[Rating: Solid Rock Fist way, WAY up]
Only in theatres.
We are not worthy.
There are movies. There are animated movies. And then there are the Spider-Verse movies. There are only two of them (so far), which makes their existence even more valuable to the human race in the grand scheme of all things. The first one, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, quietly crept into theatres five years ago, seemingly a side project for Sony Studios after they’d loaned out Peter Parker to Disney and the MCU. Then, it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature film in 2019 because it was friggin’ bad ass. Hell, it probably should have been nominated for Best Picture, if not won the damn thing. It was certainly a better movie than the movie that won Best Picture — that year it went to Green Book, yes Green Book, ugh.
But sequels suck, right? Not this time.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the second chapter in the animated Spidey trilogy is most like the best animated movie ever made and it might just be one of the best freaking movies, live action or animated to literally exist in the history of mankind. It is no doubt the best superhero movies ever, but it might be a tad more accurate and appropriate to call this a comic book film, since it is more about adapting the artistic visual style of the comics onto the canvas of the silver screen.
Across the Spider-Verse picks up a little over a year after the first film. Our hero, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) has been doing his Spidey thing as his universe’s one and only Spider-Man and things are going just fine until a weird, bumbling new villain, The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), shows up to put a huge kink into the life that Miles is already having a hard time finding balance in. Meanwhile, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) has teamed up with another alternate universe web slinger, Spider-Man 2099 aka Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac) to clean up the messes left by cracks in the multiverse. And that’s about all I’m telling you about this movie. The rest is better left to be discovered upon viewing, which should take place on the biggest movie screen you can find.
Everything works in this movie at maximum levels. It’s insane. The brilliant screenplay, written by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Dave Callaham takes our beloved characters from the first movie and leads them down a thrilling and dark new path that truly blows open the doors on the Spider-Verse, while also introducing a handful of new and equally exciting characters including Spider Woman (Issa Rae), Spider Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), Spider Byte (Amandla Stenberg) and Spider-Man India (Karan Soni).
The animation is second to none, a true visual achievement of spectacle and creative genius. This film is truly a work of art. If it was a burrito, Johnny Depp would shoot the cook, it’s that good. (See: Robert Rodruguez’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico to understand that reference). But seriously this movie is a visual marvel. The way colors are used and manipulated to accentuate the emotions that each character are suffering from is almost spiritual. There’s always something happening on screen, so it may take a few viewings to catch all of the fun easter eggs and cameos, which are peppered in with true devotion to the story being told, rather than simple fan service.
And then there is the music. Both Daniel Pemberton‘s emotional synth score and the dozens of musical tracks fuel the movie with musical and lyrical beats to pure perfection.
Under the direction of the team of Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson, the film finds a perfect balance between delivering real character growth in a fun and exciting new story, all while embuing it with the same heart, spirit and humor that made the first movie so amazing. And then it cranks it up to eleven and goes off the freaking rails in all of the best ways possible.
I’m really having a hard time coming up with something the movie did not do well, but there has to be something, right? No movie is perfect. Except Back to the Future. Here are a few very minor nit-picks from an otherwise near-perfect movie: it’s not long enough, it ends, and the next one, Beyond the Spider-Verse, doesn’t come out until (allegedly) spring of 2024. Also it doesn’t have any post credits scenes, which is lame because you’re not going to want to leave the theatre until the new one comes out.
I really can’t think of any more superlatives to throw out there to describe this phenomenal movie. If I died today and this was the last movie I saw, I’d be good with it. If they deleted every copy of every other movie that existed and this was the one movie we were a left with….I think I’d be okay with it. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is going to be one of the best and most memorable movies of 2023 and should, although probably won’t, be in serious contention for a Best Picture statue next spring. It’s wildly fun and deeply emotional roller coaster of a ride that should not be missed.
Lover of movies and tacos. Ad man. Author. Member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Founder of the Terror on the Plains Horror Festival. Creator and voice of the Reel Hooligans podcast.
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