PopHorror Let's Get Scared
WARNING: This review contains mild Across the Spiderverse spoilers.
Alright. Let’s do this one more time. His name? Miles Morales. Born and raised in Brooklyn, this teen was bit by an interdimensional spider, giving him the amazing abilities of one. After witnessing Peter Parker die trying to stop Wilson Fisk from recklessly colliding dimensions, Miles feels obligated to take up the mantle. With the assistance of a bunch of fellow Spider-powered people, he is able to learn about his powers and stop Kingpin, while returning his allies to their own homes. He’s actualized into his own hero, the true Spider-Man of Earth 1610.
Or so he thinks…
Just when Miles (voiced by Shameik Moore) is settling in, a year after the events of ‘Into the Spiderverse‘, Miles has to deal with two major changes. First, a klutzy villain named The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) declares himself Miles’s nemesis, being transformed into what is essentially a wireframe of a man filled with inky spots by Miles shutting down Fisk’s dimensional collider. At the start of the film, Spot is much like I remembered him from the 90s cartoon. He’s a goofy D-Lister with a power that would be more useful than how he operates it.
After getting thoroughly trounced by Miles, Spot has a breakdown and discovers the real potential of his powers: interdimensional travel. Still determined to get revenge on Miles, Spot decides to prepare for a rematch by powering up across the multiverse, leading to what should be a cameo villain becoming a monster on par with Gurren Lagann’s Anti-Spiral. Schwartzman absolutely sells the role, bouncing between a bit of a pathetic joke and something anyone, even a superpowered Spider-Person should be deeply afraid of.
On top of this, Miles is reunited with his friend Gwen, a fellow Spider from another universe where Peter Parker dies and another gets the mantle. He finds out that she has joined a secret “Spider Society” filled with other variants determined to stop villains from popping in and out of other worlds as they did in ‘Into The Spiderverse.’ Spiderverse 2 ups the ante immensely compared to the first. While the first film had a few variants of animated Spiders, this film is absolutely loaded with them. If you can think of an alternate type of Spider-person, they’re probably there. Across the Spiderverse (shortened to Spiderverse 2 for ease and lack of confusion going forward) is no understatement, the film is absolutely stuffed with variants.
…unless you’re hoping for iconic anti-hero Supaidaman. I’m sorry to the dozens of you who, like me, were disappointed. However, there should be at least one alternative that any fan of any age should recognize. Personal all-star appearances of mine were the return of Josh Keaton as the 2-D animated Spectacular Spider-man, and JK Simmons once again proving, there is probably no one else in the multiverse who can voice J. Jonah Jameson quite like him.
This Spider Society is formed by Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099, whose main goal is to preserve “canon” events, believing that Spiders are inherently locked into a consistent narrative of tragedy that leads to their heroism. For reasons that are revealed in the film, he is staunchly against Miles’s involvement, and that leads to a lot of personality clashes, up to a divide in the Spiderverse and the Society…
Now, I think it’s necessary to discuss the elements of the film. Like the first, Spiderverse 2 features absolutely superb animation. While the first film developed its own style of animation and character design and lighting, the visuals here only seem to up the ante. While Spiders in the first all were visually different, they shared a similar cel-shaded 3D animation look. This film uses that for many Spider variants, however, the difference here is the dynamic ways they manipulate that to create unique and dynamic styles for each one. Spider-Punk, for example, uses a fascinating system of layer manipulation in the program Maya to create a distinct look that makes him look like he’s off a freshly printed punk record cover, as revealed by animator Li Wen Toh.
Rather than the “buy brand” soaked nostalgia of No Way Home, Across the Spiderverse genuinely shows love and care for the character and narrative of Spider-man. While some familiar faces appear across both, there is a distinct difference in the “how” and “why”. You don’t see these characters to reminisce about a movie from 20 years ago and buy new t-shirts and toys of them. You see all these variants of Spider-man to show how much the character truly means. The heroism, the sacrifice, the snark, it’s all part of these Spiders overcoming what life throws at them and still making the active choice of heroism.
One major difference I noticed in the film is the lack of motivating music compared to the first. Comparatively, I cannot recall an audio moment that just hit the same way the alarming and tense Prowler theme did, much less the now iconic “What’s Up Danger” scene.
This is not to say the film is not as moving as the first. With both Miles’s story, as well as a major subplot featuring Gwen coming to terms with both her status and responsibilities as a Spider; and how that may clash with the plans of Miguel and the Society. While her background was briefly alluded to in the first film, Spiderverse 2 fleshes her out beyond “the hip new Spider-gal”. Moments between her and her father (voiced by Shea Whigham) are some of the most emotionally driven parts of the first two acts.
Needless to say, the third act shifts everything into gear, making things messy at best and heartbreaking at worst for our chosen set of Spider-heroes. Without spoiling anything not in the advertising already, by the time the film ends, audiences are hit with a WHAM moment of a cliffhanger on par with the classic Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, revealing this film is Spiderverse 2… of 3. Personally, I wish to see the film in theaters again just to see what visual details I missed and to re-live the adventure. Thankfully, this film is absolutely loaded with heart, humor, and a gorgeous visual escape that would make that worth it to me, even in this time of dreaded inflation…
Let’s be honest, if you’ve ever for a moment loved something Spider-man, you owe it to yourself to watch this film. It takes its own leap of faith and surpasses the amazing original, leaving you wondering: with this one being superior; will the next be the ultimate representation of what Spider-man can be, both as a hero and a part of art? Let’s find out next March(fingers crossed).
