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

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

starring Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry

directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson

140 minutes

Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) continues to fight crime in her universe. She reveals her identity to her father. It doesn't go well. He feels that he needs to arrest her. She is saved by a couple other Spider heroes Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) and Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman (Issa Rae).

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) also has problems in his universe. He is fighting a villain named the Spot (Jason Schwartzman). He is trying to stay on his parents good side but it is kind of tough because he keeps disappearing to fight crime and he has yet to tell his parents that he is Spider-Man.

Gwen visits Miles universe thanks to a device that Miguel and Jessica gave her. She's only there briefly. She can't tell him too much but he finds out on his own about what she is up to. He follows her through a dimensional portal, without telling her. He helps her to save a couple members of the supporting cast from the life of Pravitr Prabhakar, an Indian Spider-Man. Miles doesn't realize it at the time but there are some unfortunate consequences to his selfless act of bravery.

Miguel O'Hara explains the situation to Miles but Miles doesn't accept Miguel's read of what happened. Miguel tries to send Miles back to his own world. Miles resists. He puts up quite a fight but in the end he lets them do it.

Miles goes home only to discover that he is in a universe that looks very much like his own but is not his own. His Uncle Aaron is still alive but his father is dead. The Miles of this universe became the Burglar instead of Spider-Man.

Gwen tries to find Miles only to discover that he is missing. She suspects that he is in a universe other than his home universe. The movie ends with her gathering a group of Spider Heroes to help her rescue Miles and save the Spider-Verse from the threat that the Spot poses.

Thoughts

I am only passingly familiar with most of the Spider heroes in this movie. I have heard of Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, and Spider-Man 2099 but I have never read any comic books that they are in. I am only familiar with Miles and Gwen from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). I have read some Spider-Woman stories but the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman that I am familiar with is not African-American and does not ride a motorcycle.

In some ways this movie is easy to explain. It is overloaded with details (some of which that I probably missed) but there aren't but so many broad brush strokes, as I see it.

I didn't recall that Miles Mirales could turn invisible. If he manifested that superpower in the previous movie then I forgot about that.

I knew this movie was long. I knew there the villain was called the Spot. I knew that that Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen were the main characters. I knew who some of the other Spider-Men were that would appear in this movie. I knew that the story was going to end on a cliffhanger. That's about the extent of what I knew going in.

I think that there was enough here for three or more episodes of television. I kind of wish that they had broken it down that way. I didn't find watching it too onerous or uncomfortable an experience but I wouldn't have minded it if the story had stopped (every 45 minutes) and then picked up a week later.

I love the animation in this movie. This is why they need to do more animated superhero and comic book movies. They shouldn't all look like this one but this really shows how much you can do with animation today.

I want to see this movie again but I think I would rather watch it in bits and pieces, maybe in 45 minute chunks. I also wouldn't mind watching the previous movie again. I really enjoyed watching this movie. I'm glad I went to see it in the theater. I wish I had seen the previous one in the theater.