Spider-Man: Across The Spider Verse
Spider-Man: Across The Spider Verse Movie Review: When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse arrived at the cinema in 2018, the whole world was amazed. Amazed at the incredible work of the technique and animation style chosen by Sony Pictures Animation. For a soundtrack that almost seemed to come to life during the film to accompany the characters around New York.
Open-mouthed for a story that was perhaps almost a pretext for the protagonists to interact with each other, weird and funny but incredibly functional. Open-mouthed - above all - because the whole world had finally met Miles Morales, discovering a character that he had and has so much to tell. And that he's somehow much closer to the kids of this generation than Peter Parker.
The success of Into the Spider-Verse was total and planetary, to the point of even taking home the Academy Award for the best-animated Film. Now, five years later, Miles, Gwen, and Peter return to the cinema with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. And just a few more – so to speak – Spider-Persona, clearly raising the stakes.
Miles Morales is Brooklyn's only Spider-Man. After destroying Kingpin's accelerator, the superhero continues to protect the city. In everyday life, however, Miles tries to understand what his place in the world can be. When he meets the Blur and crosses paths with Gwen again, Spider-Man discovers that all the Spider-People of the Multiverse, gathered by 2009 Spider-Man Miguel O'Hara, are uniting to face a great and mysterious threat. A threat that soon will also involve Miles himself.
Spider Man Across The Spider Verse
How nice it is to be back alongside Miles Morales. Five years is a long time but Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is one of those films that absolutely pays off the wait in every way. Sony Pictures Animation has taken all the time necessary to maintain the high level of their film. And it could not actually be done differently, given the predecessor Into the Spider-Verse.
In this, Across the Spider-Verse (which has been presented as the second chapter of a trilogy since the announcement) the plot is so interesting and lively that it takes on the characteristics of a real comic book story. Comics, in fact, often go to recall elements that seemed only details or doodles in previous stories, only to come back useful in future narratives.
Without spoilers, the film written by Phil Lord and Chris Miller does the same thing. Thus the story of the origins of Miles is somehow extended, giving it new connotations until it can also give a boost to this new film. The film takes off like a rocket from the first minute, involving the viewer in its dynamic spiral.
The dynamic spiral, of course, also works thanks to the incredible animation style of this Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Needless to hide it, Into the Spider-Verse has set a new trend. He did it with the now iconic technique that basically mixes 3D with 2D, then adds a whole series of details and real pencil strokes that end up making the film look like a real animated comic.
Spider Man Across The Spider Verse
The result was so incredible that it influenced the whole market. Suffice it to say that DreamWorks has created something similar, simpler, and perhaps even more accessible, with Troppo Cattivi and Puss in Boots 2 and who knows what else the major has in mind, taking into account that Shrek 5 and Kung Fu Panda 4 Planned.
We must also remember that Nickelodeon arrives at the cinema at the end of August with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And from the trailers, it seems that the public will be faced with a work that will be at least as sensational as Into the Spider-Verse. That's why the new film by Miles Morales manages, without even too much effort, to be decidedly more majestic than the first chapter of the saga.
Regardless of what is being repurposed, Sony Pictures Animation still puts so much love into the making of the film that it is truly amazing and breathtaking. The number of details, color palettes, and goodies that pass on the big screen are so many as to leave - once again - the viewer speechless.
To give just a few examples, the world of Gwen Stacy is practically identical in style and colors to that created on the Marvel comic pages by Jason Latour and Robbie Rodriguez. There are colors halfway between neon and watercolor that are absolutely distinctive of the character.
The character that film manages to render in a stupendous way: from the angular and shy Gwen we pass to the elegant, sinuous, and rapid Spider-Woman, in an even stronger way than we saw in the first film. Still, characters like Spider-Punk or Ben Reilly's Scarlet Spider – both already seen in the trailers – have a style of their own and are completely different from the entire animation system.
Spider Man Across The Spider Verse
However, the production still manages to amalgamate everything, while maintaining the visual detachment between the various characters. Basically many of the Spider-Men you see on screen have a style and line of their own, bearing in mind that each of the Spiders that appear in the film comes from its own universe, which has its own visual and graphic peculiarities. When you see Pavitr Prabhakr's Mumbattan – the Indian Spider-Man – everything will be absolutely clear.
And if you want to keep talking about the characters, all the new additions are fine. Except for Gwen and Peter B. Parker, all – or nearly all – of the Spider-Persons featured in the film are brand new to the big screen. And if the general public, as it should be, is in fibrillation for Spider-Man 2099, it will not be disappointed at all. Miguel O'Hara in the scenes where it is present hole the screen like few other characters.
In fact, it is truly a pleasure for the eyes to see him in action, both in the first action moment in which he is seen as the protagonist and in the following ones. Whoever worked on the film studied the character very well, in the characterization and in the graphic sector, giving an almost feral and cynical, and mature version of Spider-Man 2099. And the same could also be said for the Blur, the "bad guy" of the film that will absolutely be a nice surprise.
Narratively speaking, as has already been said, Phil Lord and Chris Miller manage to write down a story - which also has an absolutely brilliant "double" beginning - that is really interesting. There are basically two main storylines which, as often happens on these occasions, end up intertwining and exploding together.
Spider Man Across The Spider Verse
The screenplay, therefore, works excellently, even if the first film was perhaps more balanced in the moments. In fact, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has a more pronounced comic vein in the first act, to then acquire more and more seriousness until the finale which then sends the audience back to the future Beyond the Spider-Verse. And it's true.
The last scenes manage to keep those in the room in suspense until the end, but it is also true that perhaps in the last lines the film seems to like itself a little too much. This is because, probably in an attempt to build a climax that leads precisely to the final twist, the film essentially loosens the tension too much.
This choice almost makes some scenes – scenes that are important to the narrative arc of some characters – seem like an attempt to stretch the broth. The result? A duration of two and a half hours is perhaps too much: in hindsight twenty minutes less would have been perfect.
Impossible not to mention the editing of the film. Frantic, tight, and engaging throughout the film. At first, the introduction to the narrative is sublime, to reintroduce the world to the audience. In addition, there is a certain sequence in the finale that will certainly leave everyone speechless.
The final note of merit for the soundtrack of the film, which once again manages to mark and enhance all the moments of the film. The more intimate and relaxed ones, the more frenetic and dynamic ones, but also the more dramatic ones. In particular, when there are Spider-Men in action the musical choices are always correct and excellent. So correct and excellent that the music almost seems to swing between the buildings together with the protagonists.
So, in June there is the possibility of giving yourself a huge gift: going to see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse at the cinema. The new chapter in the story of Miles Morales is adrenaline, fun, and exciting as a real journey into the Multiverse. This is because the animation manages to give each element on the screen its own uniqueness and strong identity, continuing in an exemplary way what was started in the first chapter of the saga.
Between Spider-Persons, enemies of the moment, and quantum anomalies, Miles will have to find his place not only in the world but throughout the Spider-Verse. What emerges is a story with a real beating heart that will involve the audience in the best way. Net of a perhaps slightly excessive duration but which does not affect what is the simplest but most important comment. That is that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a beautiful film.