Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a film about finding your place in the world (or worlds if you subscribe to the multiverse interpretation of quantum mechanics 😉) and writing your own story.

Following the incident with Kingpin and his collider in the previous film (Into the Spider-Verse), there are consequences and ripple effects felt throughout the multiverse, notably with entities finding themselves in universes in which they do not belong. An elite task force of Spider-beings is thus formed and led by Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) to clean up the multiverse of these anomalies, as they are called. Meanwhile, on Earth-1610, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) embraces his newfound powers and finds himself venturing into the unknown as he navigates through the after-effects of the collider explosion, learning what it means to be Spider-Man and ultimately what it means to grow up.

Released in 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse opened our eyes to the potential of the multiverse as a powerful storytelling device, a feat that was continued by the marvellous Academy Award-winning A24 film Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Into the Spider-Verse brilliantly employs the multiverse as a tool to allow the characters to explore their identity and their place in the universe. A central idea that truly resonates and is, ultimately, the crux to its brilliance is that anyone can be Spider-Man, or in other words, anyone can be a hero. It is up to you to tell your own story. The optimism and heroism were once signatures of Spider-Man, thanks to the Sam Raimi films, but they have gradually diminished over the years through multiple iterations of the titular character on screen. With the release of Spider-Verse, they were brought back in brilliant fashion and left most audiences feeling truly refreshed by the notion of a new iteration of the hero. The ground-breaking animation and the introduction of comic-book styles into feature film animation left many craving more of the same.

5 years later, the sequel is a far more daring, ambitious, and vibrant masterpiece in storytelling and animation. While expanding upon its world-building and universes, the film explores the very same themes as the first film, along with new ones, once again showing us that some things, including emotional hardships, are just “multiversal” no matter where we are from, and it is up to us to write our own story in life.

The film is adventurous, full of energy, and enthusiastic. The plot races along like a bullet train, branching off in many directions like a sprawling web, leaving me rather dizzy at times. However, there are also quiet and profound moments that are genuinely heartfelt and allow me to resonate once again with Miles as he ventures off into an adventure of his lifetime. At the center of the sprawling madness, there is an emotional thread that runs through all of the chaotically beautiful worlds the film creates, and I find myself genuinely caring about the emotional plights of the many characters amidst all of this.

That being said, as with most middle-chapters in a trilogy, the film took liberties with that and explored many threads while not necessarily fulfilling every one of them (since there is a concluding chapter to follow), leaving me feeling somewhat unsatisfied with how it ended. This also leads to a film that is overpacked with a huge number of ideas, resulting in a less tightly and consistently paced film.

Animation-wise, we are witnesses to something revolutionary here. Into the Spider-Verse brought various comic-book animation techniques like the half-tone dots, the Kirby dots, and comic book panels onto the big screen, and it was truly exciting because we are now embarking into a realm where not every Western animation film has to look like a Pixar film to sell tickets anymore. Now, Across the Spider-Verse furthers that effort and does the impossible. Animation styles of such different feels and origins often coexist harmoniously in the same scenes and interact with each other in many surreal action sequences.

Take the Mumbattan sequence, for instance. Breakneck pacing in the animation and the use of comic book panels genuinely invoked the experience of rapidly flicking through the pages of a comic book. Needless to say, the experience of wanting to know what is on the next page as you are hooked onto an action sequence is not foreign to comic book aficionados, and this might just be the very first time a comic-book superhero film manages to invoke that experience on screen. Several scenes are also breathtaking to watch, and, in my opinion, rival the absolutely gorgeous leap-of-faith shot in the first film.

Across the Spider-Verse features a star-studded ensemble cast, with Daniel Kaluuya, Issa Rae, and Jason Schwartzman, to name a few, joining the already brilliant original cast. Oscar Isaac also returns as Miguel O’Hara (Spider-Man 2099) with a more prominent involvement in the film. Performances are through the roof. Whether it is Shameik Moore back as the lovable Miles Morales, Hailee Steinfeld as the conflicted Gwen Stacy, Oscar Isaac as Miguel who always tries to do the right thing, or Jason Schwartzman as the intimidating new and upcoming villain Spot, it is always a blast to watch and hear. The humour works really well, just like the first film. Most gags landed successfully, often causing huge reactions from the audience in the screening I attended. A re-enactment of a particular legendary meme moment is also unexpected yet inevitable.

Daniel Pemberton returns as the composer of the original score for the sequel, bringing with him a rip-roaring masterpiece of a soundtrack. As diverse as the animation styles are, the soundtrack features many styles and genres, keeping up with the film in its exploration of the different worlds and characters. Action sequences are loaded with such vivacity and energy thanks to his brilliant music. Special shoutouts to a few tracks here: “Spider-Woman”, “Spider-Man India” and “Spider-Man 2099”. Along with the instrumental score is a compilation of music by Metro Boomin, which sets out to rival the popular and effective 2018 soundtrack compilation featuring the ultimate earworm that is “Sunflower” (by Post Malone and Swae Lee). Especially notable tunes in this year’s compilation include “Annihilate” (by Metro Boomin, Swae Lee, Lil Wayne, and Offset), and “Mona Lisa” (by Dominic Fike).

All in all, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a brilliant, bold, colourful, energetic and spellbindingly gorgeous film. While it might not be consistently woven web, it is nevertheless breathtaking to look at. What it did with multiverse storytelling and animation is genuinely exciting and made me really look forward to the future of multiverse stories and animation in general. And frankly, Beyond the Spider-Verse could not come any sooner!

Author: Chia Jing Heng (andreusjh99)