Spider-Man Across The Spider-Verse
Following the globally successful, ‘Into The Spider-Verse’ this latest instalment ironically goes beyond its predecessor. Directors Santos, Powers and Thompson construct a beautiful web of hypnotic visuals and emotional scenes to introduce a standalone category of mainstream arthouse cinema. Not only is this film far from style-over-substance but both components courageously battle each other in order to earn the spotlight, exceeding expectations visually and in terms of narrative, this film is nothing short of a masterpiece and deserves celebration for its brave originality.
Modern films face the challenges of the ever increasing judgements made on the media’s portrayal of certain social groups especially amidst the emerging woke culture. Whislt the film is modern in just about every scene and transition, the characters remain unaffected or rather enhanced as their individual backgrounds and relations are tackled with precision and care to create a believeable atmosphere that adds to the immersion and excludes any political presence. Moving away from mundane social commentary, the film unsurprisingly excels in its animation which has opened up new opportunities for future films within the genre with the new ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ feature included. The animation, is sharp and messy, fluid and chaotic, everything the directors wish to communicate is done so through the medium of a perfect comic-book-to-screen translation that is simply awesome. The pacing of the film is perfect, with fast paced action and welcomed dramatic intermissions which ground our favourite webslingers adding new depths to their already complex characters. Gwen’s story in particular is further explored and demonstrates the Directors’ ability to make an authentic coming of age story that creatively delivers the very complexities of teenage mental health and the difficulties of communication within families. Speaking of families the Morale’s certainly meet the accuracy mark as the dynamics are expertly written, with subtle quirks and mannerisms that are often missing in MCU films and TV.
The multi-verse is very much the MCU’s crutch as it attempts to build its entire franchise around a single over-done concept that is becoming less and less interesting or engaging. This is another challenge both faced and overcome by ‘Across The Spider-Verse’, as characters are pushed to the forefront with the expansive Spider-Verse as their stylistic background. The Spider-Verse was utilised by the animation team to go ballistic with different, colours, patterns and artistic styles with each character pulled straight from the comic books, videogames, TV shows and films of the Spider-Man franchise. There was of course some fan service but similarly to the Spider-Verse itself this was second to the characters and plot. Not only was the animation a visual spectacle but it was intelligently employed to display the characters emotions in-sync with the narrative in an avant garde fashion. Whilst Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Spider-Rex and all the other insane variations are definitely fan-favourites, its hard to forget the new emerging villain, the Spot. Played by Jason Schwartzman, the voice acting for the Spot is spot-on and reflects the quality of the writing that transforms a clumsy insecure accident, into a purpose-driven, chaos-bringer out for revenge. The comedy in the script is unlike the comedy found in its live-action MCU family members as its genuinely funny and flows seamlessly alongside the narrative and isn’t clunky or cliché. Although the theme of the film includes multi-dimensional travel, many of the characters themselves are multi dimensional, Miguel O’Hara in particular who poses as the films anti-hero. O’Hara, played by Oscar Isaac, presents the very anithesis of the Spot as he attempts to bring control to the mayhem, which clashes with the naiive yet well-placed intentions of Miles who fights to disprove the darkening reality that not everyone can be saved. O’Hara is shown to have endured grief and suffering, presenting this character as a perfect candidate for a potential villain arc as many outbursts of rage are present throughout the film.
Symbolically, the Spider-Verse represents the overwhelming anxiety to control our fate and destiny, saving the ones we love and navigating our way to our goals, constantly managing our feelings and relationships in a multitude of ways which are always changing, this film certainly reflects all these aspects with a beautiful lyricism. Overall, ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ exceeds expectations and raises the standards for animations to come. A beautiful film with revolutionary animation definitely within the Oscars’ conversation. Lets hope the next instalment, ‘Beyond The Spider-Verse’ lives up to the quality set by its masterful predecessor.
