Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 4 ½ stars
Later this year we will have the newest Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day in theaters. So, I took this opportunity to see the second film of the Spider-Verse series, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, made is 2023. While related, the Spider-Verse series has its own take on the web shooting super-hero. The creators, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have made a universe with a multitude of Earth timelines where superheroes and supervillains can freely travel between them, and each has its own unique Spider-Man. (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller also were the directors of Project Hail Mary.) This new film took a trio of directors to create it: Joachim Do Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson. In the previous Academy Award winning film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse our Earth’s Spider-Man, teenager Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) battled supervillains and met Spider-Woman Gwen Stacey (Hailey Steinfeld) from one of the other Spider-Verses. But now Gwen has been chosen by an elite squad of Spidey’s to help in the battle against a menacing supervillain called The Vulture, but first she returns to Miles’ Earth to help Miles with a troubling situation. Both superheroes are struggling with their crime fighting roles while keeping their secrets from each of their parents. Miles’ Spider-Man has had to deal with The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), an annoying villain who creates black holes at will, using them for his own type of crime. The Spot says that Spider-Man is his nemesis and is out to get even with him for destroying his life. Despite being grounded by his police officer father (Brian Tyree Henry) and mother (Luna Lauren Velez) for so many unexplained absences, young Miles ventures into the Spider-Verse to join the hundreds of other Spider-Men to track down and defeat The Vulture. Unfortunately, Miles learns that things are a lot more complicated in the Spider-Verse since as we know, in a multi-verse (or a time traveling situation) there is a space-time continuum and if it is upset, disaster can ensue. You cannot mess with a canon event! And poor Miles is at the center of it all. One of the attractions of the series is the fluidic nature of the animation that uses a fuzzy, colorful fast-moving appearance during the action sequences, and there is plenty of action to be sure. The characters constantly swing among the buildings of NYC rescuing the inhabitants while somehow not sustaining injuries despite getting beaten and falling from great heights. The movie also features voice performances from the likes of Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae, Shea Whigham, Daniel Kaluuya and Jake Johnson (as Peter Parker, but with a baby girl with Spidey powers). Despite the movie being 2 hours and 20 minutes long, it turns out to have a cliffhanger ending. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was planned for a 2024 release date, but that has been delayed until 2027. So, there is still plenty more Spider-Man to come!