The following review contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
In 2018 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse blasted onto the animation scene, dazzling audiences with its hyper-stylized look and heartfelt story. While Miles Morales had been around for years prior in the comics, he became a household name, instantly garnering a whole new fanbase. The film later won an Oscar for Best Animated Film and received many accolades from critics. The sequel for this film had a lot to live up to, and expectations were high. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) is here six years later. It has upped the ante on the animation of the previous entry and surpassed the original film aesthetically and thematically.
Across the Spider-Verse picks up where the original left off: Miles (Shameik Moore) has embraced his role as the Spider-Man in his respective universe and has been busy fighting crime. He struggles to balance his life as a high-schooler and son with being a crime fighter, and he feels guilty for hiding his alter-ego from his family. After the first film's events, all of the other Spider-People have returned to their worlds, and he feels lonely. Meanwhile, Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) is living a similar lifestyle; hiding her identity from her father and feeling isolated from her peers. Their paths cross when The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) shows up and threatens the entire multiverse with his interdimensional powers.
The central theme of Across the Spider-Verse is duality and self-actualization. Miles is biracial, half black and half Puerto Rican, and part of his identity is embracing both sides of his heritage. As a fellow biracial person, I fully empathize with Miles feeling like he is in a cultural liminal space, never entirely accepted as one or the other. This sense of duality is echoed in his existence as a superhero and how he has to compartmentalize his life as an average person and an extraordinary individual. Miles is looking for acknowledgment as a person and isn't finding it in his current situation. Finally, this concept is mirrored with The Spot, a villain who wants to be taken seriously but isn't because of his comical appearance.
Later on in the film, when Miles is introduced to the Spider-Society (a group that has up to now purposely excluded him), he learns that he is considered to be an "anomaly" in the larger Spider-Verse, a mistake that needs to be contained and corrected. In a meta way, this ties into Miles Morales's reception when his character was first introduced in 2011. Peter Parker had been killed off, and Miles was introduced as his replacement. The internet and journalists went wild, and there was a lot of blowback, with people lamenting diversity and canon changes. While the reason for Miles being shunned in the film has nothing to do with his race, it stands as a critique of how comic book films and related media are beholden to canon and fan expectations and are often punished for any experimentation and deviation. The meta-commentary on comic book tropes has a Grant Morrison flair that isn't seen often in comic book movies.
On the technical side, Across the Spider-Verse is one of the most spectacular-looking films in the history of Western animation. Each Spider-Person's world has a distinct look mimicking the style of their real-life comic book counterparts. Gwen's universe has an expressive watercolor-based look, Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) looks like he was snipped out of a punk rock show flyer or zine, and through careful direction, all of these disparate styles co-exist without feeling jarring.
Miles's universe is depicted the most straightforward visually, allowing the audience to have somewhere to ground themselves throughout all of the over-the-top visuals. The amount of creativity and attention to detail is incredible, and though it's not needed to enjoy the film, outside knowledge of the Spider-Man lore will add an extra layer of enjoyment for fans. Composer Daniel Pemberton crafted a rousing and compelling score that knows when it needs to be epic and when to pull back to allow softer emotions to shine through.
Structurally, it's a middle movie of a trilogy which means it serves as the "second act," which traditionally will have more of the build-up. It seems anti-climactic in that sense, but it will feel better after it has the context of the third film to complete the story. The film has two protagonists, with Gwen and Miles's stories, respectively, and both of their character arcs are completed even if the film ends with a new conflict and a call to action. It remains to be seen how the trilogy will fare after the third film comes out.
Superhero films have felt unfocused and blah as of late, but Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse demonstrates that with love and passion, amazing comic book stories can still be told on the big screen.
--Michelle Kisner