Well-Versed

I found myself at the intersection of a surprising Venn diagram this past weekend. On the one hand, I was online enough to know that a brand-new animated sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse, was arriving in theaters -- and that I'd want to see it before coming across any spoilers. On the other hand, I wasn't online enough to know what I now gather had been leaked years ago, the fact that this movie was the first of a two-parter.

It turns out that this is one of the few negative things I can say about the movie -- that it's an animated movie pushing two-and-a-half hours long and still couldn't wrap up its story. It remains for the next movie to show us just how much is left to tell here, or whether the studio is just trying to get themselves a piece of Infinity War/Endgame (like so many other blockbusters are doing right now). For now, though, geeks can debate whether this movie is an Empire Strikes Back of its era, a rock-solid film, despite a cliffhanger, that might just be better than the original.

Across the Spider-Verse carries the torch proudly in everything that Into the Spider-Verse did so well. It's brilliantly organized visual "anarchy," allowing a potpourri of animation styles to live together in one movie. Each universe feels fully fleshed out, even when its only there for a quick sight gag. And the main universes where the story spends the most time are each fully capable of carrying a movie on their own.

But the narrative might be even more impressive. The MCU has been playing around in this multiverse space for an entire "phase" or whatever now, but has often been shaky on the drama amid the visceral thrills. The story of Across the Spider-Verse features several strong elements anchored fully on character. There are deep personal stakes here for both Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy. There's meaningful story here for their parents. There a worthwhile character arc for at least one other returning Spider-variant from the first movie, and interesting new characters with tales of their own too.

Hmm... I guess the reason why you couldn't wrap all that up in one movie start to look obvious. Indeed, perhaps it's all the more praise-worthy in that this movie was doing a lot of the things that the last live-action Spider-Man movie did well without having to leverage seven-plus movies before it to get there.

Returning voice actors from the first movie remain excellent, from Shameik Moore to Hailee Steinfeld to Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Jake Johnson, and more. New cast members are equally compelling, including Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya, Jason Schwartzman... and more. But to get too far into that even begins to touch on more spoilers than I'd like.

So I'll just wrap-up by saying I think Across the Spider-Verse is an A-. I look forward to the next movie (coming early next year, apparently), and hope that it can wrap things up with a film as deft as this one.