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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

 


Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the sequel to the Academy Award-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. This time there are even more spider-people.

With completely different directors the film feels the same, perhaps that's due to the writing duo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller who return to continue their success train from the prior film and The Lego Movie. This goes to show the real lack of impact the directors of animated films have and their success doesn't necessarily transfer to live action. Anime fans will be happy to know Joaquim Dos Santos is here to direct but the average audience will have no idea who he is. Justin K. Thompson got credit for directing too but he's always been known as a production designer. Kemp Powers also received directorial credit but he's most known for his screenplay and staff writing and it's odd that this is his second director credit. 

Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld are back as Miles and Gwen. They flesh out Gwen's story which very much resembles the comics. I only wonder if, in the sequel to this film, they will bring in the Punisher as that was where the comics led to as Frank Castle becomes the new police chief. Miles has the same dynamic with his family from the first one so not much growth there.

Oscar Isaac returns but not as the same character, this time he plays Miguel O'Hara. He truly brings a sense of foreboding for this Empire Strikes Back style of film. I mean that as a compliment of course and as a comparison to how this film picks up from a complete movie to turn it into a trilogy.

Jason Schwartzman has a comedic element that this film needed even though it has enough villains. The film still needed a link to the first one that Jason fills. He's great in Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom. I look forward to watching Asteroid City later this summer.

I was on the fence about giving this film an A and settled on an A- despite my inclinations to do so. I really enjoyed the film but it was packed with a lot of plot elements. I'm holding back on giving it an A because of comic book bias and trying to analyze it from a film perspective. I still highly recommend it.

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