Repost: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Dir: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson

The visually stunning sequel is an absolute triumph that demonstrates the limitless power of animated storytelling.

To celebrate one year of DanLovesFilm I will be reposting some of the first reviews on my page, including this one for the excellent Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

For years Disney has had a stronghold on the animated film industry, with their own animation studios and Pixar consistently producing modern classics. As much as I loved the animated films of the 2000s that both hand drawn and computer generated animation could produce, by the 2010’s I started to feel that animated films were getting a bit stale.

Undoubtedly, there have still been plenty of commendable animated films released, however, stylistically there had not been anything released in a while that felt fresh. Then in 2014, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, wrote and directed the quite brilliant LEGO Movie. The pair used creative storytelling to create an emotionally engaging story with hilarious visual gags, within an immersive world made up entirely of LEGO. This was the first time in years where I had witnessed something ground-breaking in terms of animation. Four years later, in 2018, Lord and Miller took the world of animation to a whole new level with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The first instalment illustrated countless styles of animation and seamlessly blended them into a vibrant masterpiece. The latest offering in the animated franchise harnesses everything that was special about the first movie and elevates it into a new era of animation cinema.

The film starts off by showing us the distance our web-slingers have taken away from their parents. Both Miles (Shameik Moore) and Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), despite being the most famous person in their respective realities of New York City, feel alone in a world that does not truly understand them. They are both still hiding their identities from the world and more importantly – their parents. Miles is too busy fighting crime and being the best Spider-Man he can be, rather than focusing on being a son and taking time to be with his family.

Gwen on the other hand, feels immense guilt from having to lie to her police officer father as he is constantly on the hunt for Spider-Woman, unaware that it is his own daughter. He is so determined to serve and protect, she is afraid that if she was to tell the truth about her identity he would never forgive her for lying. This culminates in both Miles and Gwen escaping their isolated lives and venture out on a dimension-hopping adventure across the “Spider-Verse”.

Amidst this, they are confronted by Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), the leader of the Spider-Society. A super-team of hundreds of Spider-Men, Women and even Animals from limitless dimensions, all with the mission of maintaining the stability of the Spider-Verse. Miles’ actions from the first film have seen the rise of a new enemy known as The Spot (Jason Schwartzman). A super-villain with the ability to traverse dimensions and who will stop at nothing to get revenge on his “nemesis”- Miles.

The sheer power of animation on show here and the electrifying pace it creates are unprecedented. It is endlessly creative in its use of colour and animation style to convey the film’s mood or tone in any given scene. In the fast-paced action sequences everything is bright and impeccably detailed, which immerses the audience into the worlds that Miles journeys through in a visually mesmeric way. Then in the more intimate scenes, in particularly the ones between Gwen and her father, everything plays out against a backdrop of washed-out watercolours. The musical score by Daniel Pemberton does a remarkable job of keeping up such a frenetic pace but still manages to hit the right emotional beats when it needs to. Impressively, this film is like flicking through a comic book at supersonic speed.

Amongst all of the jaw-dropping visuals and creative action set pieces, Lord and Miller still manage to create great depth to every character and their relationships with each other. We get a great 20 minute opening to the film that shows how Gwen’s relationship with her father is hanging by a thread, as well teases towards her possible romance with Miles. This is effectively mirrored with Miles feeling misunderstood by his parents and yearning to reconnect with Gwen. This film is a brilliant coming-of-age story about growing up and finding your place in a complicated and multi-faceted world.

Amongst the heart-warming and emotionally relatable topics at play, the film effectively breaks this up with countless visual gags and comedic references. This is due in large to the incredible voice cast, which includes: Jake Johnson, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez, Karan Soni and Andy Samberg. Collectively, they deliver emotional and comedic depth to their culturally diverse characters.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is an absolute masterpiece and is something that should be seen on the big screen. It dazzles from start to finish without ever losing any momentum and I am excited to see where the world of animation will go from here and if they will be able to surpass it.

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