Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse
**Due to not being able to find pictures online that will do the film justice, no pictures will be in this post. Just go see it in theaters. Trust me.**
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse picks ups roughly a year after the events of Into the Spider-verse. Miles is more experienced as his universe’s Spiderman, he has a “working relationship” with his father who is about to become Captain, and he is getting ready for college applications. Miles proceeds to meet up with Spider-Gwen and learn more about the multiverse and his place in it as Spiderman. And it was amazing. While a seemingly simple story concept, the creators took the time to properly explore the characters and their arcs. By using the unique animation style of each multiverse, the audience is pulled into how the characters feel and grow.
Pros: One of the struggles multiverse storytelling has had recently is that other universes don’t feel unique. In Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness, most of the universes we see are just slightly altered versions of our own world, and the ones that do seem unique and interesting are on screen for less than 10 seconds. Furthermore, the alternate universe that we spend the most time in, is just a darker more sci-verse version of the normal MCU and wholly uninteresting. In Across the Spider-verse however, every character feels unique to their world even when they are all “Peter Parker/Spiderman”. Because the story of Spiderman is so well known, they can breeze through each Spiderman’s backstory, and focus on how they are a unique character. They also use styling to show their individuality. Punk Rock Spiderman, Hobie Brown, feels like he is pulled out of a 90s rock poster, and when we see his universe, it is visually a tribute to the 90’s. Everything is closer to 2-D animation, it’s dynamic and the colors are a little duller. India Spiderman, Pavitr Prabhakar, has all the styling of a Bollywood film, complete with the color and vibrancy. While Miles and Gwen are closest in animation style, their world’s color palettes are different to show their individuality. Gwen’s world reflects her mood. Tones of blues, greens, pinks, and purples are prevalent in her universe. And in her universe, when she is sad, the colors will dull, and you can see the edges of the screen bleed colors. Similar to both her mood and how her comics are illustrated. By taking the time to make each universe and Spiderman unique in both color, tone, and vibrancy, the audience truly feels they are stepping into different universes and having a new experience.
The creators also made each Spiderman’s fighting style unique. Hobie utilizes a guitar as a weapon. Spider-Gwen uses a lot of gymnastics and ballet moves to propel her fighting. Pavitr utilizes an Indian Style of martial arts known as Kalaripayattu. Miguel uses massive claws on the side of his suit as both a climbing tool and a sword. While each Spiderman has about the same powers, by making each fighting style unique, they stand out as both characters and Spider-people.
This film is everything audiences want in a multiverse film. They are taken to unique places where they can immediately tell the new world is different from their own. The creators accomplish this by giving each earth a unique look, even if it’s just through a color pallet. The creators blend the various animation styles so seamlessly, that everything still goes together. They do not limit themselves to just the animated world, they pull in game designs, live action, and comic book panels. While in less skilled hands, this can look disjointed and gimmicky, by establishing the visual storytelling early, when these changes and merging of styles come, they are not jarring, but feel like the audience is peering into another dimension.
Best Performance: Oscar Issac as Migeul O’Hara, Spiderman 2099, trends the line between hero and villain. Visually the audience can see how he is a hero with his “classic hero physic”, drive and leadership skills. Isacc’s performance shows the underlying menace and how while he is a leader, he is also feared by even the more seniored Spider-People. His drive to protect the multiverse has pushed him to the limit where even as a genius, he cannot see the bigger picture anymore. His one and only focus is protecting the “cannon” no matter the cost. The audience is kept guessing whether he is a tragic hero, an anti-hero or villain.
Clocking in at two hours and twenty minutes, Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse is the longest American animated film in history. Going in, I knew that there would be one more film and this one would be left on a cliffhanger. However, even when anticipating a cliffhanger, I was still surprised at where it ended. With this being the longest American animated film, the last 20 minutes of the film is a little long, however the pace of storytelling makes it so you don’t really notice unless you are looking for it and are familiar with standard animated film lengths. Domestically, the film grossed $120 million in its opening weekend and $247 million to date (three weeks in theaters as of this post). The reason this film is doing so well is not only for its stunning animation style, which is truly unmatched creatively in anything outside of Japan’s anime powerhouses, but because of its dedication to their characters. No one is overlooked, everyone has motivation and a reason to be in the film. Too often, superhero films sacrifice character for spectacle. But the creators not only paid attention to their characters, but used visual storytelling and “spectacle” to propel their characters’ arcs. This film is truly a masterclass in what American animation can be and what superhero films should be.