Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the sequel to the critically and financially successful Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson. The script comes from Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Dave Callaham. In the first movie, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is bitten by a radioactive spider and has to defeat Wilson Fisk with the help of other Spider-people.
These spider characters include Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), Peter Parker Noir (Nicholas Cage) and Peter Porker (John Mulaney).
With this sequel, only some of that cast returns but it opens the multiverse to more Spider variants than you’d expect. Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, Daniel Kaluuya, Amandla Stenberg and Andy Samberg join the cast in other Spider-people-related roles. Meanwhile, the villain comes in the form of Jason Schwartzman as the villain – the Spot.
Before we get into the review, check out the trailer for the movie below:
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse opens up more than a year after the previous movie. Miles is mostly a pro at the superhero business, dispatching criminals and aiding the police as a Spider can. However, his civilian life isn’t as well put together. His parents know he’s hiding something, his grades aren’t the best they could be and he’s missing his friends from the multiverse. It’s a tale as old as time – the Spider person just isn’t good at balancing their two lives. And yet, even though we’ve seen it many times before, Miles’ journey feels fresh.
There’s not a lot that can be said about the rest of the story without spoiling. As someone who was annoyed at having certain surprises and moments spoiled before seeing the movie, I’m refusing to give anything away. What I can say, though, is that the story takes what we loved about the previous movie and pushes it to eleven. It refuses to take a breath, even when it looks like it might. Honestly, it works all the more for that. I sometimes overuse the expression but the final hour of this movie is a rollercoaster.
Thankfully, it’s a good rollercoaster you’ll want to go on over and over.
It’d be wrong of me to talk about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse without talking about the animation. One of the great things about Into the Spider-Verse is its different visual styles. Each Earth and Spider-person has their own visual brilliance. This goes even harder in the sequel. No one main Spider character has the same style and it makes the movie all the better for it.
To be honest, there were a few moments where I accidentally thought they’d switched to live-action due to how real some of the animations looked. To all the animators who worked on this, thank you for how beautiful it looks.
Furthermore, there are little moments that imbue the movie with a comic book feel no other comic book movie has had before. It’s almost like you’re watching a comic book literally come to life. Let’s call it for what it is – spectacular.
Shameik brings his A-game with his portrayal of Miles Morales. He brings a vulnerable quality to the character while giving him enough edge to show us why Miles is just as good as every other Spider character. Moreover, he shows if this was just a Miles movie he’d carry it with no problem. Make no mistake, he is an amazing Spider-Man.
Hailee’s performance as Gwen Stacy/Ghost-Spider is hard to compare to her portrayal of Kate Bishop in Hawkeye and that only further illustrates how great she is. The majority of my favorite moments from the movie come from Gwen and Hailee’s performance is a big part of why.
Oscar Isaac is an interesting case. This is his third character in a comic book property. He’s played hero, villain and anti-hero over the years. His first foray into this world was as Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse. He was also in last year’s Moon Knight series as the titular hero playing the alters Steven Grant, Marc Spector and Jake Lockley. He morphs all of these characters together to make Miguel O’Hara (Spider-Man 2099) a layered character who commands the screen.
I wish I could talk about everyone but it’s impossible. Although, it’d be wrong of me to not bring up Jason Schwartzman in a role that’s both comedic and scary. He balances the two well, helping to create a compelling villain who may just be the toughest adversary for Miles and the others. Special mention needs to go out to Brian Tyree Henry and Luna Lauren Velez as Jeff and Rio Morales. If they don’t bring a tear to your eye, I don’t know what will.
If you’re a Spider-Man fan, you’ll love this movie. It has something for everyone and don’t let anyone ever say animation isn’t as important as live-action. You’d never get something as breathtakingly beautiful as this in live-action. This is the best way to tell the Spider-verse story and you can bet I’m counting down the days until Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse releases.
