Just Some Thoughts on “Across the Spider-Verse”
Best movie I’ve seen since last year’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
A favorite moment of mine in the new Spider-Man movie is a heartfelt conversation Miles and Gwen share atop the Williamsburg Bank Tower. They both discuss how lonely the job feels and how nobody could truly grasp their situations… except each other. Though they aren’t ready to take it a step further quite yet, both of them are glad to just have someome to talk to after being alone for so long. We are treated to a beautiful shot of the two of them sitting, the entire world flipped upside down except for those two. Truly a scene that only a Spider-Person could ever hope to see, and the folks at Sony Pictures Animation offer a small glimpse into that view.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is quite simply the best movie of this year so far. Expectations were very high for this movie after Into the Spider-Verse pulled off the best written superhero origin story ever captured on film while simultaneously breaking the norms for the animation industry. After watching the movie twice now, I can safely say that this film manages to improve on nearly everything that was established by its predecessor.
Warning: Mild Spoilers ahead.
Animation and Music
Let’s first talk about the easiest thing to praise about this movie: the animation style. The first Spider-Verse film challenged the long-established norms set by Pixar’s photorealistic style. I’m not really here to talk about that, and a quick Google search of “Impact of Spider-Verse” will likely pop up dozens of videos and articles that can do it more justice than me. The question on everyone’s mind was, “can they somehow one-up the original?” And man, they blew it out of the park with this movie.
While Into the Spider-Verse showcased heroes from other dimensions coming to Miles’ world, this time we are treated to a journey across the multiverse. Each universe we visit and character from a new universe we meet has a super distinct art style that elevates the movie’s stellar animation to new heights. Gwen Stacy’s Earth-65 was a personal favorite, with the background and color of the world matching Gwen’s feelings in the moment. When she is at her lowest, the colors shift to blue, and the watercolors that make up the walls begin dripping down. The backgrounds in her world are increasingly abstract as she struggles to balance being Spider-Woman with the rest of her life. Spider-Punk is another standout, with his whole body moving at different frame rates. His guitar on his back is literally animated in a different style than the rest of his body! His appearance is always changing colors too. What a clever way to capture a nonconformist in an animated film.
Even ignoring the alternate universe art styles, there are plenty of beautiful shots where the shot itself is the highlight, not the art style. The whole movie feels like something you can stop at any point, screen capture, and set as a new desktop wallpaper. While nothing in the movie really tops the “Leap of Faith” scene from the first movie, plenty of scenes stick out. Miles and Gwen swinging across Brooklyn. Miles talking to his father over a construction site, with the blue tarps mimicking the ocean. Miguel standing in the rain, with a neon red “welcome” sign in the background. Miles’s “I’ma do my own thing” moment. Visually speaking, I can guarantee you’ve never seen a movie quite like this. Hopefully more and more studios begin adopting this highly-stylistic approach going forward.
Exhibit B in the wing of “things that are universally liked” in this movie: the music. Both the soundtrack and the score, by the way. Many have been talking about the soundtrack, though the score is equally impressive. Daniel Pemberton managed to elevate the score even more for the sequel, with great new themes for Gwen, Miguel, The Spot, an amazing opening track, as well as this new “shit is bout to go down” motif. Metro Boomin on the soundtrack was a great choice, and every song used really fits the scene they are used in. Maybe not hitting the same peaks of “Scared of the Dark” and “What’s Up Danger” from the first movie, but there are plenty of highlights. “Self Love,” “Am I Dreaming,” and “Hummingbird” are all amazing, but of course everyone is talking about “Mona Lisa” by Dominic Fike.
Story and Characters
Visuals and music were something we all expected to be good, though perhaps not that good. In regards to the plot, this is the most unique and engaging Spider-Man story ever told. And for me to really discuss why I love this story more than the prequel, let’s break down the first movie for a moment.
