Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is Beyond Groundbreaking

Believe the hype. Spider-Man Across the Spider-verse is somehow better than the first movie. This film really just transcends every aspect of animation and film. Like obviously the biggest draw here is the crazily inventive and unique art style that goes ham in every single frame, but Across the Spiderverse is also a damn good movie on its own. The script is filled with so much heart, emotion, massive dramatic moments, great twists, the dialogue is quick, snappy, and so down to earth and real. And with all of this and how engaging the plot of the movie is, it

also finds time to regularly make you laugh with natural jokes that aren’t forced. This movie is simultaneously one of the best dramas, action movies, and even comedies at times. The characters feel effortlessly funny and the charisma exuding from everyone is so palpable. Basically, everyone here is a standout, but Miles’ parents get a big emphasis in this movie and the care they have for Miles spills out and infects the entire movie making it deeply endearing. Because of this, Miles’ drive in the later part of the movie completely wins you over and gives you chills from how

much great setup there is. They spoil the second-act twist in the trailer, but I’ll refrain from saying it just in case you don’t know about those plot details. Then all of

this love is contrasted by a great villain in Miguel O’Hara who’s played by Oscar Isacc. He’s so menacing and easily steals scenes from how big of a presence he is. He’s also kind of inherently designed as the antithesis to this movie in that the movie is really energetic, fun, and fast, but Miguel is a depressed figure filled with sorrow, anger, and an once of envy.

The moment he shows up he stands out much more because of how dark and serious he is. He contrasts the tone and feel of the movie and to me this makes him stand out even more as the villain. His point of view is completely logical and his motivation is never in question and is also right. These two opposing sides reminds me of Captain America: Civil War where each side is good, but they have fundamentally conflicting views for how they achieve the right thing. It makes the conflict that much better because it forces Miles to make

groundbreaking decisions throughout the movie. He’s not just battling a generic bad guy with flat motivations, but a character that forces him to reevaluate who he is as a character and superhero. Across the Spiderverse is a surprising 2 hours and 20 minutes long which is pretty unheard of for an animated movie. This means Lord and Miller had no constraints while making the film they wanted and it really shows here because they were completely unleashed. Or everyone who was working on it because the movie has multiple directors, so it was probably a deeply collaborative process. Every setpiece

is exploding with vibrant and crazy energy and I think the set-piece with all the Spidermen is probably one of my favorite sequences in a film. It does not let up for a second and the attention to detail in every shot is truly staggering. It was overwhelming but in a good way. Like no wonder why it took them so long to make this movie. Also at no point does the movie feel like it’s overly utilizing fan servicey cameos. Because there are definitely cameos within the movie, but they never feel forced or detract from what’s going on.

Like there’s so much casual quick moments that made the theater go wild and the directors don’t dwell on it for a whole minute like No Way Home. The creators know that the story they want to tell is the priority and don’t want to cheap out with in-your-face fan service that halts the momentum. Also speaking of momentum, the pace is lightning-fast for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Which really isn’t a surprise due to the pace of the first movie, but this could have been 3-4 hours and I wouldn’t have noticed. It’s just pure bliss and the

splurge in runtime is refreshing because they can flesh out more characters like Gwen Stacey. There’s basically an entire prologue to the movie that tells her story and that in of itself was amazing. It could have ended there as a short story and I would have been happy. Also within this segment of the film, the creators establish a unique visual language in that each universe has its own distinct style. Gwen’s world really utilized punchy and bright colors that washed over every inch of the frame. And they even get creative with matching things like the background bleeding

away while Gwen is getting upset. It isn’t an understatement about how revolutionary and creative this film is for animation and makes the first film feel like a test run. Every landscape shot is an instant screen saver, the transitions are constantly fresh, they play with the framerate in fun ways again and how it impacts different characters, the style of a universe carries over into the physical character, the action is so well captured, and the creators are always experimenting visually. Unrelated to Spider-Man, there’s this scene in the show Arcane where a character utilizes time travel in a

fight, and while doing so, the art style drastically changes and turns into a beautiful showcase of experimental animation. Now imagine this level of creativity but spread out over 2 hours and 20 minutes. The action is constantly putting you into a bewildered state because of this. Across the Spiderverse is simply one of the best and if not the best animated movie ever made in my opinion. Which is actually a pretty hard title given Pixar’s lineup. Those movies may technically have better scripts, but the presentation of Across the Spider-verse excels the movie into a league that is

incomprehensible. This is already shaping up to be one of the highest-rated movies on Letterboxd which really isn’t surprising. If I had the option I’d probably give it 6 stars due to how much the animation blew me away. I haven’t felt this level of joy and shock from pure quality in a long time. Or really not that long since John Wick 4 just came out and that was an action masterpiece. If this is the level of creativity that animated movies are heading towards like with how great the last Puss in Boots was and hopefully the new

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, then this is going to be a golden age for animation. Thank you for watching and for any regular viewers I’ll put an update about the whole demonetization situation in the community tab. But let me know in the comments if this movie exceeded your expectations because it somehow did for me and they were sky-high.