Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse review

CW/ Spoilers for Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse 

A still from Across the Spider-verse (2023)

Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse is a stunning animation movie produced by Sony Animations, telling the narrative of Miles Morales through strong creative choices in the story it targets to tell. Taking on the concepts installed by its predecessor, Into the Spider-verse, Across the Spider-verse is the sequel sandwiched in a promising trilogy with its guaranteed successor, Beyond the Spider-verse. And yet, it does not sell itself short as a “half of a film” at all, but rather takes immense pride for everything that it is; relishing in all of the elements that Into the Spider-verse has asserted itself to be. The amalgamation of excellent teamwork of more imaginative and distinct spider-entity designs, soundtracking, and animation collectively portray a fascinating interpretation of the spiderman franchise that generations have grown fond of over the years. This sequel takes every bone laid out by Into the Spider-verse and expertly continues to flood in its creativity and storytelling. And after watching Across the Spider-verse, I take undoubtful confidence in responding to this confident film that it was phenomenal and does not sell short as a hand-me-down sequel. 

For estranged creatives similar to me who have been swept into an industrial interpretation of life or have lost that tight grip in creating over time, Across the Spider-verse is like a whiplash when you witness the fruits of artisans who have decided to take their passions into their career and produce such stylised films like this. And it shows, as the movie is lapped with nuances that only visuals and auditory designs can portray; nuances that would simply fall flat through the delivery of dialogue. Within the junction of these creative mediums that enhances this movie, the audience is stationed into this promising experience from the beginning sequence bursted with captivating distorted credits and an evocative monologue provided by Gwen through a drum solo. This introduction solidifies the themes and motifs that we’ll witness to flourish in the following 2 hours and 16 minutes. 

The character development and the characters the movie decides to develop is strong and evident in its thorough research. As the shift of emphasis on Gwen’s character in this movie was wonderful, other previously introduced characters in the previous movie consequently fall in the background—but with good reason, as other strong spider-entities do not constitute for their absence, but rather further expands the possibilities of spider-verse, not just for the sake of clustering new characters. Gwen’s emphasis rises as she stands firmly beside Miles, as we gain a broader understanding of her identity as the story relishes in the dimensions of her universe through a gorgeous, evocative watercolour style harbouring inspiration by the scene in Cinderella (1950) in which the evil step sisters shred Cinderella’s dress apart. Other instalments of new characters that expand the spider-verse by Into the Spider-verse include Spider-punk / Hobie Brown, who thrashes into the narrative through his bold zine-like appearance, an electric guitar, and punk-rock inspirations, or the bright Indian Spider-man, Pavitr Prabhakar who brings a charming and brilliant cultural twist on spider-man as he introduces us to “Mumbattan”, a portmanteau of Mumbai and Manhattan. The antagonist of the franchise is also introduced, Miguel O’Hara, and in honesty, he was insane. The movie does not shy away from the authoritative position of his character, and for what his role and character is meant to represent and with the story it wants to tell, he fills those shoes exceptionally well. Additionally, the overarching villain, "The Spot" is cuckoo bananas and his character design succeeded in evoking disturbed and unnerving emotions within me despite his goofiness in the initial parts of the movie.

This franchise, to its very heart, is a narrative about breaking boundaries. Not only in the phenomenal people who push the boundaries of their disciplines to create a unique experience, but this theme underlines the entire narrative itself. We can observe this in the “canon events” which are introduced to us by Miguel O’Hara. It is these cornerstone events and experiences that create this predestined framework one must follow in exchange in fulfilling the role of becoming an entity of spiderman. And yet, despite the myriad of spider-entities we witness, there are elements that make them unique and implement their own indirect statements towards the overarching narrative of the identity of spiderman, and what certain elements amount to a canonical spider-entity deserving of that title. Evidently, this is portrayed through the primary conflict between the antagonist Miguel O’Hara, the hierophant of the orthodox spider-narrative, and the divergent nature of Miles Morales’ character. We can identify how they serve as each other’s foil through observation of the character and animation designs of both the characters, with Miguel’s brawny and established presence in juxtaposition to Mile's agility and flexibility. This plot serves as an analogy for the wider world, as reflected in the universal dilemma of “not belonging” in the face of the “status quo.” The film takes society's collectively fixed mindset in its hands and shatters it against the sidewalk—whether it be as a general statement for a challenge that everyone must face at some point, or whether it be a comment on how people should loosen up when it comes to renditions. 

(A very gushy, quick note, as well: The handlement of the metaphysical is not in any way tacky in contrast to previous superhero films such as Multiverse of Madness, which I have not watched, but I’m not an all round movie-goer and I just know it’s bad.)

With that said, there are enough stunning aspects of this movie that everyone from any demographic can grasp on to experience and enjoy it in their individual ways. Whether this experience can be obtained through the narrative itself, the visuals, the soundtracking, the character designs, etc, it’s without doubt that many hearts, passion, dedication, and efforts have been placed into the creation of this movie and that there is something in it for everyone, even if you aren’t a spider-man or superhero movie enjoyer. I say this as a person who has never been enrapt in superhero movies in general, and yet, I was breath taken by every single action scene in this movie as it was dynamic and not just brawn or primitive. 

To be in the middle of the revolution of animation is quite magical. We can see the impact its predecessor has on other animation films in the horizon, such as the already released “Puss and Boots: The Last Wish” or “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” who relish in their respective stylised styles. I should probably slip “Arcane” here, considering the amount of positive reviews and comments I’ve heard about it. It’s incredibly gratifying to witness how this Spiderman trilogy revolutionised animations. 

As it was said, and forever must be, the Spider-verse as a whole is the official face and demonstration of the possibilities that animation as a genre can reach. The narrative itself embodies the rejection of the status quo, as Miles Morales, a pronounced “anomaly” undergoes the process of being aware of his worth of spiderman regardless of the daggering enforcement of the framework of becoming spiderman. It is definitely worth the experience for at least one time in your life—because as we follow Mile’s story through an adventure of the insane lengths that animation can reach, it can honestly make you believe that everything is possible.