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Gareth von Kallenbach (965 KP) rated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) in Movies
May 31, 2023
Life as a teenager is never easy and when you are gifted with the superhuman abilities of a spider and lead a double life as a student and crime fighter; life gets even harder.
Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is finding it even harder to hide his secret from his family who has grown concerned that his erratic behavior is more than the usual teenage angst.
In another earth, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) deals with her Police officer father desperately hunting down her alter-ego believing that she is a killer which drives a wedge between them as Gwen desperately tries to find her way forward.
In “Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse audiences learn that what one perceives as reality is often just the corner of a much larger picture and when Miles confronts what he dismisses as a “Villain of the Week” in a quirky enemy known as The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), starts a campaign against Spider-Man, he soon finds that the threat is much larger than he expected and secretly follows a visiting Gwen into an another Earth where his actions soon draw the attention of a larger temporal Spider squad.
Motivated by his feelings for Gwen and a desire to do good, Miles looks to undo the damage that the Spot is causing across various Earths and learns that each one has its own version of Spider-man or Woman to protect it.
At this point the film goes into overdrive as Miles learns more about his past and how he became Spider-Man but also learns more about the cost that his powers enact on his life and those around him. There are plenty of special moments and guest appearances that follow from the more obscure to the mainstream and the range of emotions from the audience at the press screening as they reacted to the film showed they were deeply engaged and loving it.
The film does take a darker turn and does end in a cliffhanger which sets up the next film very well but also may be a bit darker than younger viewers might want. That being said; I enjoyed this film far more than I did the prior film. I found the animation style a bit off-putting as the jerky way the characters moved was a bit much over the length of a feature film. This time around there is a mix of animation styles throughout and at times in the same frame which may be a bit hard for some as the film does come at the viewer with waves of flashing lights, sounds, and animations that very cleverly mimic reading a comic complete with small boxes to define various characters from time to time.
The film runs nearly two and a half hours and did seem to go on a bit long at times but thanks to the great voice-acting and strong cast as well as engaging storyline I found myself eagerly looking forward to the next film.
I first saw a rough cut of a scene at Cinemacon in 2022 and it was amazing seeing the final scene near the opening of the film as it was a rare instance of a film surpassing expectations and delivers the storyline and action with a good dose of solid characters that fans will love.
4.5 stars out of 5
Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is finding it even harder to hide his secret from his family who has grown concerned that his erratic behavior is more than the usual teenage angst.
In another earth, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) deals with her Police officer father desperately hunting down her alter-ego believing that she is a killer which drives a wedge between them as Gwen desperately tries to find her way forward.
In “Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse audiences learn that what one perceives as reality is often just the corner of a much larger picture and when Miles confronts what he dismisses as a “Villain of the Week” in a quirky enemy known as The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), starts a campaign against Spider-Man, he soon finds that the threat is much larger than he expected and secretly follows a visiting Gwen into an another Earth where his actions soon draw the attention of a larger temporal Spider squad.
Motivated by his feelings for Gwen and a desire to do good, Miles looks to undo the damage that the Spot is causing across various Earths and learns that each one has its own version of Spider-man or Woman to protect it.
At this point the film goes into overdrive as Miles learns more about his past and how he became Spider-Man but also learns more about the cost that his powers enact on his life and those around him. There are plenty of special moments and guest appearances that follow from the more obscure to the mainstream and the range of emotions from the audience at the press screening as they reacted to the film showed they were deeply engaged and loving it.
The film does take a darker turn and does end in a cliffhanger which sets up the next film very well but also may be a bit darker than younger viewers might want. That being said; I enjoyed this film far more than I did the prior film. I found the animation style a bit off-putting as the jerky way the characters moved was a bit much over the length of a feature film. This time around there is a mix of animation styles throughout and at times in the same frame which may be a bit hard for some as the film does come at the viewer with waves of flashing lights, sounds, and animations that very cleverly mimic reading a comic complete with small boxes to define various characters from time to time.
The film runs nearly two and a half hours and did seem to go on a bit long at times but thanks to the great voice-acting and strong cast as well as engaging storyline I found myself eagerly looking forward to the next film.
I first saw a rough cut of a scene at Cinemacon in 2022 and it was amazing seeing the final scene near the opening of the film as it was a rare instance of a film surpassing expectations and delivers the storyline and action with a good dose of solid characters that fans will love.
