop reading and watch the film if that’s important to you. It’s revealed in the film that in every universe, a police captain close to Spider-Man dies trying to save someone and Miles’ father is supposed to die shortly after becoming captain; it’s a canon event. Miles obviously doesn’t want his father to die, but every member of the Spider-Society thinks he needs to — even Peter B. Parker — because saving his life will only be temporary as they think it’ll destroy his universe.
This pits Miles against an overwhelming foe and we’re not quite sure who’s right. We don’t know for sure if saving his dad will destroy his world, but it very likely will.
If you want a conclusion to this story, you will have to wait until the sequel as this one ends on a cliffhanger. Clocking in at over two hours long, I don’t think it had to hold the ending hostage in order to push another film; all of its major players were sufficiently fleshed out, its conflict interesting and everything seemed set for it to enter its final act when they film just ends. I enjoyed all the Spider-Society cameos but admit they take up a disproportionate amount of screen time that could have been used to wrap things up.
This film fires on all cylinders — it has great voice acting, great characters and a very good central conflict — but I can’t help but feel like the studio is stretching one film into two just to increase revenue. This doesn’t feel like a story that needed a Part 2 and I wish this film told a complete tale — I do fear that like many Part 2 films, next year’s “Beyond the Spider-Verse” will feel half complete with not enough for our heroes to do. This film has everything except for the climax, which I don’t think is enough to fill a film of similar length.
I highly recommend this film but have to dock it points for running out of steam at the end. This is one of the most visually creative animated films I’ve ever seen; it’s a shame that it doesn’t quite stick the landing.
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” gets an 8/10
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