The Perfect Sequel - My Review of "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse"

Writers: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dave Callaham

Directors: Joaquim Does Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson

Full Title: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Originally Released: June 2, 2023

Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, Sony Pictures Animation, Pascal Pictures, Lord Miller Productions, Arad Productions

Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing

Digital Cinema Projector

IFCO/BBFC/MPA (Cert. #): PG/PG/PG (53500)

Length: 2h, 20m

10/10

"Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse" is the perfect sequel, improving on its predecessor while still keeping the bits that made the first one work.

Spoilers ahead for "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" and "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse". If you haven't watched either of them yet, I'd highly recommend that you do before reading ahead.

After watching "Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3", I thought that I wouldn't see a film as good as that. At least, not in the foreseeable future. I was wrong. Just over 3 weeks after my initial viewing of James Gunn's Marvel swansong, I went to watch it again to see if it still blows me away the second time around. It did. 5 days later, "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse" blew me away more.

"Guardians of the Galaxy" may have been the first Marvel film I ever watched, but Spider-Man made me fall in love with Marvel years before that. Because of that I'm extremely biased, but reviews aren't supposed to be objective. They're insights into someone else's experience. That being said, here's mine.

Firstly, elephant in the room: the "Protect Trans Kids" flag in Gwen Stacy's room. I have expressed my disdain (to put it mildly) for any sort of bigotry or discrimination on my Instagram account in length - repeatedly. So, I'm not going to just rehash what I've said time and again. I'm all for inclusion and pride, being openly Pansexual myself, so I was overjoyed when I saw that Gwen had that in her room. After watching the film the first time, I noticed that she might not be a trans ally, rather a trans girl herself. She is a walking trans pride flag, her father wears a trans flag on his police uniform, her face has slightly more masculine undertones in its structure, and her relationship with her father throughout the film is an allegory for trans kids after coming out to their family. People are taking it out of proportion, but I think that it's great. It's never explicitly mentioned which leaves it very ambiguous, which I think is smart. That way Sony can see people's reactions to it and don't have to retcon anything if people don't like it.

Secondly, the music. I know I left this out in my "Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3" review but with James Gunn's track record, I didn't need to. You know it's going to be amazing. But, the "Spider-Verse" series is only starting. Daniel Pemberton killed it with the score and the soundtrack, whilst no individual song is stuck in my head (yet), is amazing. I was honestly surprised at how few big name songs were in this film, because of how films nowadays tend to rely on them for marketing. Besides Post Malone's "Sunflower" apparently appearing as a cover (something I didn't notice until it was mentioned in the credits), it was all original music. No Beastie Boys (who just this year alone were featured in the new Mario film, "Guardians 3", and the trailer for the Marvels), and no Bonnie Tyler (used in the Mario movie as well as covered in "Tetris" ), which led to film feeling fresh amidst the over reliance on nostalgia featured everywhere else. A move I really like.

Hobart "Hobie" Brown is a punk-rock anarchist, who is constantly defying anyone and everyone unless it benefits him. He's integral to the plot because he doesn't like authority and I find that hilarious. He steals scraps and quits during the big chase scene, before making his own dimension hopping watch to give to Gwen. He's so good he got a full paragraph that was supposed to just be a quick shout-out.

Next, the antagonists. Johnathan Ohnn is revealed to have been hit by the bagel, and is now a villain. That alone made him funnily compelling. But that's only scratching the surface. He was a scientist working on Fisk's Collider in "Into The Spider-Verse" who transported a spider from Earth-42 to Earth-1610 and was caught in the collider's field and gained the power to create portals from the black spots on his, now almost white, body. However, he was shunned by his family and friends, and lost his job because of it. This led to him developing a hatred for Miles Morales due to his involvement with the collider's meltdown. Now it's a tragic story and he's made even more sympathetic by the fact that Miles doesn't take him seriously and calls him a "villain of the week".

The Spot isn't the only antagonist, though. Miguel O'Hara, a.k.a. Spider-Man 2099, is a Spider-Man who's lost everything because of his naïvetë and creates a "Spider-Society" to stop that from happening to anyone again. In doing so, he becomes blind to how his drive for stability affects others. He ultimately ends up becoming the main villain and, like the villains of the 2018 "Spider-Geddon" storyline this film is influenced by, is a vampire. While not as explicitly fleshed out as Johnathan Ohnn, Miguel's backstory is still tragic and makes you feel sympathy for him.

Finally, the wait, and "Beyond". 4½ years after "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" released, we got this amazing film. The first teaser was released in November 2019 with an April 2022 release date, before being delayed to October of that year, and then finally to June 2nd, 2023 (Pride Month). The excruciating wait doesn't end there, with the final act taking place Miles sent to Earth-42 by mistake, instead of his home on Earth-1610. The film ends with Gwen assembling her own team as Miles is captured by his Earth-42 self, who's now the Prowler. This amazing cliffhanger, as well as a 10 month wait, just make me waiting with bated breath for next year's "Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse".

Conclusion, this is an amazing film and great for casual fans and hardcore fans alike. I cannot stress how much I love this film and how much I recommend it to anyone and everyone.