Elevating Miles: Across The Spider-Verse Review

Thoughts on the brief live action moments? . . Ngl thinking back it kinda took me out of it. Background stuff would have been fine but would have preferred they’d animate spoiler and the other scenes from the movies

The Spider-Verse franchise is proof that we are not tired of superhero movies, we are tired of bad superhero movies.

What I love about this movie is you just can't take anything for granted. Hobie is used as a gag in his opening scene and then it slowly falls away and reveals that of everyone in the story, HE is the one that supports what Miles is doing the most. His character is EVERYTHING Miles is gunning for - freedom, breaking down the system and finding your own path.

Miguel is either wrong or lying to Miles. He's caught in a paradox. Assuming that Miles is an anomaly, he isn't a true Spiderman. Therefore, he should not have a canon event: There is no need to let his dad die to protect the multiverse. Otherwise, If his dad's death is required to protect a Canon event, then it means Miles is not an anomaly and is a true Spiderman.

If I have any nitpicks, and I mean ANY nitpicks, this film ought to have a warning label for those who are prone to epileptic seizures. That one aside, IT'S PHENOMENAL

The use of colors during Gwen’s backstory blew me away. They express emotion unbelievably well. Every frame was a painting, and I'm not exaggerating. Gwen’s world in particular was a visual feast. This movie was a literal masterpiece.

the worst thing about this film is that I am simply not prepared to wait a whole year 😭😭😭

I love how Spider Punk is depicted as this instigating force for good in this movie, because yeah, the message feels very punk. ‘Don’t accept horrible things happening because ‘thats just the way it works’’ is an essential essence of Punk IMO, and Hobie being the pure embodiment of Punk that he is helps Miles down that road of saying ‘fuck this, i decide my own story regardless’. Im just happy that Hobie, and Punk in general, was represented so fucking well in this movie and embodies why i LIKE punk in the first place. Made me feel very warm and happy inside. And ‘its a metaphor for capitalism’ called me and my writing out hardcore

I love how Miles' parents especially Rio get some deserved screen time in this film because she barely had any dialogue in the original

A movie that does Marvel better then Marvel

"Nah. Imma do my own thing." That line is going to DEFINE who Miles Morales is as a character going forward. Where as previously it was "that's all it is Miles. A leap of faith." Before it was someone else who helped define him. Now, he's defining himself. They've done a great job at setting up the fact he does things his way; he doesn't just swing across NYC he runs, he does parkour cause that's what MILES is good at and loves to do. His god damn shoelace is still untied in that iconic falling/rising shot. He openly challenges Miguel where most everyone just seems to blindly follow. He does graffiti and tags places across NYC. His own suit is a showcase of who he is and what he loves to do. And it breaks the mold of what a traditional Spider-Man suit looks like and how it's often made. Miles at his core is about redefining what it means to be Spider-Man; that he isn't JUST Spider-Man. He's Miles Morales too. Which is something the other spiders seem to forget. That Peter had to be reminded of. That you can be both the person under mask, and the hero. I think they're going to set it up to have him finally break the curse of Spider-Man. And it's going to be amazing to witness.

One of my favorite things about this movie is the fact that even when Miguel just outright insults Miles' existence, Miles doesn't give an F and keeps going. Sure, it kind of traumatizes him during his swing sequence but he just continues to stand up for himself rather than angsting on it for the third act.

What I found sort of intriguing is how the live action No Way Home movie was showed MCU Spider-Man the consequences of defying determinism, “wanting to have it all while the world made him choose”. while this movie seems to be about miles motivating himself to defy determinism.

Spider-Punk is so amazingly written. Mixing the 1970s british Punk Rock culture with his amazing style of animation is so beautiful to watch. it shows that the animators not only care about the characters, but the cultures and communities they arise from. 11/10 movie

Never thought I'd live to see The Spot be a bigger threat to the multiverse than Kang the Conqueror.

