Let’s tell the classic Spider-Man story differently this time, just like Gwen says at the beginning of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” the sequel to 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”
In case you didn’t see the last movie (how you missed it, I don’t know), here’s a spoiler-free plot synopsis: Miles Morales gets bitten by a radioactive spider, meets a bunch of Spider-People from other dimensions and teams up to fight against Kingpin, a villain trying to open the multiverse to save his wife and child from dying. Miles steals the show and becomes the Spider-Man his universe needs.
Gwen Stacy, better known as Spider-Gwen, picks up where the last movie left off after she returned to her version of Earth. She struggles to cope with the death of her best friend, Peter Parker, and her relationship with her father, a cop who dislikes Spider-Gwen.
That film grossed a total of $190 million domestically, and in the first weekend for “Across the Spider-Verse,” it’s grossed $120 million domestically already.
I love this movie. It’s better than the first one by a mile.
What stunned me most is the clever use of color in a scene with Gwen and her dad. She comes home from quitting her band, and her dad asks her what’s wrong. Cool colors coat the room on Gwen’s side, with her hair looking green compared to her usual blonde and pink tones. Across the room, her dad stands at the door, a beacon of warm oranges and pinks to light up the space.
And the moment they hugged, literal chills. Warmth bloomed into the cooler colors, representing the strong emotional connection Gwen has with her father.
Gwen was a larger focus of this movie, revealing her complex relationship with fighting crime and her family. The movie played with romantic tension between Gwen and Miles, but nothing was forced. Better saved for part two.
When it comes to animated visuals, this movie should get the award of the decade. Imagine every style of comic book art and it’s likely to appear in this movie.
I was impressed with the distinct personality added to the characters in this film to differentiate all the different Spider-People. Hobie, one version of the webslinger known as Spider-Punk, appeared with a collage-like design with punk rock details on his Spider-Suit. One of the first villains has a Da-Vinci-esque paper style.
There was even a Spider car, a Spider cowboy with an accompanying horse and my favorite, Spider-cat.
I couldn’t stop looking at all the spider suits, facial expressions and textures that I know animators tirelessly added to make this movie a masterpiece. For a movie highlighting parallel universes, the art does a perfect job of reflecting the story. Images of Miles cover Gwen’s world while she covers pages of Miles’ sketchbook.
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Not only did the visuals stun me more than the first movie, but the character and plot developments also had me hooked from the very beginning.
My few criticisms lie with Spider-Man 2099: Miguel O’Hara, the leader of a multi-dimensional task force. Miguel villainizes Miles’ origin of becoming Spider-man,yet he made interdimensional mistakes, unlike Miles who didn’t know the origin behind the spider that bit him. I can already tell Miguel wants to control the mistakes of others since no one stopped him from making his disastrous choice. My Spidey-senses say the writers want to wait to develop him further in the next movie.
If I could analyze every moment, I would. But I want you to enjoy going into this movie blind as much as I enjoyed it.
Controversial opinion, but I tend to theorize during movies with the person next to me, which happened to be my dad. We had many ideas on how plot points would turn out, shared some good laughs and remembered why we loved attending movie showings together.
The laughs and reactions in the theater give me such joy, knowing how much other fans love this movie.
Don’t be fooled, though. This was not a Marvel movie. This was a carefully written, expertly designed film by hard-working animators and writers. The “In Association with Marvel” title screen before the start needed to have the first three words in bold.
I’m going to see this movie again, maybe three times. Part 2 can’t come out soon enough.
Rating: 9.5/10
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