REVIEW - 'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' (2023)

The first part of a two-piece animated multiverse superhero feast, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” is, during its worst cases, the equivalent of a crowd full of fans annoyingly pointing at the screen. The top-tier (and awards-worthy) animation is drowned by the surplus of characters, jokes, and new sights forcefully crammed in every frame, to the point where one feels exhausted rather than exhilarated. And most important (and frustrating) of all, it suffers from the primordial problem that hurt Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” the most: it feels like one-quarter of a movie.

In 2018, the world received a call that someone had created a new project to inspire animators to reach new heights. The project was “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” constructed by Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, and Rodney Rothman. That film blew everyone away because of the ethereal animation style that appeared on the screen. It was a visual feast, an amalgamation of different techniques that blended comic books with digital and 3D configurations. It made the audience seek more from this film. They wanted to feed their hunger for superhero stories. Of course, Hollywood had their eyes on the big money prize lurking in the vast worlds of the “Spider-Verse.” But, unlike everyone in the world, I wasn’t sold on it, at least in its storytelling.

A Narrative that Doesn’t Match the Animation

For me, the narrative was something that we had seen thousands of times before. It wasn’t bad, per se. But I felt that there was something more to look forward to. A couple of years have passed since the release of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Ever since we have seen more than a handful of films and series centering around the multiverse. Initially, it was a blessing. Fans would get a sugar rush of cameos and easter eggs in every corner. However, it has become a deadly curse. It is a broken storytelling mechanism that is a cheap way to tell relatable stories about human nature and life. We have seen everything from the ‘Best Picture’-winning “Everything Everywhere All at Once” to “Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans.”

It is time to cut the cord with the multiverse and focus on singular stories. But that isn’t happening because “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has arrived in theaters. And everyone is going crazy, including me, for other reasons. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is set a few years after the 2018 film. After a twenty-minute action-packed prologue, where we meet Miguel O’Hara, Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac), and we see Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) reuniting with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) once again to resolve personal and multiverse issues once again. After saving the world via the collider explosion, they haven’t seen each other in a long time. Their chemistry is palpable but fractured. And the respective actors’ voice performances make the audience feel those emotions through the screen.

Capitalizing on ‘Spider-Man’ Fandom

Regardless, a villain called The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) pops by. And because Miles called him a “villain of the week”, he gets the courage to pursue more power. After an altercation with Miles and Gwen, The Spot has managed to get the ability to switch timelines in the blink of an eye. As you anticipate, this is another Marvel film that revolves around the world-ending stakes. So, doing a plot synopsis for what happens next won’t be necessary. There are plenty of problems in “Across the Spider-Verse.” One of them is the over-reliance on cameos and easter eggs to sell the story they are telling. The only segments in the film that work is when Miles and Gwen question their paths and bond over their unresolved issues, whether not telling your loved ones your most kept secret will help seal the fractures in parental bonds.

Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) and his daughter Mayday in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse.” (Photo: Sony Animation Studios).

In these moments, you finally feel some emotion flowing from the story. You want to see more of what this storyline has to offer. However, everything becomes completely disarray once the multiverse shenanigans appear on-screen. At that point, once Miles entered the Spider Society, that is where it lost me completely. That was when I knew this film wouldn’t do anything different than what we saw in the other cookie-cutter MCU films. Every frame has a gag, joke, cameo, or reference. It makes the comic-book fan jump out of their seat and scream. They point to the screen and yell annoyingly. After seeing thousands of different Spider-Men, there’s only one question in your mind: Yeah… and now what?

All of this seemed curated for nothing more than just fan service, not a narrative mechanism to build a film around. The breathtaking animation is drowned by this chaotic mayhem to the point where you can’t even admire it. Exhaustion is what gets over you throughout the two-hour run-time. Instead of being psyche to see everything, you just want it to end. So where does all of this mayhem lead up to? Well… it leads nowhere. Instead, it serves up a “Dune”-like cliffhanger that broke the experience for me. “Across the Spider-Verse” makes the same mistakes Denis Villeneuve did with his sci-fi bore-fest back in 2021; they have completed less than half of a film — to be more specific, one-quarter of one.

Looking for Improvements in the Next Installment

Nothing has a resolution. None of the narrative threads lead anywhere in this picture. You are left even questioning the reason why they divided these films into two parts in the first place. The division of a curtain closer has happened before with the “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” series. Unlike the animated “Spider-Verse” franchise, the aforementioned ones knew how to close each chapter and film before it headed to the last one. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” finished at a precise moment that helped pave the way for what’s to come and be excited about the finale. It is tiresome to see superhero films that don’t want to go on a more artistic or out-of-the-ordinary approach to storytelling. We have seen “The Incredibles,” “Logan,” “The Batman,” “Batman Begins,” and “Unbreakable.”

Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) and Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” (Photo: Sony Animation Studios).

So we all know that somebody can achieve this if they try. But, since money calls and audiences are aching to be pleased, studios continue to go down a route of rudimentary pictures. I thought that “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” would be one film that finally proves me wrong that Marvel films aren’t dead. Let’s hope the next one manages to do something worthy of its beautiful animation.