SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

This sequel to the Oscar-winning Into the Spider-Verse is both too much of a good thing and not enough of a great idea. The visuals dazzle, but the plot meanders and the characters get lost in the mayhem.

The second Miles Morales adventure on the big screen starts off with a sequence so dazzling in its animated audacity you can't help but stare open-eyed at all the quick-paced splendour for the best part of 15 minutes. The big caveat: the two hours that follow cannot possibly live up to that initial burst of giddy energy.

That's not to say that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse doesn't have its fair share of original ideas and popping visuals along the way. Particular standouts are a punk version of the character voiced by Daniel Kaluuya and a stunningly animated black-and-white vision of things to come involving inter-dimensional bad guy The Spot, punctuated by Daniel Pemberton's excellent, heart-pounding score.

The movie comes up well short in the department where its predecessor hit home the most though: genuine heart. Splitting the subjective narrative not only between Morales and Spider-Gwen, but several other Spider-Man variants as well, muddles the emotion, while the rhythm of the film is annoyingly off. The way too quickly edited scenes often drag on excuciatingly long and humour is sidelined too often in favour of predictable dramatic overtones.

But what hinders Across the Spider-Verse perhaps most of all is that in essence the film is just an overlong, elaborate set-up for the third chapter of this story, Beyond the Spider-Verse, which will hit screens in 2024. Here's hoping that this concluding film will capture the magic of the original better than this sequel does.

release: 2023

director: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson

starring: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Daniel Kaluuya