Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
This movie was my most anticipated movie of the year so I had super high expectations going into theaters. The only thing I was worried about was with this being a sequel but also being a “part one” type of experience will it water down the novelty of it being a sequel while watching the film? They did not disappoint because Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is peak fiction. The word that comes to mind when I think of this movie is "multifaceted." They made the bold choice to open the movie with Spider-Gwen’s super refreshing origin story then jump us into the main storyline with Miles and the rest of the cast.
The main theme that they covered in this movie was being bold enough to write your own story and have that belief in yourself and the foundation you built to make tough decisions. Seeing Mile’s growth as Spider-Man was cool to see because it hasn’t been that long since the first movie ended.
One thing that surprised me was how much I enjoyed the family moments in this movie because usually they are corny but the way they covered the different types of relationships between kids and their parents. Then when you combine that with all the different cameos we got from all the different Spider-Men and villains though out the mythos this movie was destined for greatness.
The plot has multiple storylines that keep you invested throughout the story. They also introduce the concept of cannon events that hold the fabric of the multiverse together. The most interesting piece of lore we got to explore in this movie is that Miles is the original anomaly in that system.
The payoffs in this movie were epic, to say the least, while simultaneously giving us an idea of where the next movie will take us. As a sequel this movie works on multiple levels and the pacing revs you up for one of the best reveals in Marvel cinematic history.
The story is driven by the concept of loss vs sacrifice and who gets to decide whether someone is worth saving and who isn’t for the sake of it being canon. This is what made the character development so impactful because we got to see these characters change for better or worse depending on who you focus on and your own bias.
Miles specifically is such a good main character because he stays true to himself even when he is faced with impossible circumstances. What separated him was unlike most of the Spider-Men Miles has the foundation that his family has paved for him to succeed and make those decisions boldly and unapologetically.
When you look deeper at Miguel O’Hara aka Spider-Man 2099 as the main antagonist, you can see his obsession comes from a place of fear and guilt. The original concept of capturing anomalies and sending them back makes sense but when you add the canon events to the equation is where things start to get tricky. What makes me hype is that this is only part one of a larger story and now we get to see what it could look like if Miles Morales didn't become Spider-Man and instead became the Prowler in part 2.