Into the Spider-Verse, at its core, is a superhero origin story. Granted, it is the best and most unique superhero origin movie ever created, but by nature of being a Spider-Man origin story, certain plot moments are expected. In the beginning, Miles gains his powers and has trouble controlling them. Miles loses two mentor figures in his life, first being the original Peter Parker and the second being his uncle Aaron. On top of needing to learn how to master his powers and suffering a personal loss, Miles has the additional mental challenge of needing to answer why he wants to be Spider-Man. Eventually he emerges from this hardship as a new, determined, and confident version of himself. In the climax of the movie, there is a grand battle, this time involving multiple Spider-People, but at the end, Spider-Man must defeat his nemesis alone. Most Spider-Man origin movies follow these main plot points, including No Way Home, with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man needing to face the Green Goblin himself without any help. Into the Spider-Verse still happens to be the most unique origin story, putting a new twist on every major plot point listed (his mentor figure being the very man trying to kill him), but the story is familiar. It is a narritive that we have come to expect, albeit with many welcome twists and phenomenal execution.
Miles’ Story
While I’d say the first Spider-Verse film still may be the better narritive from start to finish, this story manages to be engaging by really allowing the three to four focal characters take the spotlight. The main focus is Miles’ story, where he first makes a new adversary in The Spot, whose portal creation abilities get stronger and allow him to threaten the multiverse. To tackle the issue, Miles finally gets to visit the Spider-Society, a multiversal group of Spider-People working to keep the multiverse together. He soon realizes that their job to protect the multiverse comes with a lot of sacrifices, something that he isn’t comfortable sitting around and letting happen, which makes him the new Public Enemy number 1 in the eyes of Miguel, their leader. It’s a great transition for his character, from just wanting to belong alongside the other Spider-Gang members in the first film to full rejecting the ideologies of the whole Spider-Society in this film.
The whole movie is about Miles finally understanding the point of being Spider-Man: not letting bad things happen due to your own inaction, regardless of whether or not it’s “destined to happen.” For Miles to stay true to himself even after both Peter B. and Gwen, his mentor and his best friend, seem to side with Miguel speaks a lot on the evolution of his character. Another big part about being Spider-Man is his independence, and this is something that Miles finally accepts, with some help from Spider-Punk, aka Hobie Brown. Hobie proves to be a great big brother figure to Miles, being the only Spider-Person to encourage Miles to seek out his own truth and not to be a follower.
Gwen’s Story
“Let’s do things differently this time. So differently.” — Gwen’s opening words
The film also delivers in making a very strong B-story centered around Gwen Stacy, which was pretty unexpected and ended up being my favorite aspect of the film. Gwen was not much more than a supporting character in the first film, developing a friendship with Miles that grew a lot stronger as the two heroes grew lonlier in their home dimensions. In this film, Gwen is upgraded to a full deuteragonist, and the film opens with a 15 minute prologue focused entirely on Gwen. We see how Earth-65’s Peter died in a battle against Spider-Woman, and Captain Stacy placing the murder on Spider-Woman strains her relationship with her father, the only person left in her life. Her father doesn’t react well to the truth, leading Gwen to leave her universe entirely for the Spider-Society, where she learns the truth about Miles. For the whole film, she’s stuck in between not wanting to hurt Miles, wanting to see Miles and just have someone to talk to again, trying to reason with Miguel and find some alternative to help Miles, and trying to remain on Miguel’s good side to avoid being sent home and risk losing her father. Her character arc is the opposite of Miles. She doesn’t really want to make new connections and is hanging on to the few ones she still has. By the end of the movie, some of those connections are broken while others are reforged, and she ends the film learning to rely more on her support network and trying to set things right.
While Miles’ story feels much more distinct and unique, Gwen’s story is nothing entirely new. A character has a fallout with her parents and her friends due to hiding some secrets from them. She continues to run from her problems by staying in the Spider-Society and avoiding seeing Miles, though the one time she does, shit hits the fan. Ultimately, things work out decently for her when she is open and confronts her problems. Gwen’s story is elevated a lot for a few reasons; primarily, the colors, backgrounds, and music of Earth-65 really just sell the emotion and distress that Gwen faces throughout her arc. The writing may not be groundbreaking, but it is just executed beautifully. This is also the first time we’ve seen a proper Spider-Woman “origin story” on the big screen, allowing for a new take on the character for the audience to digest, similar to the first film giving us a new take with Miles. Gwen was also in desperate need of some more screen time in the first movie, with her relationship with Miles feeling ever-so-slightly forced, and thankfully she really shines in this film, both on her own and with Miles. The chemistry between them is really great in this trilogy, which you can’t really say about the comics.
