My Review of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse · 8:25pm Dec 10th, 2023
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, folks! This is Mr. J back with another movie review for today. This afternoon, I will be reviewing Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, released just seven months ago. Once again, we have yet another spectacular movie on our hands, and it turns out to be the sequel of a previously amazing animated film. But this time, the level of storytelling and world-building increases tenfold along with every other aspect that makes this film even better than the first one.
This movie continues Miles Morales’ journey as he now faces yet another threat against the multiverse. Here, he reunites with Gwen Stacey/Spider-Gwen and meets with other spider-people who have been protecting the multiverse for quite some time. But the moment he screws up a canon event, things turn deadly for him, and the stakes are raised higher as he learns that it affects him and his family. Will he save his father and fix everything?
First off, I am actually amazed at how they managed to pull off such an immense achievement by building up a massive multiverse storyline and setting it up as a two-parter. Everything they did in this film was quite flawless and enjoyable. It carefully sets up the established world, the returning characters, and even the villain in a manner that subverts our expectations but brilliantly.
Miles is the same charming, relatable character as before except this time, he is nearly pushed to his limit and is met with a dire obstacle that challenges him to his core—something that forces him to understand what it means to be truly Spider-Man. He even had to go against all odds as he realizes who he is as a hero as opposed to what other spider-people believe.
But not only that…he now has to face off against an alternate version of himself where his father died and his Uncle Aaron/Prowler is still alive to be his mentor. When I saw that ending, I was beyond flabbergasted. I never expected that to happen. Like I said, it subverts expectations and at the same time builds up hype for something filled with potential. Perfect way to make a cliffhanger!
Gwen was given even more character growth than in the first film. Here, she has to settle her problems with her father even after he discovered her secret identity. It shows how far she has grown as a character, and the best moment she’s had was the scene where she confronts her dad and tells him everything about her commitment to being a hero.
Look at the animation of that whole scene: it starts from being dark and blue to now being bright and vibrant. It signifies a change of emotion to describe how the characters are feeling. The moment her father looked up and told her he quit being a cop is when the animation color changed.
He deeply loves his daughter and absolutely wants the best for her. He felt betrayed at the beginning but eventually understood why Gwen took on the mantle. With great power comes great responsibility. That is one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie.
I was even impressed with how they are building up this new villain: The Spot. At the beginning, he seemed pretty pathetic and harmless. He even makes jokes while trying to commit crime; but as the film went on and the more he experimented with his new inter-dimensional powers, the more ruthless and dangerous he became. Basically, he emerged from being a comical nobody to a nightmare-inducing monster. Now, that’s how you build up your overarching villain!
Spider-Man 2099/ Miguel O’Hara was likewise a well-written character who has believable motivations. I don’t see him as a villain because technically he really isn’t. He’s an antagonist who firmly believes that Miles was an accident—an anomaly who should not have been a Spider-Man, considering the fact that the spider that bit him wasn’t even from his world.
I get why he feels so passionate about protecting the multiverse, but he forgets something very important about Spider-Man in general: Spider-Man can be anybody…even someone doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat over a young boy’s shoulders…to know the world hasn’t ended. Even if he got bit by a spider.
Nonetheless, I look forward to seeing him progress his attack against Miles and all those who side with him. And I wonder how he’s gonna fight The Spot? Will he set aside his differences and team up with Miles so they can fight the bigger bad? Because he can’t distract himself with fighting Miles for too long as there is a multiversal threat out there who is threatening every universe. So I am hoping that he opens his eyes soon and does the right thing.
The animation was on a whole different level of amazing and badass. The animators did an immaculate job of making this visual masterpiece that beautifies all the fight scenes, the emotional moments, the world, and all the flashy sequences this film contains. Chef’s kiss!
I even love the passionate voice acting here. Shameik Moore, Oscar Isaac, Hailee Steinfeld, Jason Schwartzman, and the rest of the cast did amazingly well in delivering their lines of dialogue.
Seeing that this is the first part of this epic storyline, I will say this: the main takeaway for part one, in my opinion, is how love for our family can be a great strength but also a weakness. Now, when I say that, I mean that is a weakness from the perspective of those who do not share that same level of sentimental compassion—friend or foe. Still, love for family can be a strong motivation to never surrender to evil because they are worth fighting for and defending. I’m kinda scared yet intrigued to see how this will all play out in part two.
Overall, I find no flaws or problems in this movie. It sets everything up perfectly which makes me all the more anxious to see how it all ends in the second part. I give this a solid 12/10! Oh, and I liked all the Easter Eggs and references to other SM media it briefly featured...although that reused footage from Venom 2 was kinda lazy. But it was still funny.
Peace!
I feel bad for Miles. This was the only version of him I've seen where his dad is still alive and he might lose him.
I haven’t seen the film yet, although I have a feeling I’ll enjoy it. The main reason is because I wanted to wait for the sequel to come out first, and I deeply hope that there won’t be anymore delays.
I saw this film with my mates months ago, and tbh I also really enjoyed it, especially since the next one comes out next year, which will be fun.