'Across the Spider-Verse' is a special animated film with a few half-developed ideas. After reading our review, listen to The Extra Credits podcast rank all nine Sony & Marvel Spider-Man movies.
'Across the Spider-Verse' Deep Dive - Podcast
'Spider-Man' Movies Ranked - Podcast
‘Across the Spider-Verse’ is a truly unique cinematic experience. It’s one of the most technically impressive animated movies we’ve ever seen. Both Spider-Verse movies, much like Miles, have a deep desire to express themselves through many forms of art; a refreshing theme in the superhero genre. But, after rewatch, the story struggles to smoothly balance its ideas and subplots.
There are a lot of fun details to unpack, even if some elements were more effective than others. The shift in animation style throughout the film is unreal; just the right amount of sensory overload and creative imagination. The themes are extended from the first film with a nuanced message about the isolated experience of struggling with one’s identity. Through the Spider-Foil, we have the American-favorite, an age-old trolly dilemma with some mutations. The big-bad is a sympathetic-Thanos figure who explores an exhausting moral debate with topical motivations — hoping to see that character and their motivation more fleshed out next summer in ‘Beyond the Spider-Verse’. As far as subplots go, we’re still unclear why exactly this trilogy wants to connect Spider-Man/Woman and well-meaning police officers. Not sure the parallel of systemic issues within Spider-Society and American Law Enforcement is totally successful.
While this sequel is certainly emotionally nuanced, I still felt distant from the characters. I can forgive heavily written ideas, some corporate virtue signaling, or even pandering to disaffected, politically indifferent Americans, but I was disappointed that I struggled to emotionally connect with Miles the same way I did with ‘Into the Spider-Verse’. The studio chose not to resolve his story in a meaningful way, mostly so we can experience the sure-to-be excellent third film.
Though, Gwen got a powerful, long-deserved backstory — you can even experience this Spider-story as her own. The film begins and ends with her narration; a clever commercial misdirect for audiences who unfortunately wouldn’t have seen a ‘Spider-Woman’ movie. ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ might have been better off doubling down on “Spider-Woman” and surprised us with her own title card drop at the end.
Gwen’s story is more successful and thematically interesting than any other character in the film — she’s our first legitimate, fully developed woman character in Spider-films. Also, with a queer lens, there is a massive evolution of what the Spider-mask represents to different identities who wear it. The socially conscious text is there if you look for it and the themes are an improvement from previous iterations.
But, even with a dynamic Gwen, my emotional disconnect is very real after two watches. Mostly due to the inconsistent motivations and actions of our protagonist and antagonist, but that is too close to spoiler talk that we’ll save for today’s podcast. And, I’m aware this may be an unfair reaction, but I think I’ll always have a complicated relationship to any “Part 1” or “to be continued” film — a movie and its half-finished messages ending abruptly is both exciting and deeply frustrating.
I’m obviously tiptoeing serious criticisms — people desperately want a monoculture right now. The early hype around JW4 and GOTG3 prove that. ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ may be aboard that hype train too. Though, I think it deserves a seat more than most blockbuster movies in the past few years!
I think people are forgetting how incredibly efficient, carefully constructed, and thematically tight ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ is — it might be the best superhero movie ever made.
Listen below for a short history of Spider-Man, what the character represents in and out of the suit, and our collective ranking of all nine Spider-Man movies.
Our collective ranking list includes: Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
At the end of our pod, we make some predictions about the future of Miles and Beyond the Spider-Verse.
