Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
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 "Nah, I'mma do my own thing." - Miles Morales
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a 2023 American computer-animated superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Miles Morales / Spider-Man, produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Marvel Entertainment, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and is set in a shared multiverse of alternate universes called the "Spider-Verse". A follow-up, Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse will be released on March 29, 2024, while a female-focused spin-off film is in development.
Plot
After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Miles Morales — Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man — is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.
Why It Goes Across the Spider-Verse
- To get the Spider out of the room, THE ANIMATION. Not only is it an improvement over the original, but it also combines both computer animation, hand-drawn, and live-action all perfectly without making it look jarring.
- It takes everything that made the first movie great and adds so much more.
- Combined with the animation, multiple iterations of Spider-Men all make their appearance here. All without taking the spotlight away from Miles.
- The characters are still great:
- Miles Morales is an insecure teen who must struggle to balance his life as a superhero and a normal teenager while keeping his identity a secret while also having to deal with the potential conflict of losing his father Jefferson and his relationship with Gwen.
- Gwen Stacey must deal with the struggle of revealing her identity to her father George Stacy while also dealing with the conflict of Miles disobeying the Spider Society just to rescue Jefferson.
- Peter B. Parker gets over his fears of being a dad and has a daughter named Mayday Parker, who is nothing short of adorable.
- The Spot is a sympathetic villain who lost his job in the aftermath of the previous film while also dealing with his newfound powers.
- Miguel-O-Hara aka Spider-Man 2099 is also a great secondary villain/Anti-hero who must protect the multiverse from collapsing and will stop at nothing to prevent Miles from doing that.
- The humor is still great such as Miles Morales texting his mom during his battle with Spot, Jefferson Davis about to jump into Spot's portal but taking the stairs, and the Spider-Men pointing at each other as a reference to the meme of the same event.
- The drama works well too such as Miles coming into conflict in revealing his identity to his parents despite not having a good relationship with them.
- Most of the cast who reprise their roles and the new actors offer great performances.
- Excellent soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton.
- Despite the movie being 140 minutes long, it is so well-paced that not a single moment of boring scenes happens.
- Many quotable lines, such as:
- Spider Man why did you create that guy?
- Maybe get off the kid's ass.
- This is where the British stole all of our stuff!
- Well that was another easy adventure for Spider Man.
- Will you Adopt me?
- Oh, let me guess. He died?
- Surprisingly, it brought back past Spider-Men, such as when Spectacular Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited, and Insomniac Spider-Man (voiced by Josh Keaton, Rino Romano, and Yuri Lowenthal respectively) appear. We even get to see more Spider-Variants including Spider-Ham, Peni Parker, and Spider-Man Noir from the first film.
Bad Qualities
- Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker (though she makes three appearances in this film, still), and Spider-Ham, the characters from the previous films, do not appear at all until one of the scenes and the final scene. This can be a letdown for audiences who watched the first movie and became attached to those characters.
- Just like the first film, this movie still has even more seziure-inducing visuals.
- While not necessarily a bad thing, the story, while still great, can be confusing to newcomers.
- The runtime, while great, can be way too long for some people.
- The infamous cliffhanger ending which leaves people a lot to be desired.
Reception
Like the original, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse received acclaim from critics and audiences. It was praised for its groundbreaking animation, action sequences, heartfelt story, ambitious scope, vocal performances, visual style, musical score, and dark tone. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 247 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Just as visually dazzling and action-packed as its predecessor, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse thrills from start to cliffhanger conclusion." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Many fans agree that this movie was an improvement on the original.
Trivia
- This movie has over "1000" animators working on the film, making it one of the largest crews for any animated film ever.
- The film was pulled into theaters in the United Arab Emirates and other MENA countries possibly because a "Protect Trans Kids" poster was seen in Gwen's room.