Review 794: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

When Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is unexpectedly approached by his best friend and love interest Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) to complete a mission to save every universe of Spider-People from a new villain calling himself The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) who could cause a catastrophic disaster, Miles is more than up for the challenge. He and Gwen journey through the Multiverse together and meet its protectors, a group of Spider-People calling themselves the Spider-Society. However, Miles finds himself at odds with the Society on how to handle the threat.

This is a bigger, bolder and more ambitious that pushes the boundaries of  Whereas the first film was confined to Miles' universe, Across the Spider-Verse is just all over the place - it's kind of like a rollercoaster ride through the multiverse  

Thematically, it's about Adolescence, Identity & finding your place in the world where there is more than possible outcome as we see through the many Spider-variants (or is it doppelgängers) throughout the film. It's also a film about worrying about whether or not tragedy is inevitable or can be avoided. Whether it's possible that this version of Spider-Man could've gone in a different direction and become a different version of yourself. 

The film starts and virtually never stops. Visually, Across the Spider-Verse is every bit a feast for the eyes that the first film was. It throws so much stuff at the wall and for most part it sticks   The score by Daniel Pemberton is 

Each universe has its own aesthetic: Earth-42 has a darker, grittier Akira inspired aesthetic full of  reds, greens & purples.