'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' review: Visually stunning; powerful emotional core
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the second part of the trilogy in Miles Morales's story and a follow-up to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a visually stunning and awe-inspiring artistic work that thrives due to strong emotional groundwork. Sometimes, a lot seems to happen at once here, but the film ties most of its knots together eventually, ending in a fantastic, intriguing cliffhanger. We review.
There are multiple stories at work here
In Across the Spider-Verse, we see multiple Spider-Men at work; everyone belonging to different dimensions and realities, and everyone harboring special skills and vulnerabilities. Here, along with Gwen Stacy, Peter B Parker, and others, Morales is pitted against a new villain called The Spot (born out of the collider explosion), while simultaneously racing against time to save his father Captain Jefferson from dying.
The dialogues seem to foreshadow the film's events
We hear strong reverberating echoes of "Morales isn't the only one" and "Let's do things differently this time," spoken by Stacy, and the film does begin differently, by focusing on Stacy, not Morales. Amidst the chaos and cacophony of parallel realities, the drama also becomes a coming-of-age story for both Morales and Stacy, as we get inside the minds of two troubled teenagers.
Visually appealing usage of colors in the entire film
To say Across the Spider-Verse splashes color all over would not be an exaggeration and at almost every point, there is an influx of colors that seeps into the film—mostly bright, neon shades. However, it's important to note that these colors are muted at times when the conversation onscreen is loaded with emotions and the focus shifts to dialogues and the characters' expressions.
The animation will leave you wanting more
Across the Spider-Verse's building block, naturally, is its lifelike animation, and if you look closely, you can see the attention to detail that makes up this film's universe: the graffiti on the walls, the adjustment of Morales's room, the difference in various universes (especially the Indian one, called Mumbattan—a portmanteau of Mumbai and Manhattan). Some scenes even look straight out of a comic book.
Are superheroes free of all baggage?
The movie taps into the vulnerabilities and insecurities of the superheroes and repeatedly drives home the point that even with their power and otherwordly skills, they are somehow still human at their core—susceptible to danger and death. This becomes evident through the distance Morales shares with his parents—even when he wants, he cannot "come out" to them, simply choosing to live a double life.
Morales wants to grow up soon, but is he ready?
Much like Gwen, Morales, too, wants to break free from the way the world/his parents perceive him and become his own self. At several points, he says, "I am 15, I am basically an adult," and toward the end, his parents also agree, "Maybe he just wants to spread his wings." His overenthusiastic nature to fly high (literally), however, sometimes becomes his undoing.
Come for the story, stay for the humor
The movie doesn't compromise with its humor, even on occasions when the world is collapsing and mayhem abounds. For instance, the Indian Spider-Man Pavitr Prabhakar takes a dig at the West for not knowing that it's simply chai, not chai tea. The film is peppered with several such running gags, and they act as good foils to the otherwise intense nature of the drama.
This one is to be enjoyed on the big screen
If you're a Marvel aficionado, the movie ensures that your trip to the theaters will be worth it. It seems to move too fast at times and multiple stories constitute the film's storyline, but the film gradually unknots its many ties, finally culminating in an unforeseeable high-stakes finale. Fan service, inventive, and imaginative at the same time, it gets 3.5/5 stars.
