Daring, dramatic and dazzling all at once, Sony's highly anticipated animated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a high-flying work of art. It's action-packed, funny, visually spectacular, and if it weren't so confusing, nearly perfect.
Across the Spider-Verse is Sony Animation's follow-up to their Oscar-winning Christmas 2018 hit about young Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) who becomes a new version of Spider-Man to save Brooklyn in his dimension.
It took nearly five years (and multiple COVID-19 production delays) to finally prepare its sequel, but the result is a pop-art masterpiece filled with chases, great jokes, and a plot stuffed with interesting conflicts and clever twists.
Spider-Verse #2 might as well act as the second issue in Sony's comic book "movies", channeling everything from the art style to the necessity of having an absurd number of characters and side plots to fill hundreds of future issues. And like those comics, the nerdier you are on Spider-Man the more you'll get out of the experience.
Audiences tired of superhero stories will rightfully ask: do we really need yet another Spider-Man movie? There have, after all, been nearly a dozen of them released in the last 20 years - that’s a lot of spider saturation.
But the innovation from Sony's creative team is working so hard to make the movie as exciting and unique as possible that yes, there is absolutely something special here. Not only is this the most original animation work being done by any studio today, but there’s a strong moral theme in responsibility and destiny worth exploring for all ages.
While the entire voice cast is excellent, the ensemble is unquestionably anchored and driven by Shameik Moore's Miles and Hailee Steinfeld's Gwen, both reprising roles from the first film. Their characters are powerful, indescribably grounded and their voices have so much love, warmth, humour, danger, confidence and grit all at once.
There are hidden gems and easter eggs aplenty for fans of animated film, celebrity culture, and of course, the Spider-Man character himself. All of them enhance the fleshed out world building, but none are essential to following the story.
Unfortunately, the same problem of plot and cast density continue from film #1 to #2. At more than two hours, the film's length is only more dizzying when trying to remember the names for dozens of different spider-themed heroes.
The uninitiated general public will likely have a set of questions walking out of the theatre to truly understand and appreciate the level of detail in Across the Spider-Verse. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but it's hard to universally recommend the movie when there’s this steep a learning curve to get the most out of it.
Yes, there's a lot going on - but that also means there's a lot of substance to appreciate as the story swings between concepts gracefully as Spider-Man himself. It’s a sequel that’s as compelling in proving it’s reason for being that animation hasn’t seen since Toy Story 2.
Best of all, waiting for the third and final film, Beyond the Spider-Verse, is nearly complete. With this film's surprise twist ending, fans will be glad to know the finale is on track for its release in March 2024.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
9 out of 10
PG, 2hrs 21mins. Animated Sci-Fi Superhero Epic.
Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson.
Starring Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Bryan Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya and Jason Schwartzman.
Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas, 5 Drive-In, Cineplex Winston Churchill & VIP and Cineplex Oakville & VIP. Also in IMAX.
