Courtesy Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group
If we’re counting teen hero Miles Morales as a Spider-Man across both film and video games, that brings the tally of folks who’ve donned the Marvel hero’s mask in recent years to something like six performers since Sam Raimi’s inaugural 2001 live action Tobey Maguire movie. Given Marvel’s propensity for multiversal travel, too, perhaps no property better fits the concept of infinite realities (sorry, Dr. Strange). But whereas a titanic pop culture phenomenon like Rick & Morty takes the nihilistic route by positing that an infinite number of possibilities means nothing truly matters, filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Clone High) wager that even just one good soul can effect change when ennui sets in—that everything everywhere matters a whole lot.
In Sony/Marvel’s newest animated entry, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse—the sequel to 2018′s Into the Spider-Verse—our hero Miles (Shameik Moore) is still thinking about Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) from his last outing (it’s complicated, but she’s from another dimension; they met). That adventure, however, wound up destabilizing time ‘n’ space, leading to a sort of unpredictable system of portals that throw folks from any conceivable universe into other ones. 2013 video game BioShock Infinite would remind us that inter-dimensionality consists of both constants and variables—there is always a Spider-Man—though since Miles got his powers from a radioactive spider not of his own dimension, he’s thrown things out of wack pretty much everywhere. Understand? Good!
After tangling with a villain called Spot (Jason Schwartzman) Miles learns there’s a sort of Hall o’ Spider-People in the distant future of a neighboring dimension to his, and its leaders (Oscar Isaac and Issa Rae) spend their days making things right across the multi-verse. Miles, though, isn’t invited to the HQ for every conceivable Spider-Man/Woman/Enby/Child/Horse, and learning why proves a total bummer for the lad; he’s just not like the others and they’re all trying to bring him down!
Across the Spider-Verse somehow ups the quality of presentation from its first most excellent iteration by merging so many types of animations, frame rates and design aesthetics. The stacked streets of a hybrid Mumbai/Manhattan in one universe are particularly gorgeous, and notable as well are the ‘70s/clip art accoutrements belonging to Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), a character that simultaneously lambasts and pays respect to the anarchic leanings of the genre’s roots. Moore has really settled into the Miles role, too, phasing effortlessly between the confidence of superpowers and the challenges of teen-dom. Steinfeld similarly nails her Gwen Stacy performance, as do actors in brief roles including Andy Samberg, Yuri Lowenthal and Mahershala Ali.
Thus, while the creators of Across the Spider-Verse aim squarely at kids, the adults who take them to the show or continue to live out their love affairs with comics-turned-movies, kids or no, will find lots to love. Still, we can only hear that family matters or love conquers all so many times before the law of diminishing returns sets in. Luckily, this one is so beautiful and fast-paced it’s often on to the next big thing before we have time to nitpick. Spidey swings, villains get bad and explosions flare in the distance—that’s pretty much all folks are looking for from movies like this.
8
+Stunning animation and aesthetic; so fun
-Exposition is clunky; main villain is so-so
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson
With Moore, Steinfeld, Isaac, Rae,
Violet Crown, Regal, PG, 140 min.