I really do love Gwen’s story in this film. Maybe I’ll make another writeup or video on why it’s so wonderful.
Miguel and The Spot
Miguel’s story, though not given nearly as much screentime as our two heroes, is fitting in its own right. This Spider-Man 2099 is far different from the comics, though his origin story gives just enough information to understand how he became like this, and it is fairly believable while intentionally leaving some details up to interpretation. Miguel’s self-given duty to protect the multiverse has greatly warped his perception on what it means to be Spider-Man, believing that some sacrifice is inevitible and unalterable. In a sense, he reminded me of Consul N from Xenoblade Chronicles 3, becoming a prisoner to the path he chose. He clashes with Miles’ free-spirited personality and sees him as a threat to the multiverse, and his obsession with needing to prove Miles wrong reminds me of how N desperately tries to break Noah’s resolve in Xenoblade. In one scene, Miguel reassures to the whole room of Spider-People that they are indeed the good guys and are doing the right thing. The Spider-People don’t respond. Miguel is trying to reassure himself more than anything. I imagine that the final film in the trilogy will feature much more context around Miguel to flesh out his character.
The Spot was a surprisingly big part of the movie. The initial marketing would lead you to believe that The Spot would be a small villain used to set the plot into motion, but that is hardly the case. The Spot’s rise in power is what alerts the Spider-Society to track down Miles, and the obsession over capturing Miles only allows the Spot to continue his plans unopposed. The Spot’s arc is reminiscent of Miles’ story in the first movie. The Spot is offended when Miles doesn’t take him as a threat and wants to be taken seriously, just how Miles wanted to be taken seriously by the other Spider-People (and initially by Miguel in this movie). He ends the movie as a serious threat, though he stays focused on his vendetta against Miles. I just wish we saw a bit more of him!
The Supporting Cast
While those four characters are definitely the highlight, the supporting cast sees a lot of love as well. Peter B. Parker sees a reduced role in this film but shares a good amount of heartfelt moments with his mentee Miles. Nevertheless, Miles still feels betrayed by him and Gwen. He does have his daughter Mayday now, and him being uncertain on how to raise Mayday is just as applicable to how he should support Miles; both are things he surely never expected to deal with and has made a few mistakes with.
I’ve talked a lot about Hobie already, but man he was awesome. Though the movie initially makes you believe of some tension between him and Miles, he very clearly is just a great supportive friend. He pushes Miles to be a free thinker and to never back down. When Miles wonders why a rebel like him is even in the Spider-Society, he admits he just wants to support Gwen. Gwen had nowhere to go after being a wanted criminal and being seemingly disowned by her father in her universe, and Hobie was one of the few people who supported her. It’s clear that Gwen definitely has more feelings for Miles while just seeing Hobie as a great friend who had her back at her lowest. Hobie seems fine with that role as well, thankfully.
Other characters that got to shine inclue Pavitr, the Spider-Man from India. Pav offered a fresh take on the character as he was a new Spider-Man that was notably optimistic and had yet to face any major loss of loved ones. The representation of India was stellar, and he really stole the spotlight for the 10–15 minutes of screentime he had. Spider-Byte was also interesting, forming a connection with Miles that was very important later in the film. I imagine we will be seeing more from her in the next film. The only characters that felt a little underdeveloped were Jessica Drew and Ben Riley. Jessica’s Spider Woman clearly served as a mentor to Gwen, similar to Miles and Peter B., though most of that is just talked about and not actually seen. In the few scenes she has, she seems to carry a bit more loyalty to Miguel rather than supporting her pupil, which she seemingly regrets by the end of it. Ben Riley is great but just doesn’t get nearly enough time to shine. Not a whole lot to say about him.
Themes and Messages
The new setting of the Spider-Society and the concept of predestination allowed this movie to explore plenty of new themes that haven’t been utilized in other Spider-Man films. Miles choosing to at least try to save his loved ones over the supposed safety of the multiverse puts him at odds with Miguel, echoing a sort of “Needs of Many vs One” theme at the core. This theme works much better in a Spider-Man film, where oftentimes Spidey manages to pull off both (see Tobey saving MJ and the car of children in Spider-Man 2002). Miguel and the other Spider-People either truly believe that they can’t save certain people, or they all have already experienced it and think it is necessary.
