Posted in: Movies, Review, Sony | Tagged: miles morales, sony, spider-gwen, spider-man: across the spider-verse

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Is As Good As Films Get {Review}

Spider:Man: Across The Spider-Verse is as perfect a film can be, and the standard all animated, superhero, and action films should be held to.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse builds upon everything from the first film and somehow makes it better. Stuffed full of visuals that will have your jaw on the floor, at certain points, you become aware that you are watching moving art, not just a film. This is generation-defining stuff; this set of films will be remembered for years and years to come and will define the genre for all time. While it is a smidge annoying that we end on a cliffhanger, all is forgiven for what came before the end and what is to come after—a masterpiece.

What It Means To Be Spider-Man

One thing that sets these films apart from their live-action counterparts is an amazing sense of self-awareness about who and what Spider-Man is. That is something that those films only scratch the surface on, but the two Spider-Verse films spend the majority of their time on. It is also what has always set Miles Morales apart from Peter; he is missing that sense of dread and "Parker luck" depression that Peter hangs his hat on. Miles believes in himself to a fault but ultimately strives to be a hero in every sense of the word. His world is breathtaking to explore, with visuals that, honestly, have never been put on screen before. We have never seen Spider-Man look so close to what we have pictured in our heads until this series.

The voice cast is note-perfect. Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld are absolutely fantastic as Miles and Gwen. Never has there been more chemistry in every sense of the word in an animated film than there is between these two. Throw in newcomers like Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae, and Jason Schwartzman, all doing great work, and the film never loses engagement. A special shoutout to Brian Tyree Henry and Luna Lauren Vélez for playing such excellent parents to our young hero. There are a ton of cameos and easter eggs to catch that would be spoilers and too numerous to name here anyway, so we will say that they never felt gratuitous and are used in all the right ways.

Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson make a fine directing team, going off a script by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and David Callaham. The entire creative team pushed the limits of what can be done in this style of film and invented new storytelling areas in the process. The many, many artists that worked on Spider-Verse deserve a Cannes-style standing ovation as well. A lot of love and long hours went into this film, and every ounce of it is on the screen.

This is the very definition of upping the ante for a sequel in every way possible, and just when you think they will let their foot off the gas for a bit, we hit another gear and build to a finale that ended in gasps in the theater. Yes, this is a part one, and it does play that way, and it does end in a cliffhanger as well, which will bother some people, but it ends with the promise that we will have yet another epic chapter to look forward to. Into The Spider-Verse won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars the year it was released, and it is safe to say that this sequel is a shoo-in to repeat and maybe get some attention in other categories as well. This is as good as storytelling gets, folks, so get out to a theater as fast as you can. This is a masterpiece.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

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Review by Jeremy Konrad

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10/10

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is a masterpiece. Filmmaking at its finest, your jaw will need to be picked up off the floor by the end. Visually one of the most inventive films ever made, this is a film series that will come to define superhero and action films forever. A must-see.

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