I think a lot of the “I’m going to do my own thing” is the writers and creators interjecting their own philosophy about art. Spiderverse has unconventional animation, it uses previous material to morph and transform into their own unique thing—even making an explicit point to how they’re deviating from the canon and “doing their own thing” through Miles. Hell, Spot was a pretty forgotten and kind of weak villain in the comics, and now he’s arguably one of the most powerful and menacing villains in popular superhero media. They changed his entire backstory: he entered his own portal he’d created in the comics, as opposed to being caught in the explosion of the collider in Spiderverse. Probably one of the most conceptually terrifying villains overall too, IMO. Spiderverse is rated PG, but squeezes out a lot of content you’d think would be rated higher, such as swearing a few times (not complaining, just observing lol). This second movie, ESPECIALLY, is not afraid to include political messages and symbols: both subtly through background signs/etc., and through Hobie as an entire being tbh. Spiderverse isn’t the typical animated movie. THBH I’m not sure if could be considered a kids movie anymore either—not because kids shouldn’t watch it, I’d say anyone over the age of 5 should—but rather because it’s deliberately a movie meant to connect with and appeal to ALL AGES. Usually this is done by having separate messages and plot lines that are slotted together—working well, but not melded into one universal message. Spiderverse, however, tells stories and gives messages that anyone of any age can understand and relate to. Defining who you are and what you want in life is a part of EVERYONE’S lives, and they will experience that at different times, maybe even multiple times in one life. And that’s what I really love about this movie. It’s breaks the conception in our heads of what an animated movie should be. It’s not a kids movie, it’s not an adult animation, or YA movie, or even a Spiderman movie in a sense. Spiderverse is Spiderverse. This series is it’s own—each movie is just it’s own movie, not a subcategory.

Miles and Gwen are a LOT cuter here than in the first film, not that their portrayal was bad!! It’s just that you get to see their relationship through both of their perspectives. In the first film, we only see Miles crushing on Gwen since the story is primarily told by his point of view. We get some instances of where Gwen seems like she might be interested, but nothing fully concrete, and the end really painted it out as the two “just being friends.” But as SOON as the new film opens up, we get a glimpse into Gwen’s perspective of the first film, and you could absolutely see her regret going back and leaving miles. And throughout the entirety of the prologue the second film, we see her absolutely PINING for Miles and that the relationship was indeed very much reciprocated. It’s just that, as we come to learn, she distances herself from people she cares about to avoid hurting them. This is readily apparent when she mentions to Miles, “In every other universe, Gwen Stacy falls for Spider-Man…” And as Miles moves in closer, Gwen notices, and deflects with, “…and in every other universe, it doesn’t end well,” causing Miles to cease his reach. What absolutely pains me about this is the fact that she has access to the Multiverse. So she has probably come across tens, if not, hundreds of the universes with Gwen and Spider-Man. And she more than likely saw most of them ending happily. Rio, Miles’ mother’s words echo through these scenes and likely in the future: “Never doubt that you are loved.” She does love you man. ❤

The biggest take away I got from the movie was how they handle 'canon', saying 'this needs to happen', 'this person needs to do', like it's a commentary about how writters keep trying to make Spidey more 'interesting' by piling one more tragedy. For miles to go out against every spider man, most of which are versions of peter parker that have grown content with the idea that they can't save everyone, to me at least, tells me...Spider man doesn't HAVE to be defined by tragedy. Miles lost his uncle, but he still has both his parents, something unique to most spider men, even to most super heroes. Sure spider man has struggles to over come, but we as an audience are just as invested in his win's as we are with his struggles. We WANT good things to happen to spider man.

I had no opinion on Spider-Man India before this movie, and now I need an entire film trilogy starring him complete with Bollywood musical numbers.

When I was watching this in the theater everyone in the audience started cheering when Lego Spider man appeared. Wish we saw more of him interacting with the other spiders