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” — School Counselor
“Unless you have two cakes.” — Miles
In many multiverse stories, it seems almost too easy to lose the audience in a convoluted plot, and the best multiverse movie thus far, Everything Everywhere All at Once, solved this issue with a simple approach: make the central conflict a grounded one. For all the multiverse shenanigans in that movie, the main plot is a mother trying to connect with her daughter. Across the Spider-Verse cleverly follows the same path with making the central conflict about Miles wanting to save his family despite the potential cost. Anyone can relate to Miles’ struggle; if you knew something bad were to befall a person you cared about, and if you could even have a small chance of changing it, nearly everyone would take that chance. This movie manages to balance both having bigger stakes (threatening the multiverse) with having an understandable moral conflict at its center.
This movie also has a lot to say on not just what it means to be Spider-Man but also on how you should write a Spider-Man story. Obviously with the former, Miles and Pavitr embody the ideal mindset that all Spider-People are bound to: with great power comes great responsibility. Because of their abilities, inaction makes them guilty when things go wrong; there is never a reason not to at least try, no matter how feeble it may seem. Miguel however, has a responsibility nobody else ever had on top of the obligation to be Spider-Man. He has just bought into the concept of sacrificing the needs of himself and others after his past, making him forget his reasons for being Spider-Man. It’s a trolley problem that Miguel just has become numb towards.
While Into the Spider-Verse touched on something quite similar, Across the Spider-Verse takes a much more pointed, meta approach with its commentary about Miles and, in doing so, encourages you to think very critically but meaningfully about who Miles represents and what it means when people dismiss the very simple fact that he is Spider-Man.— Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge
On the latter, the movie works extremely well as a meta-commentary on how Spider-Men media “should be,” whether determined by angry fans or out-of-touch corporate bigwigs. The decision to call these predestined events in the Spider-Verse world as “Canon events” makes this connection clear as day. Lord and Miller and their whole writing team is arguing against the need to keep rehashing the same plot points, themes, and events for each adaptation of Spider-Man. The characters deserve to evolve, and the fierce loyalty to these certain events or characteristics of the character result in some stories feeling stagnant or repetitive. The creators seemed to confirm that part of the motivation on having this message was the original reaction to Miles’ character in 2012, where you can imagine that many had some… interesting reactions to the character.
The entire concept of predestination clashes with Miles’ free spirited personality. Choice and fate come in pairs throughout the entire film. Miles chooses to try and defy fate, even if it might be meaningless to even try. Miguel chooses to devote himself to Fate and gives up the reasons he became Spider-Man. Gwen feels like she has no choice throughout the whole movie and deliberately avoids choosing any one side for long. Any choice she makes could send her home to see her fate play out. Consequences are huge for each choice our characters make. Gwen tries to avoid choosing and thus any consequences of the choice she made before joining the Spider-Society. Miles choosing to treat Spot like a meme resulted in him becoming maybe the biggest multiversal threat since Kingpin’s collider. Miguel choosing to stick on the path he chose results in many of the Spider-Folks questioning their mission and leader.
Another great theme presented in the movie is just growing up. Not just for our central teenagers Gwen and Miles. The whole film also puts plenty of focus on the parents needing to grow and change as their kids prepare to leave the nest. Rio and Jeff struggle to understand Miles throughout the movie and undoubtedly know he is hiding something, but they realise he’s not the same kid anymore. Once he is ready to tell them, he will. Rio understands that and shows how all parents are just worried for their children going out on their own. In the first trailer, she claims that she just wants to make sure Miles “feels like he belongs” wherever he goes into the future: words that mean a lot more later in the movie. Even Gwen’s father struggles to accept her new identity and has to learn to look past the surface to continue having a relationship with her father.
