Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Sad night tonight. After 80-odd years, this was the last film to show in my local cinema before it closed down. Doubly sad because it’s also not actually very good. The conceptualisation behind the hybrid styles of animation is spectacular and executed in an highly polished fashion - as you’d expect. The story is all over the pace though, and the proliferation of Spidey’s seemed designed more to allow the narrative to become more culturally inclusive (and bankable) rather than to develop any meaningful characterisations. What personas there are spend their time wallowing in a mire of unrequited and/or confused familial love, or teenage angst more suitable in a soap. The dialogue has it’s moments - assuming you can catch it - and there’s a bit of humour to be found but I found the audio mix made following all that was said became a bit wearisome after a first hour that really does depend on your having watched (and remembering) the first - in my view far better - instalment. This whole “multiverse” theme can keep on recycling itself ad nauseam but if the writing remains at this unremarkable level then I’m not sure I’ll be bothering with the next set of repetitively set-piece adventures for “Miles” and his parents, love interest and fellow Spider-folk.

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://www.firstshowing.net/2023/review-spider-man-across-the-spider-verse-is-an-animated-work-of-art/ "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the epitome of incredibly detailed, gorgeously unique, undeniably epic animation within its medium. Separately from enjoying this movie or not, any or all cinephiles should bow to the ridiculously talented artists and animators behind this pure work of art. That said, the attributes and issues are more or less the same as the original. The various animation styles are overwhelmingly stunning, but also to the point of creating confusing moments. Gwen Stacy stands out from the rest of the pack – both the character and Hailee Steinfeld's voice performance – but everyone on screen is impressively captivating. The voice cast is superb all-around. An unfinished story – remember, this is the first of two parts – about what it really means to be a hero. The 140-minute runtime isn't exactly heavy, but the necessity to resort to exposition scenes is more frequent than in the previous flick, even though the narrative complexity ends up justifying this. A must-see movie in the cinema! Go support animation." Rating: A-

And perhaps _Beyond the Spider-Verse_ will retroactively make Across’ story more enjoyable, but for now, the franchise’s flashy visuals are fully in controls of its web-shooters. As a stand alone feature, _Across the Spider-Verse_ is groundbreaking with its half-a-dozen animation styles and plethora of Spider-Men. The Spot is an insanely cool villain, Spider-Man 2099 is an anti-hero teetering on the verge of becoming a full-time villain, and Spider-Punk oozes overall awesomeness. But with the film sitting at 162 minutes and a sequel on the way in less than a year, the story ultimately feels like it’s stretched beyond its means. **Full review:** https://boundingintocomics.com/2023/06/07/spider-man-across-the-spider-verse-review-a-stunning-labyrinthine-benchmark-for-animation/

I don't know, but in my humble opinion, the punk Spider-Man really needed to look like Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, someone from the Sex Pistols. He sort of screamed them in the way he was depicted, right down to the multi-media used around him. They really missed an opportunity for if not a great pop culture reference, but at least an in-joke for the punk community. I mean, throw us a bone here. He spent half his time mocking us anyway (in a pretty hysterical way) at least give us the laugh when they do the face reveal. Anyway, it's not bad. Miles is less... boring in this cartoon than he is in the comics where he's developed the moniker "Mild Morales." He actually has more depth of character here and is forced to face some serious choices and turning points (Hey Marvel, you could learn a lesson here). But he also took a bit of a back seat to Stacey, who seemed to be the star of the show until there was an abrupt switch... which irritated me. It sort of screamed ensemble cast, but really it just shifter from one lead to the other a bit abruptly. As far as complaints go, that's pretty bare bones. It also gave Spidey 2099 a sort of bad spin despite being the most beloved of the 2099 line and the coolest costume design of any spider. So for us Gen-Xers, it sort of burned. At least I'm old enough to have been looking forward to his inclusion only to be a little disappointed. And I am still very upset over how Peter is portrayed, but they are slowly redeeming his character. Over-all though, it's not bad. It's better than just about all of the current Super-Hero movies and, honestly, it's probably the only cape franchise that people are still interested in... because it isn't totally political BS.