The multiverse was introduced into Spider-Man movies with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), a spectacular movie that set the bar high for animated films made in comic-book style. Its sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, raises the standard for movies of this genre even higher, and does justice to the benchmark set by the original movie. The concept of alternate worlds, if not explored in a unique way, can be lacklustre, but Across the Spider-Verse does a magnificent job at making the multiversal journey spellbinding.
While Into the Spider-Verse was focused on the origin story of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a boy of African-American and Puerto Rican descent living in Brooklyn, New York, and how he accidentally got embroiled in a multiversal war with deadly villains which led to him becoming Spider-Man, the sequel depicts him as protecting his borough from offenders, and finding it onerous to live two different lives, constantly switching between his alter-ego and real self.
Like every other Spider-Man, Miles has a difficult time balancing his life as a hero and the 15-year-old son of Jefferson "Jeff" Davis (Brian Tyree Henry) and Rio Morales (Luna Lauren Vélez). Jeff is an African-American NYPD police officer about to be sworn in as Captain, and Rio is a nurse of Puerto Rican descent.
The movie opens with a battle involving Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), who is Spider-Woman from Earth-65, Jessica Drew (Issa Rae), a pregnant African-American Spider-Woman from an alternate universe, a "vulture" from the Renaissance, and Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man from the year 2099. The Spideys win the war against the vulture, but an unexpected event leads to Jessica and Miguel recruiting Gwen into the Spider-Society, an elite group of Spider-People from alternate universes whose job is to protect the multiverse, or to be precise, the Spider-Verse.
The movie then shifts to Brooklyn of Earth-1610, where Miles's parents are speaking to his teacher, telling her how special he is. They are waiting for Miles, but, as expected, Miles does not arrive at his school on time, because he is busy fighting with The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a white-coloured entity covered with black holes, who was trying to steal money from a local shop. The Spot tells Spider-Man that they both created each other, leaving Miles confused.
The Spot calls Spider-Man his nemesis and blames him for losing his earlier life, and says that now he has returned for vengeance.
It turns out that the black holes on The Spot are not useless, but serve as portals to alternate dimensions.
Later on, in the movie, Gwen comes to Earth-1610 to meet Miles, and tells him about the Spider-Society and Miguel, describing him as a "ninja vampire" Spider-Man leading the group.
Miles and Gwen share a moment hanging upside down from the dome of the Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower, a scene sure to touch the heart of every Spider-Man fan because it is a known fact that in every universe, Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy do not get a happy ending.
Their reunion is cut short when Gwen is asked by Jessica to continue on her mission, which was to find The Spot, because he is a threat to the multiverse.
Miles is not supposed to join this war, but he sneaks into a multiversal portal by leveraging his ability to turn invisible. Miles meets Pavitr Prabhakar (Karan Soni), or Spider-Man India from Mumbattan, a place which appears to be a combination of Mumbai and Manhattan, and Hobie Brown (Daniel Kaluyya), or Spider-Punk.
They band together against The Spot, but an event occurs due to which they are summoned to the headquarters of Spider-Society, where Miles meets innumerable versions of Spider-People. Miles reunites with Peter B Parker (Jake Johnson), who served as the mentor of Miles in the first film.
Miles is excited to meet Miguel, but gets the shock of his life when the leader of the elite society tells him about "canons". These are events which occur in the life of every Spider-Man from every universe, and define who the superhero becomes.
The movie is so bewitchingly made that one would not want to bat their eyelids even for a second. There are several touching moments, especially those in which Miles's parents try to have a conversation with him, and assure him that they are ready to listen to everything he has to say.
The web-slinging shots and fight scenes are magnificent, and keep the audiences hooked to their seats. Across the Spider-Verse is more vibrant than the original movie, and incorporates a lot of comic book elements, including speech bubbles. The animation is spectacular, and the visuals are striking.
There is a wonderful chase sequence which is so exquisitely designed, that one will feel as though they are a part of the movie.
Not only is the cinematography captivating, but the background score and soundtrack are exhilarating. The scenes with a sinister undertone are accompanied by villainous sound effects, which are reminiscent of the classic thriller movies of Hollywood.
All the actors have done a marvellous job at voicing the movie's characters, especially Oscar Isaac, Daniel Kaluuya, and Hailee Steinfeld, who have made their characters interesting through the way they communicate. Shameik Moore is undoubtedly amazing, and portrays the role of Spider-Man excellently. One can easily connect to Miles's emotions because of Moore's remarkable voice acting as a teenager who is trying to find the purpose of his life.
Across the Spider-Verse also incorporates humour, which is mostly good, except for some cringe dialogues. One of the funniest dialogues is the one in which Miles tells Pavitr that he likes "Chai Tea", to which Spider-Man India replies that "chai" itself means "tea", so, "Chai Tea'' makes no sense because it would imply "Tea Tea".
Despite being almost two-and-a-half hours long, the movie ends with a cliffhanger. The plot, animation, voice acting, direction, cinematography, fight scenes, music and humour are resplendent, but the story could have been portrayed in less than two hours. Some scenes felt overdone, and a few dialogues could have been avoided.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 also ended on a cliffhanger, but the movie was less than two hours long, and the run-time justified its plot. Across the Spider-Verse could have been made into a shorter film, but its brilliant cinematography offsets the negative aspects.
The movie's sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, will be released in 2024, so the world does not have to wait much to see what happens to Miles Morales, who is definitely one of the best Spider-Mans ever.
One can safely say that Across the Spider-Verse is one of the best superhero movies ever made. The multiversal voyage is electrifying, has lots to ponder about, and is definitely something you would love to traverse through more than once.