I remember very clearly what it was like when I was sort of peeling myself off from the grasp that my mom was trying to keep on me and make sure that I was staying safe. I’m on the other side now. I’ve got a seven-year-old, and the other day we were walking and he pulled his hand away from me because he wanted to be with his friends and not show it. It’s a bit heartbreaking but part of the journey nonetheless. I think that relatability cuts across cultures, it cuts across everything. — Joaquim Dos Santos, director
All these themes combine to make an engaging story that people will surely continue debating about until the sequel comes out. For most of these themes, there’s no one right view, and that’s what makes them great.
The Caveats and Nitpicks
There is another reason that the people will not shut up about this movie… It does end on a cliffhanger. Folks who have kept up with the franchise likely were not suprised by this; this movie was originally going to be just a single sequel before it was split into two. Without that knowledge, the cliffhanger ending can feel a bit crazy to do. Unlike other cliffhanger movies, namely Infinity War, it doesn’t exactly end on a climactic high note. On the first watch, it really feels like there’s no indication of where the movie will end, and I’m fine with where the movie ended and figured there were not a lot of great spots to leave it off. I definitely get it if people are upset at this choice though. Really, this movie’s resolution serves to wrap up Gwen’s character arc. Miles’ character arc is clearly unfinished and will be expanded further in the next film, but this movie gives Gwen a good amount of closure and leaves her off in a much better spot than when the film begins. As I was pretty invested in Gwen’s story, I’m glad they did it like this; we basically got a whole movie on Gwen with half of a movie on Miles.
The next big complaint I’ve had is that The Spot basically disappears at the start of the second act. For the entire sequence in Nueva York, the Spot is just not in the movie at all. Granted I don’t think there was any real place to put him in, but it is a bit odd to have him disappear for the second half of the film while once again appearing at the end for the sequel. Sure, in-universe it could be explained as Spot just travelling forward through space and time, but writing wise, it is a bit odd to have the next big bad play a huge role in the first half of the movie and then get largely replaced with another antagonist in the second half.
The last nitpick that I have seen a lot, and one that I think is a little valid, is how the writers, in trying to paint the message of how Spider-Man should be written, seemingly forgot a big aspect of the character themselves. The main talking point is that having every possible version of Spider-Man be okay with Miles not saving his loved ones for the sake of the “timeline” feels pretty unlikely. Besides Hobie, basically nobody believes that Miguel is wrong or is willing to take a stand against Miguel. I think there are plenty of in-universe ways you could account for this, namely that Miguel chooses the members of his task force directly. If he has suspicion that anyone would go against his plans, there’s no reason to recruit that individual. Also it’s implied that not every Spider-Person knows the full extent of Miguel’s plan to prioritize the multiverse over all else, as shown in Pavitr’s dimension and when the entire group expresses doubts over Miguel’s motives. And lastly, he could be recruiting mainly only the most experienced Spider-People who have already suffered most of their “predestined losses.”
I wouldn’t call this so much of a plot hole as it is a framing device for the narritive. For the narritive to work and for Miguel to be a serious villain, he needs these Spider-People to be on his side. And to be honest, most of the Spider-People that side with Miguel do not actually get any characterization in this film, besides Gwen and Peter. It could simply be that most Spider-People he recruited already went through their “Canon Event.” Personally, I am okay with this choice, as this one debatable choice in the setting allows for a great story with some new themes to be told.
Final Thoughts
For me, Across the Spider-Verse is my movie of the year thus far. Whether or not it keeps this rating is to be determined, as there are plenty of strong films yet to come out this year. But visually and musically, there is no other movie like it out in theaters right now, and there may never be a movie quite as distinct as this ever. Across the Spider-Verse works best as a character-driven story, and that makes it a little less narritively tidy compared to the first one. That being said, I’m a sucker for these anime/RPG-style narritives that put character development for multiple characters front and center, so I loved the new approach. The characters all feel much more fleshed out and alive, and the relationships between them all are super well done.
The few criticisms I have of the movie are pretty minor in comparison to everything else the movie does well. I understand if people would prefer the first film, and I do think this film doesn’t hit all the same peaks as Into the Spider-Verse. That being said, it gets like 90% of the way there many times throughout the film. There is just so much to love about this movie, and I geniunely think it is a 10/10 experience. Really I haven’t felt this way about a movie since Everything Everywhere All at Once. It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime film. Do yourself a favor and watch it in theaters; this movie deserves it.
