Film Review – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

If anyone was in any doubt at all about its prowess and success, Spider-Man is, as Ron Burgundy would claim, a big deal. He always has been. From his swinging debut in Amazing Fantasy #15 comic back in 1962, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s famed web-slinger hasn’t looked back, and while the character has been through various iterations like many of his comic-book counterparts, he has never been far away from public consciousness, making him one of the most enduring and appealing characters in modern history.

After the monolithic success of Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021, the character in the MCU was given a little breather while others wrestled with the multiverse but for fans, there was another film that was just as impactful – and important. That was Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, a similarly themed odyssey across a plethora of stories, characters, and crossovers but with one big difference: it wasn’t Peter Parker’s story. It was Miles Morales, the new Spider-Man who only entered the lore in 2011 but had an instant impact and was the protagonist for the animated film from the minds of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and co-writer/director Rodney Rothman that became a sensation. Of course, a new franchise was born but there’s always been something different about this superhero, this adaptation, and for its sequel, the creators rip up the rulebook in the best possible way.

A year has passed since Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) became Spider-Man, discovered he wasn’t the only one in the realm of the Spider-Verse, saved the day, and fell in love for the first time with Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld), one of said parallel-dimension heroes. As destiny would have it, their paths cross again when a new foe, The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), discovers his unique abilities that threaten the foundation of the entire fabric of spacetime. Soon, Miles and Gwen teamed with the Spider-Society, infinite iterations of themselves, led by Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), aka Spider-Man 2099. The threat is immense and their unique powers brought together could stop a cataclysmic chain reaction but upon hearing their plan of action, Miles finds himself torn between his own fate, destiny, and what being a hero truly means.

It takes roughly 30 seconds to be transfixed by the screen when Across The Spider-Verse begins and your eyes and your body will not move one inch until its thundering finale. It takes a lot for a film to do that, to have you so intrinsically linked to its story and its themes that even a toilet break will have to wait, but from those opening moments right through its 140-minute runtime, you will be hooked in the best possible way. The levels the film reaches, in its performances (with Moore and Steinfeld, in particular, absolutely superb), narrative, and craftsmanship are of the highest order, and it’s impossible to say it’s anything other than a masterpiece of its ilk. It does what the best sequels do: evolve, transcends, and surprise. It’s bigger, of course, in so many ways from its impeccable animation and its beautiful, hypnotic colours that seem to want to literally burst from the screen, but it doesn’t fall into the trap of that being the only thing it wants to do.

Audiences are now to savvy to settle for more of the same but on a bigger scale. There needs to be more, and Across The Spider-Verse does a superb job of playing with expectations and forging its own path rather than the well-trodden “sequel” one, taking its cues from The Empire Strikes Back and, more recently, The Dark Knight in giving you what you want but also what you don’t expect. It still has all the charm, charisma, and humour of its predecessor – with that Lord/Miller exuberance pulsing through its veins once more – but it goes beyond anything that anyone will be waiting for and then some, and punctuated by another sensational score from Daniel Pemberton, it goes beyond even what the most ardent fans would have theorised over in the best possible ways. It’s bravery, courage, and audacity to go where it wants, to push through whatever walls and barriers may be put upon it – from redefining both what it means to be a hero to the usual structural beats of a superhero story – is inspiring and, in a world where sequels and universes now reign supreme, it’s most refreshing to have a blockbuster film that doesn’t follow the rules. It breaks them and moulds them into something utterly amazing.

★★★★★

Animation, Comic-Book, Action | 2023 | Sony Pictures | 12A | Dir: Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Joaquim Dos Santos | Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Jake Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Jason Schwarztman, Luna Lauren Velez, Issa Rai, Karan Soni, Andy Samberg