Rating: PG
Runtime: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Quick Impressions:
Our whole family loved this movie even the notoriously movie-averse seven-year-old. He didn’t remember Into the Spider-Verse even though he came out swinging (between people’s arms) and called himself Miles Morales for two weeks. He was only three then, but he’s excited to watch the first movie at home now. Maybe he’s turned a corner.
The rest of us thought Across the Spider-Verse was fantastic, too. On the ride home, my daughter deemed it an (unexpected) improvement on Into the Spider-Verse (already a strong film). My older son added that it (like its predecessor) also deserves to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. We all agree. It’s hard to imagine that won’t happen. Not only is the film’s story superb, but the animation itself is spectacular. There’s an early action scene that violently deconstructs an art installation, and honestly by the time the movie was over, I felt like I’d experienced a dynamic, interactive exhibition on comic book art. The art-style here is so conspicuous, yet so effective.
Claiming, “This is a masterpiece!” seems so rash, but, seriously, the movie is conspicuously good. It’s the best family film I’ve seen in the theater in some time. It’s probably the strongest 2023 release I’ve seen so far (even though several popcorn movies this year have been pretty good).
It even contains a Jeopardy! reference! (There’s also a cameo featuring a minor Venom character.) What else could you want from a movie?
“This is the best franchise Marvel has right now,” my older son decided (which is kind of unfortunate for Marvel). (But don’t worry, Marvel. He mentioned Guardians of the Galaxy as a runner-up, so you’re safe for now!)
The Good:
The character development in this installment is just fantastic. (For a while, I was concerned that the plot wasn’t advancing in the way I expected, that maybe narrative has totally changed for a new generation of filmgoers and my entire way of conceptualizing narrative has become obsolete because there’s been a paradigm shift. But actually, the movie is just in two parts.) (I maybe panicked a little prematurely and had a full identity crisis for no reason.)
I couldn’t pick a favorite character. I know because my son asked right away. Then he announced, “My favorites are Miles and the VR girl, and not just because Miles is the main character.” (He likes “the VR girl” because, “She can’t be hurt. She’s engaging with them using an avatar, and that makes her god-like in some ways.” I pointed out, “But somebody could attack her actual body in her world.” He gasped.)
This movie really digs into Miles. It’s nice to see him continue to grow as a person. I love his dynamic with his parents. I wanted to go to their rooftop party. It’s so atmospheric! They seem like such a great family. I love the performances of voice actors Shameik Moore (Miles), Brian Tyree Henry (his dad), and Luna Lauren Velez (his mom).
Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) gets tons of screentime and development in this installment and is basically a co-protagonist. My daughter liked that. Her brief reconciliation with her dad (Shea Whigham) is one of my favorite scenes in the film.
Much of the previous cast returns (like Jake Johnson and Mahershala Ali), and we also get a couple of new characters—most notably Issa Rae as a Spider-Woman, Karan Soni as a Spider-Man, and Oscar Isaac as another, more hardened Spider-Man. My husband and kids particularly loved Daniel Kaluuya as Hobie (who also is a Spider-Man). If you liked the gimmick of multiple Spider-Men in different art styles, then buckle up! Practically everyone in this movie is Spider-Man, and the cameos are endless (and occasionally live action).
The story is immensely compelling, as is the artwork. As always with Spider-Man, there’s a ton of humor mixed with some truly poignant moments. This second installment seems darker overall than the first, and the plot is captivating. Refreshingly, we don’t start over from the beginning and retell the entire story before anything happens. In fact, the movie begins with Gwen.
Best Scene:
I love the introduction of the film’s villain. Jason Schwartzman charmingly voices The Spot who immediately became my favorite villain in years. I didn’t even know he was going to be the film’s main villain (and I suppose it’s arguable that he is). I just found our introduction to him so charming and captivating. My daughter felt the same way. The way we’re initially shown his powers is so fun. There’s delightful humor that veers from situational irony to simple silliness. But then the heart of him is so dark and bitter. He so desperately doesn’t want to be a joke (which frankly, is understandable. It must be frustrating to have a nemesis who’s a fifteen-year-old completely unaware that you exist or that he has any role in that). Now, if I’m honest, I have to admit I almost always like the villains in Spider-Man movies. The way their mutations/powers work usually seems so thoughtful and makes them perfect antagonists for Spider-Man. But this guy has got to be my favorite villain I’ve seen in a blockbuster in the past several years. There’s something irresistible about his self-presentation and shifting levels of self-awareness. And visually, the battle between him and Spider-Man (that gets extended into subsequent scenes) is just so fun to watch.
Best Scene Visually:
The chase scene through Spider-Man headquarters is overbrimming with stuff to see. (Even the Spider-Man from that meme is in there!) I don’t know that this is really the best scene visually (because I’m kind of partial to the part when Gwen has a serious conversation with her dad), but it’s definitely the most scene visually. There are so many Spider-Mans/Men/Women/Horses. There’s even a car in there. There’s so much going on.
One thing that makes this movie so visually compelling is its use of different art styles to distinguish the various universes. Even though I liked Spider-Man: No Way Home and the Doctor Strange movies, this animated film has a huge advantage. So much can be shown so easily with differences in art style, and since this is a dramatization of a comic (and comics usually offer different versions and visions of characters), the medium is just perfect for the themes and plotlines the movie wants to convey.
