Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Movie Review

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is animated follow up movie, based on the 2018 “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”. The prior film was an ‘amazing’ Spider-Man. But now this one is an astounding Spider-Man. The only thing that is holding this movie back is the fact that it is definitely only the first part of a continuing story…

In the 2018 “Spider-Man’, the world was introduced to a new style of animation, and a new superhero. The flashy style of the visual was incredibly fun and matched the look and feel of the old-school comic books. The hero was Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore). He was a breath of fresh air, being a young urban high school kid of mixed race.

Miles got the classic treatment of a weird spider bite that gave him superpowers. He met the original Spider-Man, named Peter B. Parker (voiced by Jake Johnson), who was now ‘retired’. Miles also teamed up with a young lady named Gwen Stacy (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld). Shocking, I know — but she also has a secret identity as Spider-Woman.

Miles and the crew found out that are multiple Earths spread over multiple universes. They find one thing that was common in all of these places,  that each one had a ‘Spider-Person’. That is, someone who is destined to become a guardian for good. But now with this new movie, it first delves into the origins of Gwen Stacy.

It is explained that Gwen’s Spider-Woman is at odds with her father. She leaves and is found by Jessica Drew (voiced by Issa Rae). She is a Black, motorcycle-riding pregnant Spider-Woman. But she is also a part of a much larger ‘Spider-Society’. This group is able to travel between all the worlds in the ‘Spider-Verse’ and help the individual ‘Spider-Person’ on that version of Earth.

Gwen goes with Jessica and meets many other ‘Spider-People’. These include Hobie Brown / Spider-Punk (voiced by Daniel Kaluuya).  He is a Black British punk rocker who rebels at everything. There is also Pavitr Prabhakar / Spider-Man: India (voiced by Karan Soni). He is an Indian/Hindi version of Spider-Man, who hates villains and anyone who says ‘chai tea’.

But back on Miles’ version of Earth, he knows nothing about where Gwen is now, or her new adventures with the ‘Spider-Society’ he does not know about the group’s leader, named Miguel O’Hara / Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by Oscar Issac). Miguel is strong and powerful, yet he has no sense of humor. He forbids Miles Morales from being part of the group.

Then Gwen comes back to meet up with Miles again. Miles learns that the prior time he met Gwen, that a powerful machine had allowed many ‘Spider-People’ to see him on his Earth, including Gwen. When the machine was destroyed, all of them went back to their own world. But the destruction also created a major villain.

The person running that machine was Dr. Jonathan Ohnn. The explosion turned him into ‘The Spot’ (voiced by Jason Schwartzman). He is a humanoid creature with no face, and he is covered with spots. But these spots are portals in space, so The Spot uses them to steal and rob people. He is after Spider-Man (Miles Morales) because he was the one who caused the machine to self-destruct.

The Spot gets away from Miles, and he is able to cross boundaries into other universes. Gwen has no choice but to drag Miles Morales into the Spider-Verse. Gwen Stacy is helped, as usual, by Jessica Drew, Pavitr Prabhakar, and Hobie Brown. Miles meets all the alternative ‘Spider-People’ from alternative universes.

The Spot is becoming more powerful, and he sets his sights on destroying the Miles Morales family. His father and his mother are targets, specifically Officer Jeff Davis (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry) and Rio Morales (voiced by Luna Lauren Vélez). Miles is trapped by Miguel O’Hara, but he is able to get away. Now Spider-Man 2099 is going after Miles, and he will not stop.

Miles Morales finds a portal to back to Earth. He finds his mother, but there is something different. He runs into his uncle Aaron Davis. But in Miles’ world, his uncle was a major criminal named the ‘Prowler’. His uncle was dead, but was on a different Earth. But which version of Earth is Miles now on? And who is that other masked man in the ‘Prowler’ getup?

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is a self-contained whirlwind of color and motion, of excitement and emotion. The visual display is a wonderment to behold, and the story is compelling. All of the actor’s vocal performances are perfectly meshed with the character up on the screen. The fluid movement and colorful scenes are precisely fine-tuned for maximum enjoyment.

The efforts of the Directors (there are three of them) are able to take the words and vision of the Screenwriters (there are three of them) and create a wonderful collaboration with a very talented team of animators (there are hundreds of them) . If there is one complaint, it is only this. I would have preferred to finish up watching this movie, then get up, go across the hallway into a different theater – and then watch the next follow-up movie immediately.

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” proves once again that with “Great Spider-Powers, comes Great Spider-Entertainment”.