[Review] Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (9/10)

 

Title - Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
Production - Sony Pictures Animation, Marvel Entertainment, Pascal Pictures, Arad Productions, Lord Miller
Starring - Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfield, Oscar Isaac, Jake Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, Daniel Kaluuya, Mahershala Ali, Greta Lee, Shea Wingham, Amandla Stenberg, Andy Samberg, Kathryn Hahn
Writer - Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dave Callahan
Director - Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Release - 2 June 2023


Here's what's brilliant and also what's a crippling factor for this movie: It's a great Spider-Man story. I don't know how much a non-Spider-Man fan would enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great story, but it's such a geeky one though.

I feel like whenever a comic book movie starts to introduce the multiverse into the story, 80% of the movie-going population just got lost in it. What's more, this movie involved storylines with concepts akin to parallel universe and time traveling. I thought it could be a tad overwhelming.

But then again, it wasn't. And that's why it was such a brilliantly written movie. We got so involved as the audience in the character arcs of Miles, Gwen and the few Peters that were heavily involved with the protagonist.

And then there were the multiple Spider-Men spanning from so many different universe and ethnicities that showed so much diversity and inclusion (and yet the marketing never shouted about it and just let it happened in the movie - unlike what Disney's marketing is all about today). Never once were they on-the-nose, they were dealt with or introduced into the story very organically.

The animation was another factor that made this movie so fun to watch because in every universe there were distinct differences in terms of the animation used. But they all carried the same theme of the comic book paneling and box-text that, for a comic book reader growing up, felt so... right.

The action sequences were handled beautifully, especially with India Spider-Man and England Spider-Man; giving them very distinct fighting styles.

And at the story's core was, as mentioned above, all about the foundation of what made Spider-Man who he was, and that was Peter Parker's sense of loss. And this movie delved so deep into that aspect of the lore that I'm not sure a non-Spider-Man fan would find interesting - but I could be wrong. 

Nevertheless, that is what made this the ultimate Spider-Man movie that stands above and beyond anything that has come before.

Still, I would say that the movie felt a tad too long. I found myself wondering, towards the end, where was the story taking us. Because after the two-hour mark, it didn't feel like it was about to end. Just like the feeling I had after the Orcs killed Boromir while Frodo escaped in Lords Of The Ring: The Fellowship Of The Ring. It felt like we just started but it was time to end, but the end was nowhere in sight. 

But unlike Fellowship, there was a lot going on already in the first two acts that the final act seemed like it couldn't catch up.

Having said that, I loved this movie. I will be going back again, and highly likely, again and again. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, with their fellow writing teammate Dave Callahan, have outdone themselves. Sony Pictures have just jumped ahead of Marvel Studios.