Since everything is animated, every choice appears deliberate. (Obviously that’s pretty true with live action movies, too. They don’t just make themselves. But with an animated movie, it’s harder for the audience to overlook the deliberateness with which scenes are crafted.)
Best Action Sequence:
That first encounter with The Spot drags on and on and on. It’s so comical. And yet, it escalates so quickly. At first it’s some bumbling guy like, “Hey man! I’m just trying to rob your ATM because I need the money.” It’s so low stakes. He’s not even violent. He’s not taking anything from the store. But then somehow within minutes, we jump to, “You’re my nemesis. You created me. I hate you. I’m not a joke. Quit laughing at me. I’m inside myself. I’m destroying the entire universe.” Wow!
There’s also a thought-provoking moment when Miles saves someone’s life. As it happened, I was so shocked. I was thinking, “Well, that seems like a missed opportunity. Now I’m confused because I really expected a significant, sobering moment for one character.” Then a few minutes later, the movie basically said to me, “Yes, Sarah. That’s the plot. You finally found it!”
Best Joke:
I laughed a lot during this movie. (And there are so many delightful little Easter eggs, too!) My daughter and I burst out laughing in unison when someone asks, “Why’d you do that, Spider-Man?” (something like that). I won’t spoil the moment by being less vague.
The Negatives:
If you liked The Empire Strikes Back and the first two Lord of the Rings movies, then this movie’s ending will really thrill with its total inconclusiveness. (Fortunately, those are great movies, and everyone likes them.) (If you don’t like The Empire Strikes Back, I question your taste in film.)
But yeah, this just kind of ends. It ends more abruptly than any movie in recent history. It could only be more abrupt if the words “The End” flashed on the screen interrupting a line of dialogue. But it’s just about that extreme.
The abruptness of the ending totally took me by surprise. Now, in fairness, I had just been thinking (somewhat incredulously), “How long is this movie?” But I wasn’t expecting it to end! I thought we had at least fifteen to twenty minutes left.
Dune just ended that way, too. This must be the new trend in movies. (I’m not exactly joking. With streaming services and cable, TV shows can take their time, focus on character development, and tell such complex stories. Movies sometimes feel limited by their relatively short runtimes. But if you just start stopping them whenever, problem solved.)
Of all of us, my husband was the most shocked. He had no idea the movie had been on for two hours and twenty minutes. The rest of us, though, were thinking, “Okay this is going on for a long time…”
There’s a moment relatively early when Miles is secretly following Gwen when I thought, “Um…the plot is not advancing at the rate I would expect. Is this movie going to be extremely long? Is the plot advancing non-traditionally? Are they going to use animation to advance the story visually in some kind of shortcut way I haven’t conceived of? Is the plot advancing, and I’m mistaken about what the plot is?”
Of course, I’m keenly aware of stuff like that at the moment—pacing and scope—because I’m trying to tell a true story. With the level of complexity that I want, and the amount of detail I’d like to provide, from all the viewpoints I’d like to represent and synthesize, this would book would be about three hundred million pages long. So I’m really noticing when stuff seems like it’s going to turn out too long. I watched that one scene thinking, “If we keep going at this rate, this movie will be five hours long!”
Yeah. It’s going to be two 2.5 hour movies. It feels like that to me. But my husband didn’t have that sense at all. He was so engrossed in the story. (I was, too, but that didn’t stop me from noticing how long it was taking!)
Still that ending is abrupt.
“This is the end?!” I whispered to my daughter incredulously.
“I heard this ended on a cliffhanger,” my daughter whispered back. This feels like a bit more than a cliffhanger to me. To me, you’re still climbing the mountain to get to the cliff.
The only other thing that bothered me was that I found the Spider-Man headquarters so demoralizing. I thought movies are supposed to be a distraction, but this one didn’t distract me enough. For some reason, I just started believing everything. “That’s true. Everyone’s Spider-Man, I guess. There’s nothing to do but fall in line. Individuality doesn’t exist. You can’t fight fate.” Then when, of course, this turned out not to be a sound way of thinking, my mind was completely blown. Apparently, I am sometimes now a five-year-old child when I watch movies. The protagonist suddenly says, “No, I’m me! That authority figure is wrong!” And I gasp like it’s this huge plot twist I never saw coming. The movie starts working on me like I’m actually a little kid. I’d be the perfect audience for pre-school puppet shows. (“What?! The cow jumped over the moon!!!? No way!”)
I guess what I’m saying is, I think the movie is a little too long (despite its high quality throughout).
To be fair to the film, though, my mood often tanks during every movie.
I know there was one other slight complaint I had, but I can’t remember now because when we got home, my daughter was eager to show her older brother Mulholland Drive (which she saw for the first time recently) because he hates inconclusive endings, so she thought it would drive him wild with rage. (It just backfired because he didn’t like the reading we’d heard. He was like, “Nah, I don’t think that’s what it is. That’s too depressing.” His theory was a lot more fun.)
I couldn’t start writing this review until everyone went to bed, so Across the Spider-Verse has become a bit less vivid at this point. I’d need to watch it again before making any other complaints. On the whole, though, it was such an excellent film that a detailed critique may not be necessary.
Overall:
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the best movie I’ve seen so far in 2023. (I feel like I say this after every movie I watch lately, but I really mean it this time.) Our whole family loved it, and my seven-year-old is now excited to watch the first movie again which is a huge point in this film’s favor for me.