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

 

It's a bit insane that 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' is one of the best Spider-Man films out there. Everything about that project just clicked: from the cast to the animation to the story... Everything worked. So when a follow-up was in the works, tension rose because how on Earth would it rival, let alone top that most excellent film?

They did that. More than did that, in fact. This one is friggin' brilliant. The worst part about it is that it is only the first part of the story and ends on one heck of a cliffhanger. 

Drat.

Miles Morales is now a little older and more comfortable in the role of his dimension's Spider-Man, even though balancing his other life with that of a superhero isn't easy. Couple that with missing his friends from another dimension (and especially Gwen) and you get a teenager desperate to find his way in life.

But things aren't looking good for Gwen, either. She is asked to join a multi-dimensional taskforce of Spider-people, who have to fix the issues Miles caused last time. See, the collider thingamajig ripped holes in other dimensions, causing villains from separate timelines to intersect and intervene in others where they don't belong. Not an easy task, and you can tell by leader Miguel Ohara that it is taxing. Gwen fails to keep up with what appears to be a minor villain called Spot, and then things get steadily worse. What at first feels like a jokey foil for Spider-Man soon turns out to be a pretty extensive threat and even the society of Spider-People isn't all what appears as Miguel cracks because Miles is the anomaly that started most of the issues present. So how to disentangle it all?

The makers cranked everything up to eleven on this one. Not only is the story deeper and more complex, the humor is still very present but the emotional stakes are upped many times. The animation is in constant overdrive and it is truly baffling to see how many styles they can all fit into one frame and still it all flows so extremely natural, it just leaves you flabbergasted. Every single frame is eyecandy to the umpteenth degree and yet it all looks, feels and flows perfectly within the frame of the story. 

A perfect example of this is not just the various Spider-variants with their own look and feel, but especially how the villain - Spot - transitions from looking like a silly, regular bad guy in Miles' dimension to something absurdly menacing simply via a change in animation. It's hard to describe, but when you see it, you'll know. But Spot isn't the only antagonist of the story, as Miguel becomes more and more unhinged and eventually the question is asked who the good guys truly are.

I can keep on waxing lyrically about how awesomely awesome this one is, but you truly need to see it for yourself. It is beyond a shadow of a doubt, a film for the ages. 

It rocks. And then some.