Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, the sequel to 2018’s animated superhero hit Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, is a pretty great film and quite possibly could be the best animated film we will see this year. It takes what was established in the first film and extrapolates its out to a film that feels bigger than its progenitor while never losing sight of the heart of what made the first film so good.
The problem here is I can’t really get into specific as to why Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is so great. It is not that I can’t articulate why I think this way. Trust me, if you cornered me in a restaurant or bookstore, I could go on for some length about the film’s charms and qualities if you would let me. However, as is sometimes the case with these big blockbuster films, the publicists for Into The Spider-Verse have been asking reviewers not to give away any of the big surprises in the film. And I am sympathetic to that. As a fan of superhero movies, there are some things in the film that I would not want to be spoiled on going into it. (As opposed to what has been reported in the trades about certain surprises in Warner Brothers upcoming The Flash, which I think will somewhat diminish the impact the filmmakers were hoping to make.)
There are a few things I can expound on though. Visually, the film takes Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse‘s animation innovations and pushes them even further. We see a logical expansion of the conceit from the first film where the various Spider-heroes who visited lead character Miles Morales’s world had a distinct character design and animation that marked them from separate alternate-Earths. The action setpieces are an equal step up in terms of staging and fluidity. This new film has bags of style, as well as the heart to go along with it. If ever there was an element to any Spider-Man story it is about the character struggling with themselves, and that is something this film does in spades.
One interesting theme that Across The Spider-Verse goes into is its examination of storytelling and what we as audiences want from things like superhero movies in terms of faithfulness to their source material. Must we demand fidelity to certain storybeats in every version of these tales being told? Are there ways to change up some of these beloved iconic moments while still remaining faithful to the core elements that help define the character? It is most likely a dilemma that often faces filmmakers who work in superhero films where the audience may not be receptive to such changes unless handled extremely well. For Across The Spider-Verse to take that question and examine it in the way that the film does turns it into not just an interesting and fun plot point of its own, but forces the audience to think about its own, sometimes dogmatic, reactions to changes made by filmmakers looking to keep things fresh and interesting.
