Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

A buttload of ideas, a celebration of all the artists who gave each of the worlds a special and unique atmosphere. The action scenes are so awesome that you will want to go back to the cinema very soon, to enjoy and study them. However, it is not only the visuals that keep the viewer engaged, the script also deserves praise. Each character is well thought out, has a mini-story and evolves. The wisdom that the Spider-men/women share makes sense and is fun (because Spidy is a funny guy), every viewer will find something here. I, like Peter B. Parker, also had a daughter since the first episode, and did I identify my paternal stereotypes in him? Of course I did! And that’s how well the characters are written. Everyone will find something. It also has its own fatality and an unusual villain who got caught by a donut in the first film and then had a bit of bad luck. From nerdy scientist and third-rate villain to the destruction of the multiverse quickly and easily? Well, maybe not destruction... maybe, because we'll have to wait for the next part. So, to sum up: after the magazine ad, it steps on the gas pedal all the way to the floor and doesn’t slow down until the open ending. (06/04/2023)

Deducting half a point for the ending, It's not a series to be abruptly cut off during a crucial turning point. Since the title didn't mention anything like "Part 1", I was left feeling somewhat cheated, akin to an evening of the best sex I've had (in the past couple of years) suddenly disrupted halfway through, with a smile and "Come back in a year..." and the door slamming shut. This sentiment wasn't mine alone; the parents in the cinema were furious about the ending like little children, and their little children were just as disappointed. Despite the half-empty theater mid-week, the shared discontent only intensified my own frustration. However, I'm reluctant to deduct more than half a point because, overall, this was an amazing experience. Catering to zoomers, boomers, parents, and children alike, the film is dynamic, filled with great lines, touching emotions, and a universal message about the importance of family. From various perspectives, it manages to stay relevant to everyone. In the realm of animation, Spider-Man exudes creative brilliance, incorporating pop culture references, nods to other Spider-Man movies, and notably, flawlessly utilizing the famous Spider-Man meme template. Aside from the abrupt ending, I find little to criticize. The film held my attention throughout, and its almost two-and-a-half-hour runtime just raced by. If told I could watch another three-hour sequel, I'd gladly stay until midnight. Like Into the Spider-Verse, this was an exemplary animation experience, showcasing the medium's capabilities and adept use of colors to enhance scene atmospheres. If not for the ending — but enough about that, 9.5/10! (06/07/2023)

I gave the previous installment a five-star rating because its originality, blend of animations, action, and humor left a lasting impression on me. Yet, I found myself putting off watching the sequel. Today, I decided to dive into the multiverse. I was concerned that the sequel might not live up to its predecessor, and unfortunately, it turned out to be true. While my disappointment was mild, it was disheartening to see the creators rely on overkill, as if they believed that without overwhelming the audience, they'd fall short. Additionally, I noticed a decrease in humor, which was a significant departure from what made the previous part so enjoyable for me. The shift towards darker and more serious themes didn't necessarily resonate with me; I missed the lighthearted moments that brought laughter. It felt like humor took a backseat to the exploration of various family values. Despite my criticisms, I found myself thoroughly entertained throughout, barely noticing the film's runtime. Still worth a solid four stars. / Lesson learned: Just because you can stick to objects, walls, or people doesn't necessarily make you Spiderman. It might just mean you need to wash your hands. With soap. 4*+ (11/19/2023)

The pure wow effect of a head-on collision with something unprecedented and revolutionary, which dominated the experience of Into the Spider-Verse, naturally couldn’t happen again. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the second animated Spider-Man movie is an absorbing audio-visual explosion that still manages to conjure up the same delightfully goofy expression of wonder and fascination on the faces of viewers. Whereas live-action comic-book movies are running out of steam and losing the audience’s interest, the second Spider-Verse is hyper-dynamic, not only in the way it depicts movement and action within individual shots and whole sequences, but also in terms of narrative and the expression of emotion. It has a lengthy runtime, but in spite of that it remains an impressive piece of work given everything that the film manages to convey in the course of it. And not just in terms of peripeteias and dialogue, but also in the breadth of the titular Spider-Verse. The medium of animation itself plays an essential role in this. Whereas the animation in the previous film was breathtaking mainly from the perspective of expressive physical movement, this time it takes on a narratively illustrative and emotionally impressive role. In particular, viewers are aided in finding their bearings across the various parallel worlds and their inhabitants not only the stylisation of the drawing, but also by the animated interpretation, from the technical execution to the rendering of the stylistic specifics in time and space (from sketch-like elements and action lines, through the handling of movement and poses, to the scale and use of typographic VFX). The animation also makes it possible to express and convey emotions in a condensed and very effective way – again from body language and expressive stylisation of facial expressions (unlike in live-action comic-book movies, the animated Spider-Man is not in any way limited by his mask) to the work done with the colour palette of the given scene and the proportional deformation of the characters. In addition to that, we also have a sophisticated meta-treatise on the conflict between personal will and a rigid canon, which unsurprisingly can be extended from the central story to the iconoclastic position of the animated Spider-Verse movies, which are brimming with creativity in comparison with the live-action Marvel films conformably occupying the space within the usual and automatically accepted boundaries of pseudo-realism and clichés. But that is rather the icing on this perfectly thought out and phenomenally rendered cake. The animated Spider-Man catapults us into a new dimension of blockbuster entertainment and it will be interesting to see if its live-action fellow travellers will hang their heads in shame alongside the animated competition that has already come into being. (07/07/2023)

I was skeptical about this film before the screening, and for a while I doubted whether it could move forward meaningfully in terms of plot from the first part, whether it could still be visually arresting, and whether the humor and characters would be entertaining enough to carry it. But all of that left me after a while, and I'm back to being excited like a little kid and wanting the next part right now because I can't handle waiting another year. Story-wise, the film makes perfect sense, it composes the MCU Spiderverse elements perfectly, it completes the concept of the multiverse, it serves us cameos from the "live-action" Spider-Man, comic book memes of the three Spider-Men, a bunch of fun references and especially the characters. With these, I was worried if they could even hold a candle to Spider-Ham, but here we get not five Spider-Men like in the previous part, but literally hundreds to thousands of versions of him, and Indian Spider-Man, Spider-Horse, a Samurai Spider-Man, and a Spider-Car that had me in stitches with laughter. The best part of it all is that the visuals and comic book style once again bust my balls, bringing a fresh style to the screen and that we once again have plenty of action, with the definite highlight being the fight of a hundred Spider-Men against each other, where I didn't know who to look at first and was squirming in my seat like a prostitute in church. As the film draws to a close, it adds to the hardness, the tension builds and the harder and harder punk-rock-hip hop insert kicks in until the very finale, which.... Well. I guess we'll have to wait for that. It certainly leaves a bit of a bitter aftertaste to the end of a brilliant comic-book pleasure for nerds of the highest level, and is a bit reminiscent of Harry Potter 7.1 or Dune, but at least we have something to look forward to. Awesome!! (05/31/2023)