4.5 stars out of 5
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) in Movies
Jun 8, 2023
A Feast for the Eyes and the Heart
In 2018, Producer/Writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (THE LEGO MOVIE) presented the animated film SPIDER-MAN INTO THE SPIDERVERSE to unsuspecting audiences and this film burst onto the scene - and into our senses - with a visual cornucopia of comic-book styles that ushered in a new way to present a comic-book movie. In this film, multiple Spider-Mans from different “SpiderVerses” came to the home universe of the lead Spiderman (in this Universe, Spiderman is NOT Peter Parker, but rather Miles Morales), and they kept the comic book styles of their own universes while in the home universe of Miles.
Get it? If not, hang onto your hats, for these two just took it to a whole new level.
In SPIDER-MAN ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, our hero, Miles Morales (voiced again by Shameik Moore) leaves his home universe and travels TO multiple other Spider-verses with multiple other animated styles - as well as meeting a plethora of other Spider-folk.
The result of this is a visual feast that should be seen on the big screen. The artistry at work here is “next level” as the differing styles blend seamlessly with each other without becoming head-ache inducing. It is a master class of “Going for it” but wisely knowing how to “not go too far” and the filmmakers of this animated gem thread that the needle expertly.
But…that isn’t the best part of this film.
There is an underlying storyline that sets Miles off on his adventure and this part of the film is built upon relationships, love, duty and devotion. This film delves deeper into Miles’ relationship with his parents (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry, off of his Oscar Nominated role in CAUSEWAY and Luna Lauren Velez best known as Lt. LaGuerta on DEXTER) and this gives the film some heart.
But…that isn’t the best part of the film.
The best part of this film is Miles’ relationship with another Spider-person, Spider Gwen (Stacy) - voiced by Hailee Steinfeld (THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN), this film wisely (there’s that word again) decide to have 1/2 of this film shown from her perspective and the depth of performance of love, loss and longing from Steinfeld is surprisingly deep and moving for an animated film and it is THIS relationship that really cements this film as something special.
Oh…and did I fail to mention the wonderful voice work by Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya and Oscar Isaac (amongst many, many others)? They all brought their “A” game to what is a tremendous movie going experience.
One does not need to see the first SPIDERVERSE film to enjoy this one - but it does help and one very much will need to see this film to enjoy the NEXT one (the 3rd film of the trilogy, SPIDER-MAN BEYOND THE SPIDERVERSE is set to be released next year), so if one is going to invest in these films, one should probably go “all-in”.
The filmmakers certainly did that - and the audience is the winner for their efforts.
Letter Grade: A
9 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Get it? If not, hang onto your hats, for these two just took it to a whole new level.
In SPIDER-MAN ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, our hero, Miles Morales (voiced again by Shameik Moore) leaves his home universe and travels TO multiple other Spider-verses with multiple other animated styles - as well as meeting a plethora of other Spider-folk.
The result of this is a visual feast that should be seen on the big screen. The artistry at work here is “next level” as the differing styles blend seamlessly with each other without becoming head-ache inducing. It is a master class of “Going for it” but wisely knowing how to “not go too far” and the filmmakers of this animated gem thread that the needle expertly.
But…that isn’t the best part of this film.
There is an underlying storyline that sets Miles off on his adventure and this part of the film is built upon relationships, love, duty and devotion. This film delves deeper into Miles’ relationship with his parents (voiced by Brian Tyree Henry, off of his Oscar Nominated role in CAUSEWAY and Luna Lauren Velez best known as Lt. LaGuerta on DEXTER) and this gives the film some heart.
But…that isn’t the best part of the film.
The best part of this film is Miles’ relationship with another Spider-person, Spider Gwen (Stacy) - voiced by Hailee Steinfeld (THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN), this film wisely (there’s that word again) decide to have 1/2 of this film shown from her perspective and the depth of performance of love, loss and longing from Steinfeld is surprisingly deep and moving for an animated film and it is THIS relationship that really cements this film as something special.
Oh…and did I fail to mention the wonderful voice work by Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya and Oscar Isaac (amongst many, many others)? They all brought their “A” game to what is a tremendous movie going experience.
One does not need to see the first SPIDERVERSE film to enjoy this one - but it does help and one very much will need to see this film to enjoy the NEXT one (the 3rd film of the trilogy, SPIDER-MAN BEYOND THE SPIDERVERSE is set to be released next year), so if one is going to invest in these films, one should probably go “all-in”.
The filmmakers certainly did that - and the audience is the winner for their efforts.
Letter Grade: A
9 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)