Miles Morales catapults across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero.
Three writers and directors conspire to bring “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” to the big screen innovatively by attempting to merge animation and live-action into a vibrant, visual pastiche. To a significant extent, they do indeed succeed. In addition, the narrative’s refusal – mostly – to not take itself too seriously accrues to its benefit. As a result, the strongest element of “Across the Spider-Verse” is by far the witty and unexpected repartee between characters. The dialog will feel fresh and relevant to younger viewers that the filmmakers clearly intend to target.
The plot, however, is another matter altogether. As “Across the Spider-Verse” strains to tell a complex story, the visuals often intervene to a fault. In particular, Jonathan Ohnn (Jason Schwartzman), or The Spot, transcends the laws of physics due to a lab experiment gone horribly wrong. Parts of his body evince teleporting capabilities not unlike that of the X-Men’s Nightcrawler mutant – only less interestingly so. Aptly named, The Spot has randomly placed holes on his body where an object can enter one of them and pop out of another somewhere else. In several scenes, there are so many spots with people or objects disappearing here and emerging there that the action starts to look like a version of whack-a-mole writ large. Further, Ohnn spends a lot of time whining about how Spider-Man did him wrong and that he aims to get even. Totally get it, and by the way, I heard you the first time.
In this movie, there are more Spider-Man variants than COVID-19. There is lead Spider-Man, Miles Morales, voiced by Shameik Moore, and girlfriend Gwen Stacy/Ghost-Spider (Hailee Steinfeld). But then there is Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), Spider-Man India (Karan Soni), Peter Parker (Jake Johnson), now semi-retired with wife and Spidey-Child, vampire Spidey Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), Spider-Woman (Issa Rae), and ubiquitous others – so much so that when the Spidey-Society swarms after Morales, they nearly blend into the background as sort of a multi-colored mosaic.
Shea Wigham voices Gwen’s Dad, George Stacy, a by-the-book police captain dedicated to his job. When he learns that his daughter is the Ghost-Spider, suspected of killing Peter Parker, he attempts to arrest her right up until when she flees into the multiverse wormhole. Similarly, Miles Morales/Spider-Man struggles to find common ground with his own parents, Police Lieutenant Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree Henry) and Rio Morales (Luna Lauren Velez). After following Gwen into the Multiverse, Miles learns that soon-to-be Captain Davis must die to keep every universe of the Spider-People from collapsing, thus thrusting him into the fray.
The twists and turns clearly intend to exhilarate, and periodically they do. More often than not, however, there are ubiquitous high-wire stunts and saves made possible by a combination of animation and special effects, without much to show for the effort other than to set the stage for the next sequel ham-handedly. The final insult culminates with the words “To Be Continued” pasted across the screen just before the closing credits. As points of comparison, when I viewed the highly anticipated “The Matrix Reloaded” in a sold-out theater in 2003, the audience literally groaned when those irritating three words appeared. For a worthwhile primer on how to set up a future installment of a movie sequence, one need look no further than “The Empire Strikes Back,” which concludes as a mostly self-contained interlude. While somewhat ambiguous – not necessarily bad – it also avoids resorting to a cheap teaser reminiscent of an unoriginal television cliffhanger. The audience can easily infer that “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” is coming just as surely as the next James Bond feature.
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” focuses most of its energy on pioneering visual and musical forms and styles – unfortunately at the expense of greater substance and a more engaging script – three writers and three directors notwithstanding. Fans will clearly enjoy the many homages to the popular comic, but for those of us unwilling to don a Spidey costume before venturing out to the theater, the experience may prove less than mesmerizing.
In Theaters Friday, June 2nd
